Cycle users on pavements.

[MontyVeda]

No, it's the price we pay for electing car-crazed and cheapskate councils who won't build cycle tracks to proper standards, so they look indistinguishable from footpaths by the casual walker.

Some of the cycle lanes up here are bright red and as such are completely distinguishable from the footpath alongside... the peds think it's a red carpet laid out just for them

 

[mjr]

Some of the cycle lanes up here are bright red and as such are completely distinguishable from the footpath alongside... the peds think it's a red carpet laid out just for them

Not my experience elsewhere but I'd bet that's not the case in Kingston anyway

 

[theclaud]

No, it's the price we pay for electing car-crazed and cheapskate councils who won't build cycle tracks to proper standards, so they look indistinguishable from footpaths by the casual walker.

My main problem with cycle tracks is that it's just more urban space from which pedestrians are excluded. I know I'm swimming against the tide with this one, and every time I arrive in London there's a new proliferation of kerbs, but I've yet to hear a convincing argument as to why pedestrians should accede to this land-grab, even if it is what a lot of cyclists seem to want.

 

[Mrklaw]

My main problem with cycle tracks is that it's just more urban space from which pedestrians are excluded. I know I'm swimming against the tide with this one, and every time I arrive in London there's a new proliferation of kerbs, but I've yet to hear a convincing argument as to why pedestrians should accede to this land-grab, even if it is what a lot of cyclists seem to want.

Distribution should be based on available surface area between buildings, combined with how much traffic of each type is to be accommodated.

Eg Oxford street - tons of pedestrians - just pave the lot of it and leave them to it. Too many people to even bother with buses or bikes
Small side street with hardly any foot traffic, consider a narrow pavement and separate cycle lane. If you have a city with multiple roads in close proximity you can turn some of them one-way to free up space for cycle lanes.

 

[theclaud]

Distribution should be based on available surface area between buildings, combined with how much traffic of each type is to be accommodated.

And they say romance is dead.

 

[mjr]

My main problem with cycle tracks is that it's just more urban space from which pedestrians are excluded. I know I'm swimming against the tide with this one, and every time I arrive in London there's a new proliferation of kerbs, but I've yet to hear a convincing argument as to why pedestrians should accede to this land-grab, even if it is what a lot of cyclists seem to want.

They don't need to because there is no further land-grab from pedestrians overall. Most of London's good tracks have been taken from the carriageway rather than the footway. For example (Camera angles aren't exact but count the paving slabs etc):

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QEw0lyTuLAk

 

[snorri]

And they say romance is dead.

At least you managed to say something, I was left speechless.

.

 

[Slick]

I passed at least 6 different cyclists on the pavement this morning and I thought of this thread. I really couldn't see any problem with what they were doing and there was certainly no pedestrians at risk as they looked like they were moving reasonably slowly with little or no ped traffic. I then saw another cyclist come from a busy road join the road I was on and he immediately joined the pavement, which did get me wondering why. As a bus squeezed by me for no apparent reason filling my lungs with horrible fumes, I remembered that it's only a matter of weeks since a cyclist was killed on this road so I can fully understand why.

 

[snorri]

The roads authority in a nearby town has come up with some proposals for......'improved walking and cycling facilities and saying plans have been developed to improve road safety and support active travel.'
Which sounds exciting until we read they propose installing lots of drop kerbs in order to encourage pavement cycling which they intend to have legalised, and very little else.

 

[mjr]

The roads authority in a nearby town has come up with some proposals for......'improved walking and cycling facilities and saying plans have been developed to improve road safety and support active travel.'
Which sounds exciting until we read they propose installing lots of drop kerbs in order to encourage pavement cycling which they intend to have legalised, and very little else.

Please comment and add your voice to those telling them that actual building work is needed, as cycleways need to be wider and smoother than most current footways, with better junction layouts, directing them to whatever guides you like: IAN 195/16, London Cycling Design Standards, heck, even Sustrans's Design Handbook no longer encourages pavement cycling. It's a 1990s mistake.

