Touring - Biking laws in Europe

I've been searching around the web, and these forums, trying to find biking laws. Other than it being mentioned in passing I can't find anything.

I've read some countries have manditory bike pathes. I also assume some will have helmet and hand signal laws. Does anyone have any resources or experience to share?

I'm mainly looking for Denmark, Holland, Germany, Belguim, and France.

Thanks.

Roughly speaking..... (in the famous slashdot way I am not a lawyer) In my experience:

Having a bell is mandatory in most countries as are reflectors. I'm not aware of any country that has helmet laws for adults. Bells are goood - remember this. You need lights for after sunset (front and rear most places) but nobody cares if they are not legal in the sense of european/national standards as long as they work.

You are not allowed to cycle on pavements although I am unsure of the penalty - in britain it can be a £20 spot fine. It also makes you unpopular. There are vague definitions of roadworthiness in most countries but this is just common sense -

A footpath is just that, you can be fined for cycling on one even if it looks like a minor road. Signs are fairly good and you will see a cycling forbidden sign if this is the case.

Bikes are not allowed on motorways (multi lane high speed national roads - whatever the canadian for that is ;-) ) and may not be on certain other dual carriageways but this is a local thing. These generally correspond to E and A roads, S roads (italy anyway) are normal roads and fine for cycling. Look at a map, avoid the types of road with the thickest line - you get the idea. Often you will find, especially with toll motorways, that there is an old road roughly parallel to it that is much nicer and quite quiet.

Unless the road signs say otherwise you are under no obligation to use a cyclepath, if it's a mixed pedestrian/biker one I find the road is often safer anyway.

Tunnels can be a problem depending where you are as the longer ones, as in over a kilometer, can have poor air quality. Most if not all are well lit though. If you are avoiding the alps and norway this isn't a problem. Mostly only the roads you aren't allowed to cycle on have long tunnels so that solves that one.

www.sheldonbrown.com has an english-french cycling glossary which is worth printing out. All the other countries you mention will be fine with parts names in english.

There are some subtleties to french junctions regarding giving way so it may be worth doing a search for driving in france. Never actually noticed this as I haven't driven there and it doesn't seem to be a problem for bikes.

And learn how to apologise in every language you can - it helps much more than shouting 'sorry'!

I live in Germany and can advise you a bit about cycling here. The cycling paths are usually mandatory. If there is a blue sign with a cycle on (see the link below) it then you are supposed to use the path and you can be fined for going on the road. Legally the sign has to appear at every intersection for the cycle path compulsion to apply. You are supposed to use the cycle path on the right of the carriageway unless the path is specifically signed as being a two-way path in which case you can use the path in either direction. If you are cycling on a path that runs on the left of the carriage way (even where legal) be VERY careful- they are death traps as drivers dont expect you to be cycling in this direction. The German drivers are quite considerate on the whole and try quite hard to avoid hitting pedestrians and cyclists but they do make mistakes like anyone.

You do not have to wear a helmet if you really don't want to but your bike should be kitted out with a bell (electric horns and such like are illegal), wheel/pedal/rear reflectors and dynamo lights (unless you have a racing bike weighing less than 10 kg in which case you are allowed to use battery lights). In any case, if you have a bell and any lights at all however you are unlikely to be stopped by the police.

You are not supposed to cycle on the pavements (unless you are under 10 years old) but as long as you do it slowly at walking pace you are unlikely to run into problems (ha ha)

Dont forget that in junctions not controlled by signposts that the person coming from the RIGHT has priority. So if you are cycling down a long street you might have to slow down at each intersection.

You are of course not allowed to cycle on the autobahns (which have no speed limit-so would be a bit hazardous) and other prohibited roads will be signposted.

With regard to accidents I am told that there is a priority system for determining fault where pedestrians have priority over cyclists and cyclists have priority over cars. So dont just go mowing down the pedestrians if they wander on to the cycle path as you might end up being sued.

the regulations for the use of bike paths is summarised here (in German)

http://bernd.sluka.de/Radfahren/rechtlich.html

Oh and as far as I know there are no hand signal laws in Germany.

hope this helps and have fun

if you need any more tips let me know

OK, you were not specifically interested in Finland, but here goes just in case.

We have a helmet law of sorts. You should wear it, but there's no sanction if you don't. Some law, if you ask me.

A bell, reflectors and lights (in the dark) are mandatory. I believe in theory flashing lights (blinkies) are still not allowed, but I have not heard of anyone getting even verbal guidance from the police because of those.

If there's a bike path / bike lane on your side of the street, you must use it. If it's on the other side, you can continue on the road for "short distance", whatever that means. Do NOT use sidewalk for riding, that's for kids only. Use hand signals for turning (right hand to right, left hand to left). You don't have to indicate stopping / braking.

Locals frequently break other rules mentioned above, but breaking these last ones will promptly make you unpopular, or organ donor, or both. Do not ride on motorways. Always yield to traffic coming from your right, unless there are signs indicating something else. A stop sign means complete stop, a red light means complete stop. Yes, some people here choose to ignore traffic lights while riding, but you should know the intersections well to be able to do that even relatively safely, IMO.

--J

Thanks, a couple other sources are saying the same thing.

I guess I'll have to get used to the signals. Around here its:
Turn left - extend your arm straight out
Turn Right - extend your left arm out and bend your arm up at the elbow
Stop - extend your left arm out and bend your arm down at the elbow.

Everything else is pretty much the same as here.