Cycle users on pavements.

[mjr]

I was cycling on the pavement the other day and a pedestrian, having seen me, felt the need to press themselves flat against the wall to allow me to pass... the pavement was a good eight feet wide so plenty of room for them (and me) to carry on as normal, but no... they went for the drama.

I seem to be getting that more and more too Has there been a specific thing in the press recently to make walkers more fearful of cyclists on cycleways and back roads?

Still not had one as bad as the guy a few years ago who threw the woman he was walking with into the hedge!

 

[mjr]

The worst example was a kid who used the cycle route across the main roundabout between Horsham and Broadbridge Heath, which requires crossing the traffic flow twice (like the pedestrians have too), but he just went straight across without looking, forcing me to brake on the opposite side of the roundabout.

I don't understand this. Firstly, what do you mean "crossing the traffic flow twice"? Isn't the cycle route traffic flow to you?

Secondly, do you mean to say that some parts of the UK are still building cycle route crossings that don't have priority? I'm shocked, I tell you(!)

 

[rogerzilla]

Round here there are three apparent reasons people cycle on pavements:

- fear of traffic (and never having learned to cope with it)
- no lights
- general assumption that it's ok because in some places there are blue signs (cyclepaths blur the boundaries; I can show you paths where there is no segregation, no increased path width and in fact nothing to upgrade the path from a pavement other than a little blue sign). If it's safe to ride where there's a blue sign, surely it's safe to ride on any pavement?

 

[HLaB]

Er, not necessarily, if some of them really were scared of using the road they wouldn't ride on the pavement at night in dark clothes and no lights, then emulate the smart-phone-dumb-users by darting into the road without bothering to look (yes I have seen this behaviour, fortunately not that common). The worst example was a kid who used the cycle route across the main roundabout between Horsham and Broadbridge Heath, which requires crossing the traffic flow twice (like the pedestrians have too), but he just went straight across without looking, forcing me to brake on the opposite side of the roundabout. He was lucky it was me on a bike and not a driver that hadn't seen his earlier antics and wasn't fully observant.

Yip those are the ones I can't understand Cambridge is full of them :-/

 

[classic33]

I don't understand this. Firstly, what do you mean "crossing the traffic flow twice"? Isn't the cycle route traffic flow to you?

Secondly, do you mean to say that some parts of the UK are still building cycle route crossings that don't have priority? I'm shocked, I tell you(!)

The clue is in the names, blurred over time, as more seek to justify their cycling on them on what is legally a road vehicle. Footpath/pedestrian crossing.

Would the same stance be taken if the vehicle in question had an internal combustion engine and two wheels?

 

[Alan O]

That's a common misconception, but death still prevents further reproduction, thereby reducing the probability of further genetic perpetuation, plus the lethal trait may have been passed on and kill its carriers in turn. You can't dodge Darwin.

Also, parents (and even grandparents) helping to take care of offspring are improving the chances of their shared DNA surviving, so earlier deaths even after reproductive age can expose surviving offspring to further selective pressure.

 

[mickle]

Also, parents (and even grandparents) helping to take care of offspring are improving the chances of their shared DNA surviving, so earlier deaths even after reproductive age can expose surviving offspring to further selective pressure.

Professor Alice Roberts informed me recently, via the wonder of television, that grand parent child care is why humans evolved to have such long lifespans.

 

[Sixmile]

I was out on my lunch break there and I was stopped by a woman with a microphone and a fella with a professional camera rig. 'Em sir, can I ask you some questions about cycling on the road?'. In total, they asked 10 questions and one of them being 'Can cyclists cycle on the footpath?'. In exceptional circumstances but generally no, probably wasn't the answer that they wanted.

 

[Happy69]

I was just coming out of my front garden when a cyclist nearly hit me as he was on the pavement, luckily neither of us were injured but I did get to ask him about his dahon tho

 

[Ming the Merciless]

It is one of the great contradictions of car culture.

Cycle on the pavement and you will be called reckless. Paint a white lime on another pavement, same dimensions running parallel to the road you are cycling on, and motorists will tell you to get on the obligatory cycle path.

Cycling on the pavement is both reckless and obligatory at the same time, like some kind of entangled quantum superposition.

 

[Arjimlad]

Doesn't help when the Council signpost a narrow busy shared-use pavement as a "Cycle Track" - requires giving way at multiple sideroads, negotiating pushchairs, dog leads, children etc. Not as if there wouldn't be room for a real "cycle track" here, is it ?

 

[glasgowcyclist]

The pavement on the left here is barely wider than my handlebars but that didn't stop the council reclassifying it as a shared facility for cyclists and pedestrians. A wee blue sign magically makes it safe!

Not that they could afford to remove an inch of those four lanes of road from the cars, oh no.

 

[Milkfloat]

Doesn't help when the Council signpost a narrow busy shared-use pavement as a "Cycle Track" - requires giving way at multiple sideroads, negotiating pushchairs, dog leads, children etc. Not as if there wouldn't be room for a real "cycle track" here, is it ?

View attachment 449779

I see that as the cars giving way to the bikes. This is my nearest piece of quality National Cycles network. Unfortunately it is designed for owls with the ability to rotate their heads at least 270 degrees. Me, I ride on the road and screw the drivers.

On a plus note, they just spent an absolute fortune on the footpaths, so they can divert cyclists out of the way of a pinch point with no easy way to rejoin the road. It would have been significantly better and cheaper to just remove the pinch point..

 

[tom73]

@Arjimlad we've a few like that round here too our powers that be solution to side roads is cyclist re join road signs then multiple cyclist re join signs. By the time you've got on , off , on ,off may as well use the road. They also make use of signs so small you never see them so no-one ever users them in the 1st place. We even have some signed as routes that take you miles out the way so they get given a miss too. But still they can go around telling everyone they are doing something. Bless them

 

[Arjimlad]

I see that as the cars giving way to the bikes. This is my nearest piece of quality National Cycles network. Unfortunately it is designed for owls with the ability to rotate their heads at least 270 degrees. Me, I ride on the road and screw the drivers.
View attachment 449795



On a plus note, they just spent an absolute fortune on the footpaths, so they can divert cyclists out of the way of a pinch point with no easy way to rejoin the road. It would have been significantly better and cheaper to just remove the pinch point..
View attachment 449794

Sadly not, there are faded give way markings on the pavement. Pinch point in your second photo is a pedestrian refuge for those wanting to cross over. They could perhaps have sacrificed a little more pavement to alleviate things ?