Traffic sign too confusing, Hong Kong judge says as bicycle-riding activist cleared

A social activist was cleared yesterday of failing to dismount from her bicycle and push it after a High Court judge found a traffic sign “ambiguous and confusing”.

Ho Loy, a heritage preservationist who was involved in protests against the demolition of the Star Ferry and Queen’s piers, was fined HK$500 by a magistrate for continuing to ride her bicycle at a restricted area on Lantau Island on May 13, 2013.

The restricted area is bordered by bollards on either side – with a sign requiring cyclists to dismount their bicycles on entering the area and a sign allowing cyclists to resume cycling on leaving the area.

The prosecution said that Ho was riding a bicycle at Yu Tung Road cycling track near a lamp post and that she did not dismount from her bicycle upon reaching the traffic sign.

Ho, however, argued that she had cycled past the location many times and that she had been confused by the sign all along.