Rights to walk on the pavement pushing your bike?

[Milzy]

The other day 2 vehicles collided & a young women officer told me to go around while they move the crashed cars.
The thing is it was getting dark soon & I had no front light on. I was literally 2 miles from my house and I had to go around doing an extra 5 miles into a head wind.
Could I have just dismounted and used the pathway on foot legally? I’d say so.
Just want to know for future reference.

 

[Dogtrousers]

There was a legal case with the brilliant name of Crank v Brooks that determined that a person pushing a bike on a pedestrian crossing was legally a pedestrian.

So I'd say yes. Person pushing a bike is a pedestrian.

 

[Sharky]

Were any pedestrians being allowed to walk past?
Could be that the officer needed to keep the area as is, until they had fully assessed what had happened.

 

[ColinJ]

I came across a scene like that once. The police officer came up with a compromise to let me through...

I was out on another ride once when I came across a police roadblock. It would have required me to do a very long detour so I had a word with the police officer. He explained that a motorcyclist going one way and a car driver going the other had both apparently decided to go round the same blind bend in the middle of the road. The motorcyclist was very badly injured in the resulting collision and was being tended to by paramedics in the field next to the road before being taken to hospital by the waiting air ambulance. I was allowed to go through on the promise that I would walk my bike along the grass verge and not disturb any of the debris in the road which would be of interest to the accident investigation team when they arrived on the scene.

 

[albion]

Were any pedestrians being allowed to walk past?
Could be that the officer needed to keep the area as is, until they had fully assessed what had happened.

Yup, they have to 'secure the scene'. And whilst the footpath might be irrelevent, officers are stuck on the threat of disciplinary action ruling out common sense.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

There is a problem where the Polic ehave to close a road

but the diversion is a long way round

I came across it a while ago - the Silver Jubilee bride from Runcorn to Widnes was closed and I was coming back from a ride
I think there was someone threatening to jump or something

anyway - cars were fine - they could easily just go round over the "new bridge"
but people on foot or cycling were faced with having to go all the way round to Warrington (Sankey Bridges for the people who know the area) as the next bridge over the Mersey and Ship Canal

which is getting on for a 20 miles ride - I know because I had just done it the other way!!

but they had no real choice
if they can they allow walkers and cyclist to use the cycle path or walkway on one side but in some cases they just cannot

 

[presta]

I came across a scene like that once. The police officer came up with a compromise to let me through...

I had one like that, and after I laid it on a bit thick about the distance to go around, the police allowed me through, and told me to pick my way carefully between the debris.

A few years later I had another one, and asked again, and was let through again, but this time the next cop along the road saw me and hit the roof, tearing into me for ignoring the closure. Then when the cop who let me through came to my defence he turned on him instead. It's not difficult to see why he was rattled, there was an injured child laid screaming in the road.

(Both of these were country roads with no pavement.)

 

[Dogtrousers]

It has happened to me. I was turned around once following an incident involving a cyclist (so the cops told me) which, judging by the presence of the air ambulance and the demeanour of the officers, was pretty bad. I had a pretty hard and unpleasant detour (and I was knackered at the time) but all in all my problems were minor compared to what was going on up the lane.

The lane in question (Sheepbarn Lane) is steep, badly potholed, has a blind bend, can be quite busy and is a bus route. It's on my avoid list these days.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Thing with a road closure like that is that you do not know how bad it is

I do get annoyed when people complain and DEMAND to be let through as they have no clue why it is closed

and having to wait for a while or drive a few miles is a massive imposition

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

One morning, I was completely thrown by blue and white tape across the road on Northam Bridge, on my way to my old job. I'd never encountered this tape before in my life, thought it might be some sort of prank, so I lifted up the tape and continued over the bridge (just like another cyclist that was metres ahead of me).

As we approached the far end of the bridge, the situation became more apparent. A bloke, not in police uniform, was doing something inside a car that was in a right state and asked us why we crossed the tape. In my postie uniform, explained I was on my way to work.

He wasn't terribly happy, but told us both to use the stairs before the end of the bridge, that dropped down to the side road and I rejoined the main road ~50 metres the other side of the wrecked car.

Can't remember the details now, but it was a bad crash.

 

[MontyVeda]

...
Could I have just dismounted and used the pathway on foot legally? I’d say so.
Just want to know for future reference.

Of course you could. Why would you think otherwise?

 

[Milzy]

Of course you could. Why would you think otherwise?

Well I know for next time. It’s bound to happen, might be a few years time.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Of course you could. Why would you think otherwise?

When I was quite young - possibly on the Cycling Proficiency Test
I was told that the correct way to do it was to walk along the edge of the pavement and push you bike along in teh gutter

which is damn uncomfortable as the bars are very low

Also they told us that the "correct" way to park a bike - and something we had to be able to do - was to park it vertically in the gutter with the inner pedal on the top of the kerb so that it hold the bike up

which is incredibly unstable
so much so that I was once walking home and saw an old bloke park his bike like this and walk away. As I go to his bike a car went past and the draft caused the bike to fall into the road
I grabbed it and dumped in on the pavement (it is very wide at that point)

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

When I was quite young - possibly on the Cycling Proficiency Test
I was told that the correct way to do it was to walk along the edge of the pavement and push you bike along in teh gutter

which is damn uncomfortable as the bars are very low

Also they told us that the "correct" way to park a bike - and something we had to be able to do - was to park it vertically in the gutter with the inner pedal on the top of the kerb so that it hold the bike up

which is incredibly unstable
so much so that I was once walking home and saw an old bloke park his bike like this and walk away. As I go to his bike a car went past and the draft caused the bike to fall into the road
I grabbed it and dumped in on the pavement (it is very wide at that point)

like this

 

[annedonnelly]

I can do that - with certain kerbs. Though I wouldn't walk away and leave it like that.