pedaller wrote:The consensus seems to favour the belief that these signs are advisory - fine but some others indicate a degree of caution, regarding conformity.
Two additional questions for complete clarity.
1 Is it an offence not to dismount and
2 Where is the definitive answer to be found (and hopefully not buried in a load of legal-ese)?
I can assure you that we are 100% right about the legal status of "cyclists dismount" signs. It isn't just a belief here on a cycling forum. The offence of ignoring a cyclists dismount sign simply does not exist.
You need to understand the way in which the law works. Generally, in the absence of a law specifically creating an offence no offence is committed. The law as it stands only creates an offence of disobeying certain specified traffic signs and "cyclists dismount" is not one of them. As others have said, the signs can be placed at places where it would be illegal to proceed. In these cases it will be illegal because you have ignored some other mandatory instruction not the cyclists dismount sign.
Here are some examples:
Where a cyclists dismount sign occurs at the end of a pavement cycle path you are not commiting an offence by ignoring the sign. You do not have to dismount before rejoining the carriageway. However you are committing an offence if you ride along the section of pavement which is not a cycle path.
Where a cyclists dismount sign is placed on the entry to a pedestrian area you are not commiting an offence by ignoring the sign but there may be actual regulatory signs (red circle ones meaning no vehicles or no cycling), no entry signs or local byelaws which make cycling an offence.
Where a cyclists dismount sign is near a narrowing on a shared use path you are not commiting an offence by ignoring the sign. In the highly unlikely case that you were to be prosecuted for an offence related to reckless cycling (say you hit someone and injured them) the fact that you had ignored advice to dismount at that point could be used as evidence.
Hope that helps
EDIT: Sorry for the duplication Vorpal. I started writing before you posted and got distracted