Question on narrow point of law

[benb]

OK, so as we all know crossing the stop line when at red is illegal.
However, on a bike, it's legal to dismount and push your bike through the stop line.

I was wondering if, therefore, it is legal to dismount, push the bike completely over the stop line, then remount and cycle off.

Obviously to be done with extreme caution, but if traffic is at a standstill it could be safe to do. I'm really just wondering hypothetically whether such a manoeuvre would be legal or not.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Yes. IANAL.

Dismounting one becomes a pedestrian. One walks past the 'hazard' pushing one's bicycle. Remounting one becomes a vehicularist again and no laws have been broken. Very useful in that lahndahn* when the motors get themselves all gridlocked. Just get off and walk through. Perfectly legal to dismount at a traffic light controlled junction, wheel bike, optionally onto pavement, around corner, put bike back in road, remount ride off into sunset. But it does antagonise the heck of of some drivers. and it may not be the safest thing to do. Predictability is a good thing in road use I feel.


*other urban centres with chronic traffic management issues are available.

 

[on the road]

My understanding is if the bike is one the road then it's illegal to push it over the stop line while the lights are on red, but if you push the bike on the pavement then you become a pedestrian so technically you haven't broken any laws if you then remount on the road after walking past the stop line while on the pavement.

 

[MrJamie]

I have this image of cyclists jumping off into a run to go over the line then back on, like some kind of urban cyclocross or triathlon transition

 

[benb]

My understanding is if the bike is one the road then it's illegal to push it over the stop line while the lights are on red, but if you push the bike on the pavement then you become a pedestrian so technically you haven't broken any laws if you then remount on the road after walking past the stop line while on the pavement.

Fairly sure that's not the case, but not 100%

 

[byegad]

Why bother wait for green!

 

[pablo666]

Many years ago there was a court case where a rider pushing his bike across a zebra crossing was hit. The driver was found not guilty of failing to accord precedence to a pedestrian as the victim was not a pedestrian. It therefore seems that if you push a bike, you may not 'in law' be classed as a pedestrian. Not as simple as you think!

 

[Dan B]

There is clear judicial authority for the proposition that anyone pushing a bicycle is a "foot-passenger" (Crank v Brooks [1980] RTR 441) and is not "riding" it (Selby). In his judgment in the Court of Appeal in Crank v Brooks, Waller LJ stated:

"In my judgment a person who is walking across a pedestrian crossing pushing a bicycle, having started on the pavement on one side on her feet and not on the bicycle, and going across pushing the bicycle with both feet on the ground so to speak is clearly a 'foot passenger'. If for example she had been using it as a scooter by having one foot on the pedal and pushing herself along, she would not have been a 'foot passenger'. But the fact that she had the bicycle in her hand and was walking does not create any difference from a case where she is walking without a bicycle in her hand. I regard it as unarguable the finding that she was not a foot passenzer "

The entire text of this response was copy/pasted from http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/digest/pushing.html

 

[Dan B]

The wiggle room there, I suppose, is "having started on the pavement on one side on her feet" - if you start on the road, on wheels, and then dismount to gain the pavement only in order to cross the road, it could perhaps be argued that the situations weren't directly comparable

This may be one of those situations where nobody actually knows the law until it's tested in court

 

[Dan B]

Many years ago there was a court case where a rider pushing his bike across a zebra crossing was hit. The driver was found not guilty of failing to accord precedence to a pedestrian as the victim was not a pedestrian. It therefore seems that if you push a bike, you may not 'in law' be classed as a pedestrian. Not as simple as you think!

Would be interested if you have a citation for that case

 

[Nebulous]

In the old days where people mounted a bike in motion, some people had this idea that if you half dismounted and 'scooted' you became a pedestrian. So people would swing their right foot over the bike and to the ground, leaving their left foot on the pedal, when there was a pedestrian turn at the lights. Then as soon as they felt they were safe they would swing their right leg back onto the bike and start cranking. All accomplished without stopping moving.

I reckon the cycling proficiency killed that form of mounting a bike. You rarely see it nowadays.

 

[benb]

Why bother wait for green!

I'm not saying I would necessarily do it, but there's a set of lights near me where the phase is very long - getting on for 5 minutes - and it frequently jams up completely in peak hours. It's the only time I've been tempted to RLJ.

 

[benb]

Many years ago there was a court case where a rider pushing his bike across a zebra crossing was hit. The driver was found not guilty of failing to accord precedence to a pedestrian as the victim was not a pedestrian. It therefore seems that if you push a bike, you may not 'in law' be classed as a pedestrian. Not as simple as you think!

I simply don't believe this. Don't suppose you've got a link?

 

[Drago]

That case law isn't really applicable to our scenario . What constitutes a pedestrian in one example will differ to another. I would check for you but my Blackstones are all in my desk at work. IIRC it all comes down to mens rea, so if you do as described above with the intent to duck the red light the offence would be complete, but if you just happened to be pushing the bike, went through the light, and carried on pushing then it wouldn't. A court would also need to decide if you remained a 'user' of the highway obce dismounted.

Don't quote me on that though cos it's 23 years since Kennington and that scenario has never arisen for me. It may even be one of those matters where there is no specific law on the matter. Its what lawyers call a '20p question', as in "here's 20p, call me if it ever happens."

Edit - just asked Woman's opinion as she's an ex Road Policing Team officer, and she says "all classes of road user" must obey traffic lights, so the offence is complete. She thinks its a 20p question though and had never heard of it actually happening.

 

[boydj]

If you are walking, you are a pedestrian - whether you are pushing a bike or not. However, simply pushing the bike over the line and re-mounting would be illegal since you are still riding the bike across the junction. You have to walk the bike all the way across.

I do this at one particular junction with a relatively long cycle. The pedestrian phase follows immediately after my phase, so if I just miss the light, I dismount and walk across on the pedestrian phase.

I think Dan B's post #8 clearly states the legal position, which Pablo has totally misconstrued.