stork wrote:I agree with the original post -- it is plainly wrong to say that a road user on a cycle 'must' obey all traffic signs and traffic light signals.
Under RTA s.36 you do have to comply with signs, but only where they indicate a statutory prohibition, restriction or requirement or are of certain types which you have to comply with purely on the basis of the sign being there.
There are lots of signs which do not indicate a prohibition, restriction or requirement, and which couldn't be construed as doing so, e.g. triangular warning signs and most information and directional signs. In these cases, there is nothing to 'obey', so not really a problem.
Then there are signs which look like they instruct you to do something, where in fact they don't reflect any legal requirement. The most relevant for cyclists are probably 'cyclists dismount' and the red cycle light at a toucan crossing. The HC is a problem here as it provides fuel for anti-cycling campaigners who don't realise it's not illegal to ignore these signs.
Then there are speed limits. They do reflect a legal requirement, and must be obeyed. However, the legal requirement they reflect is a requirement which applies only to motor vehicles (RTRA s.84). So people on cycles do not have to comply. (There are a few exceptions, for speed limits off the highway, such as those in Richmond Park in London, where speed limits are governed by bye-laws and may apply to cycles).
There are also those which look like they convey a legal requirement but fail to do so because they don't match the traffic regulation order. Locally, for example, we have 'no motor vehicles' signs on roads which have a prohibition on all vehicles, signs permitting the wrong type of vehicles in bus lanes etc. Most school zig-zags have no TRO.
Conversely, there are those signs which must be obeyed even without a TRO. For example, a 'no entry' sign is one of these. Also local to me, there are no entry signs at the entrance to at least two cycle gates (the entry to a contraflow cycle lane), so technically you cannot enter the cycle lane by cycling into it.
The rule quoted by the OP has, like many other HC rules, a footnote giving the relevant legislation including s36 of the RTA 1988.
I've quoted the above post in full, just to make the point that if the HC went into that level of detail it would be an even bigger volume than it has become. I presume the authors were trying to deal with honorary pedestrians who believe that the law does not apply to cyclists. If so, they failed.
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