Here in New Zealand we have just changed four road rules - I actually thought one was already the law!!!

On 1 October, four road rules changed in New Zealand. There wasn't too much flair just legislative changes were made based on feedback and research - probably a good thing!

The four changes are as follows - from a number perspective:

• 1.5 metres. The gap you must now leave when passing someone on a bike, a horse or a scooter. One number, every road, every speed.

• 12. The age up to which kids can ride on the footpath, with a parent, teacher or older sibling riding alongside.

• 60 km/h. On any road at or under this limit, you must give way to a bus pulling out from a stop. The bus has to indicate for three seconds first.

• Zero. The number of e-scooter riders who were waiting for permission to use the cycle lane. It is now legal anyway.

More than 6,000 people sent in feedback. Not bad!

The one proposal that didn't survive was about parking on the grass berm. Of course it was. We can agree on horses, buses and age to ride on footpaths, but the berm is sacred.

My favourite detail from reviewing the information behind these changes is this one. Around half of New Zealanders - including myself - already believed giving way to buses was the law. It wasn't. We have spent years with half the country politely following a rule that didn't exist, and the other half politely ignoring it. That is the most Kiwi transport statistic I have ever read.

However, we wanted to focus on the engineering here - particularly the 1.5m

Leaving 1.5m of space

A typical urban lane is about 3 to 3.5 metres wide (if you are lucky). A person on a bike takes up roughly the first 1.2 metres from the kerb. Add the 1.5 metre gap. Add a car at about 1.8 metres. That is 4.5 metres of stuff in a 3.2 metre lane.

A typical urban lane is about 3 to 3.5 metres wide (if you are lucky!). A person on a bike takes up roughly the first 1.2 metres from the kerb. Add the 1.5 metre gap. Add a car at about 1.8 metres. That is 4.5 metres of stuff in a 3.2 metre lane.

So, the rule doesn't really say, "leave a gap". It says, "you can't pass in this lane, so wait until the other one is clear". Which is what good drivers were already doing.

Giving way to a bus

One car, one or two people, waits about five seconds. A bus with 40 people on board doesn't wait thirty. Multiply that by every stop on the route and you have just made the timetable faster without buying a single bus or laying a metre of bus lane.

A great way to get a benefit without an infrastructure change.

Add these four up. A protected passing gap on every road in the country. A safer route to school for every child under 13. A cycle network that now officially carries scooters. Priority for buses at every urban stop. If we tried to build that - the cost would be excessive.

In this case - Total construction cost: nothing. Total road cones: none. I checked lol!

There is a catch though...a rule only works if people know it, and half of us were already wrong about one of them.

So, the cheapest transport project of the year now depends on the most expensive thing in transport, which is getting people to change what they do on a Tuesday morning.

Start with yours. Next time a bus indicates, count to three and let it out. There are 40 people (ok well up to 40 lol) on board who will never know your name, and they will all get home a little sooner.

Keen to see which one people thing will be ignored the most!

Transit Trends · Andrew Collings, KA Advisory

#TransitTrends #RoadSafety #PublicTransport #Cycling #NewZealand #TransportPlanning #UrbanMobility #Buses #ActiveTransport

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Transit Trends · Andrew Collings, KA Advisory. Read and comment on the original on LinkedIn.

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