Cycling On The Pavement

[summerdays]

Yes you can be fined and I'm sure Bristol police do fine some. I suspect whether you were fined would depend on a number of factors, from how you are cycling, how confident you look, how busy the pavement is, whether that policeman is in a bad mood etc. You can try and use the defence that you are scared to cycle on the roads but again I don't think that's going to work if you are wearing all your Lycra, and cycling on the pavement in a cul de sac.

I do up a narrow 10% hill where my speed means that cars come across me cycling at about 4 mph with about 10 m notice. It is difficult to overtake a cyclist on the hill due to the bends but that doesn't stop some trying. I have been passed by a police car when on that hill and he didn't stop. When the hill reduces I transfer back to the road. I'm prepared to argue I do it for my safety and others convince, and I will accept the fine if they don't believe me.

 

[Dayvo]

A friendly wave and a cheery 'good evening, constable, lovely evening, isn't it' would go down well with our upholder of the law, methinks.

Mind you, it depends if you're some kind of chav or pikey on a BSO.

 

[ComedyPilot]

A cyclist, like a ped uses physical energy to get from A to B so, unlike motorised traffic, finding the most efficient, easiest, least strenuous route will always be done by them.

If A to B is made longer by use of a busy road/junction or complicated turns, and can be avoided by a short spell on a path, with no peds, at slow pace, then I fail to see how any police officer could justify fining them.

Bikes weaving in and out of peds on a precinct/promenade/busy path is a no no.

A cyclist using a short stretch of path to avoid mingling with dangerous/myopic/careless/smelly vehicles is certainlysomething I would consider in my A to B planning.

 

[MontyVeda]

What about mine?

Of course not! You ride on the pavements which is a CRIME and are no better than blah blah blah...

 

[cosmicbike]

Oh no, ALERT - ALERT - cyclist 'using common sense'....?

Pavement cycling is black and white, there can't be any possible justification for using a path....

Or can there?

You forget, common sense died long ago. Cycling on the pavement is acceptable*, provided it can be somebody else's fault

* Others may have a different opinion

 

[400bhp]

:troll:

Let's see hoow long this one lasts.

 

[raleighnut]

[QUOTE 2901694, member: 30090"]Yes you can be fined, however the ACPO guidelines stat that the Police must use their best judgement when issuing a fine, so:

If you don't want to be fined, ride like a maniac, anything less than 18 - 20 mph you are going far too slow, treat peds as mere obstacles passing them as close as possible without giving a shout.

If you do want to be fined, anything more than 6 mph and you are going way to far fast and should be on the road. Have the brakes constantly covered should you need to brake to give way and give a nod of thanks to every ped that you see.[/quote]

 

[Cuchilo]

Riding on the FOOTpath is illegal, end of story. Doing so you are no better than the speeding or phone using motorist [please don't try the "oh it's not so bad because I was only riding a bicycle" routine] - if it's ok for you to break the law it's ok for them too.
As for getting off and walking [which is legal] why is that so bad ? If the road is SO dangerous that you must [or think you have an excuse to] use the pavement then the few minutes you will lose by walking will be more than made up for in overall journey time.

I guess you don't wear SPD-SL's I bet most people would prefer you to stay on the bike than push it along walking like you've had a trouser moment

 

[BlackPanther]

Can you be fined if the Police caught you cycling on the pavement ?

I'd think that a policeman wouldn't do you if you were riding sensibly. I regularly cycle through Doncaster pedestrian zone, where I slow down to walking speed. I have seen the police having a 'conversation' with another cyclist, but I suspect they were just advising him to slow down. I've never been 'stopped', although someone (council?) did once shout 'Excuse me....excuse me' as I filtered to the front of traffic lights, just over the stop line to take a primary position for setting off. As I cycled off on green, I heard another 'Excuse me!' but there was no way I was going to hang around with traffic behind me on a green light!

 

[Dan B]

I regularly cycle through Doncaster pedestrian zone, where I slow down to walking speed. I have seen the police having a 'conversation' with another cyclist, but I suspect they were just advising him to slow down.

Pedestrian zones are not the same in law as footways if they are not by the side of the road. Cycling in them may or may not be illegal, depending on TROs, but the Highways Act 1835 is not the relevant piece of legislation

 

[Dan B]

Of course not! You ride on the pavements which is a CRIME and are no better than

... shoplifters, tradesman doing cash-in-hand jobs to avoid tax, illegal immigrants, serial killers, and genocidal dictators. HTH

 

[theclaud]

If the fuzz are going to get exercised about people riding bikes on footways, why don't they ask local authorities to stop painting bicycles on apparently random bits of the pavement?

 

[simon.r]

If the fuzz are going to get exercised about people riding bikes on footways, why don't they ask local authorities to stop painting bicycles on apparently random bits of the pavement?

And random bits of road. That are more often than not in the door zone

 

[MarkF]

I use a stretch every day at a horrible junction (Fox's corner - Shipley) where I was once nearly wiped out, I use it for maybe 200m, it's wide with clear unobstructed views, no doorways or drives lead onto it, I might see a pedestrian on it every 3 days.

On the right.

 

[uclown2002]

#badass