Railway crossings and walking the bike.
What's the story with dismounting and walking your bike at railway crossings at the place where pedestrians cross?
Last night I crossed a railway pedestrian crossing, un-cleated one foot, dismounted from the saddle and slowly (at walking pace) crossed over. I didn't walk beside my bike. A security guard approached me and told me to walk my bike and threatened to book me next time.
I am more than happy to comply with the law just want to know what the law is exactly.
I'll be walking across tonight...
I figure if I can park my bike and walk to get a latte, I can manage a train crossing :-P
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jilden on -
Mr Fish, there are indeed many cyclists without cleats, also there are many who choose recessed SPD cleats which allow you to walk with safety wherever required. I am of the latter persuasion but was of the former until a few years ago. I do like to be able to walk in my cycle sandals/shoes, it's added safety in my opinion.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Murray on -
+1 for SPDs
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Permalink Reply by Jilden on
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What your edit has to do with walking a bike through a pedestrian crossing, I fail to see. If you dismount and are more likely to slip over, does that help? A good friend of mine killed a little old lady (pedestrian) at a tram crossing, I'm aware how the trauma process goes. Do we make pedestrians pass competency tests before they are allowed outside? Do we ban all people going near rail lines? Perhaps all trains should be banned? Get people back into cars, they are safer, I'm sure./snark
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Permalink Reply by Tim on -
By scooting I mean having one foot on a pedal while standing next to the bicycle and using the bicycle like a (low speed) scooter - its certainly not like I am going any faster than a jogger. By why bother, I mean why not move one foot to the left and make space rather than block the way so instead of me being tucked behind the handlebars and two feet wide I am now walking next to my bike and 3 feet wide? The person who decided I ***must*** be a fully fledged pedestrian now has to divert their path much more than they would have if I was allowed to scoot by - a real win win situation no doubt. It seems like being petty makes some happy - then again it seems not, its just being petty. Don't know if I just notice it more, but pettiness seems to be on the increase.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Murray on
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I always thought scooting was bad for the cranks ??
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Permalink Reply by GlenM on -
I must be missing something.
Why are you using the pedestrian part of the railway crossing?
Why aren't you riding across the railway crossing on the roadway?
When I was working at Bedford Park I rode across 3 railway crossings and never used the pedestrian crossing at any of them.
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Permalink Reply by MarkK on -
at Goodwood the train line forks in to two lines and i live in the middle of the fork, so i could ride safely along the bike track to work or... fight peak hour traffic on Goodwood road or East ave, both with No Bike lanes.
and as for the tunnel, i could take the crossing behind the showgrounds but its a reverse camber entry into peak hour traffic and if you get caught by a freight train i can say goodbye to 10mins.
but getting back on track what i was saying is.. yes i can ride on the road or walk my bike but i feel unsafe doing so because of previous incidents, so yes i break the law (without affecting others) so i can get to work quickly and safely. so if a rider rides across the tracks maybe theres a reason..
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Permalink Reply by GlenM on
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I was just curious as to why people use the pedestrian crossings because I never found any reason to do so.
I know what you mean about the freight trains, I got caught at the Victoria St crossing a number of times.
Although I never had any issues riding on East Terrace I can understand why some people wouldn't want to ride on it.
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Permalink Reply by stephen on -
That guard deserves a nazi salute for his efforts to keep you safe.
Yes It's the nanny state or maybe the bully state at it again - most people just ignore these signs not a thing they can do about it unless they station fascist security guards at every station - naturally it would be paid for out of our taxes because people keep voting for governments and ministers who put them in jail for and waste public money on bullying people.
http://ipa.org.au/publications/1790/from-the-nanny-state-to-the-bul...This is just one more example of a long list of pedantic , pointless and stupid laws or revenue raising laws the LDP (Liberal Democrats ) would typically oppose.
http://www.ldp.org.au/policies/1166-victimless-crimesit's free to join.
http://www.ldpsa.org.au/
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Permalink Reply by GlenM on
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Just another meaningless rant against laws that are mean to keep the general population safer.
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Permalink Reply by Not an electronic mouse on -
Andrew, "...walk my bike but i feel unsafe doing so because of previous incidents..." you have an alternative to breaking the law. As you seem to travel this route regularly, and know there is a pedestrian crossing, as mentioned in other posts, you could wear shoes that allow you to walk safely across. You choose to break the law because you think it doesn't affect others. That may or may not be true, but I suspect people who block bike lanes or otherwise endanger us (or just annoy us) don't think they affect others either.
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