 

[confusedcyclist]

I have taken to riding a particular stretch of pavement on my commute home. It follows a long tiring climb out of a valley, the incline decreases slightly at the particular section, but progress is still slow, it is impossible keep pace with traffic. It is very narrow in parts with sharp blind bends. Traffic is constant at peak hours and it has a 50mph limit, but some still exceed that. Most drivers are flying recklessly around the blind bends without regard for who might be out of sight around the corner, or coming in the opposite direction in the middle of the road. After a couple of very close overtakes on the bends, including one occasion with an oncoming cyclist. Myself and him being tailgated by loons attempting to overtake us both at the same time as we converged at the bed in the narrow road. Truly brown pants moment for all involved.... mercifully one of the drivers had the sense to abort the overtake at the Nth hour and hung back. I have since quit riding on that road for fear of the worst eventually happening there.

Previously I was adamant about never riding on pavements and had somewhat a condescending attitude towards pavement riders, but now I have proudly joined ranks (for this small section of road) for fear of being squashed like a bug. In the summer I'm able to avoid the road by taking a piece of off-road track, but it's unlit and next to impassible in the winter due to boggy conditions so I'm forced to stick to the road, there are no reasonable alternative routes without massively extending my already lengthy 10 mile route, or taking the dreaded Wakefield Road which is arguably worse, that would also mean giving up on the 4 or so miles of relative safety on the Leeds-Bradford Cycle Superhighway.

 

[Alwaysbroken]

Tolerance
Common sense
Professional judgement

All becoming less common, too much signage, legislation and rules help enforce the great opinionated.

So I have a 40 mph stretch of road which is very busy and not wide enough to overtake pedalbikes. There is pavement of sorts on one side which is in poor condition and overgrown, but it has been signposted as dual use for cycles and pedestrians.
Cars abuse all cycles who don’t use the path.

My take on the scenario is:-

If I’m on a family plod I’ll use the path but I always stop and allow pedestrians priority.
If I’m on my road bike & doing 25mph + I’ll use the road.

But in rush hour when I’m stuck behind a massive queue because a Lycra clad numpty is struggling to maintain 10mph on the road I think they should get off their “it’s my right” mindset & get on the path.

If on a path, on a bike represent well & give total priority to pedestrians, if on busy 30mph roads I tend to wave congested traffic past me, I don’t need 5 feet to pass my ass isn’t that wide yet.

I have full licence for trucks, cars, motorcycles and I walk if I have too, I always try to keep traffic flowing when driving & flash congested queues out to free up the road.

My biggest bug bear with cycles is light controlled crossings!!! The number of riders that press the button when the road is not busy in Bristol is insane! Sat at a red light for nothing when the bike is long gone does press my buttons.

There are crap drivers and crap cyclists, that won’t ever change, but the more rights & rules put in place, the more everybody feels they own their bit of space.

Pavement, road, grass or mud, I’ll ride on all of it, which ever makes sense, is most practical & im not detrimentally affecting others.

Live and let live brother

 

[screenman]

Trouble is we are often tarred with the same brush as this lot, how they have just discovered it as it has been going on in other towns I visit for years.

https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/lincoln-news/residents-anger-gang-30-kids-2426258

 

[Alwaysbroken]

Trouble is we are often tarred with the same brush as this lot, how they have just discovered it as it has been going on in other towns I visit for years.

https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/lincoln-news/residents-anger-gang-30-kids-2426258

I drive through centre of Bristol regularly on the evening and there are genuinely loads of adult even middle aged cyclists riding on the roads in dark clothing with no lights? Almost like it’s a “thing”?

We also have gangs of youths riding city streets deliberately disrupting traffic?

There are loads of weirdo’s on the planet, I don’t see it reflects on “cyclists” or people who happen to ride bikes, they are simply idiots waiting for natural selection to occur.

 

[mgs315]

Funnily enough I was also reminded of this thread today when out on the bike. I was in a cycle lane near New Cross (so just a painted line to be honest but as it was rush hour motorists were being mindful of the lane) when I came across some kid (probably early 20s but the kind that look like they don’t want to grow up any time soon) wheelieing a mountain bike on the pavement. He then continued to do so past a packed bus stop.

How on earth he didn’t hit anyone is almost as amazing as his stupidity.