Stupid local authority and the threat to humanity from cyclists.. (apparently)

[Born2die]

I only really go on the pavement at busy fast roundabouts or when I'm following my 8yo and that still feels wrong there are a lot of chavs in my town and they treat the pavements like there own personal racetrack I must have been hit 4/5 times. What I find amusing are the multitude of little old lady scooters they are just as bad I'm all for them if they need them but some don't and by e there is a group of 3 60 ish ladies who all ride to town together a I go past it's so tempting to shout convoy

 

[Dragonwight]

Lets hope they get the right address details for the issued fpn. I have been getting court letters for months for some muppet who got a fpn for riding on the pavement in Poole and used our address. Can i get it sorted can i hell its like the bureaucracy from hell.

 

[Leodis]

Depends, city pavements I avoid but out of town next to the ring road I sometimes jump on them if the weather is bad or traffic very heavy.

 

[apb]

i personally never ride on the pavement, though i'm lucky i live in a city that has some infrastructure and my usual commute is relatively safe compared to other parts of the country.

I believe some cyclist do break the law because they are adapting to the environment they live/cycle in which is unsafe. I also believe that cracking down on certain behavior which is against the law, but is done so because personal safety, can put peoples lives at risk.

if your response is "well don't cycle there", then you're part of the problem.

i thought this article sums it up rather well.

http://beyondthekerb.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/the-bolton-price-comparison-site/

 

[glenn forger]

The fine for cycling across Victoria Square in Bolton was £50. If you were a bit stupid and you got nicked both on the way to work and the way home you’d be £100 lighter.
Which sort of seems a bit stiff when you compare it to the fine awarded to Ronald Finney, who – also in Bolton – drove his car with eyesight so impaired that he was medically unfit to drive and hit a cyclist, breaking his back in four places, fracturing his skull, breaking 30 other bones, causing a brain injury and placing him on a life support machine.
Finney was fined £95.

 

[steve52]

cycling in city centers and such wouldent be as big a problem if the cyclist gave priority to the pedestrian, we can cycle slowly and speed up when on the roads again, cant we?

 

[Leodis]

cycling in city centers and such wouldent be as big a problem if the cyclist gave priority to the pedestrian, we can cycle slowly and speed up when on the roads again, cant we?

It would be a lot easier if we had a proper cycling infrastructure within UK cities.

 

[Scoosh]

It would be a lot easier if we had a proper cycling infrastructure within UK cities.

Post #16 refers ...

 

[Leodis]

Post #16 refers ...

10 Years it has taken the Leeds cycling "forum" to get something done about one street, they only got this for their backing on Trolleybus.

 

[MontyVeda]

Perhaps you should mention this to them? They may genuinely not have thought of it.

Go to planning meetings. Write letters. See if there's a local cycling group who agree with you, and who'll get together and get things changed.

It's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil.

Many of the pavements I used to routinely cycle on are now shared use paths... and a couple of one way streets i used to 'nip the wrong way down' now have a contraflow cycle lane in place. I expect this is only as a result of cyclists pressing for change rather than members of the local council having a brainwave (although our Green Party member rides a bike... and is a complete member, I'm sure he helped).

 

[mickle]

I once witnessed a couple of teenage lads riding through a pedestrianised town centre on a moped, helmetless and weaving between old ladies and their shopping trolleys - and no-one batted a frickin eylid. Why? Because it was Holland. They were riding slowly and respectfully and posed no threat to anyone. Ride a bike on the pavement in the UK and every other git will feel the need to poke you with their zimmer frame or slap you with their handbag. Gits who wouldn't bat an eyelid at the driver of a car or pantechnicon parking on the very same bit of pavement.

On average fewer than one pedestrians are killed by cyclists in the UK every year. We pose virtually zero danger to the population. I think it's an absloute fricking scandal that cyclists are being singled out for prosecution/persecution when there are still muppets driving around whilst yabbering on their mobile phone. Parking on the pavement - posing actual real danger. Sometimes 10% of the numpties driving in to York on the A19 every morning are on the phone.

 

[steve52]

It would be a lot easier if we had a proper cycling infrastructure within UK cities.

agreed but untill then

 

[Dan B]

cycling in city centers and such wouldent be as big a problem if the cyclist gave priority to the pedestrian, we can cycle slowly and speed up when on the roads again, cant we?

It would be nice to think we could, wouldn't it? There's a depressingly large number of pavement cyclists who can't or won't slow down, but I'm sure changing the presumption of liability would help there.

 

[Dan B]

I've not seen it commented on yet, but it's worth observing also that the general law which makes pavement cycling illegal (Highways Act 1835? Something relatively ancient like that) applies only only to footways, which is to say, pavements that form part of a road (usually found alongside carriageways - the clue here is in the words 'foot' and 'carriage'). It may very well be illegal to cycle in Bolton's pedestrianized areas, but if it is it's because there's a bylaw forbidding it and, and the penalties and enforcement process are not necessarily the same as for generic footway riding

 

[davefb]

I've not seen it commented on yet, but it's worth observing also that the general law which makes pavement cycling illegal (Highways Act 1835? Something relatively ancient like that) applies only only to footways, which is to say, pavements that form part of a road (usually found alongside carriageways - the clue here is in the words 'foot' and 'carriage'). It may very well be illegal to cycle in Bolton's pedestrianized areas, but if it is it's because there's a bylaw forbidding it and, and the penalties and enforcement process are not necessarily the same as for generic footway riding

yeah, theres TINY little signs and it's only a section of the 'pedestrianised' area because some other bits are 'access only' so technically you can drive on the area during certain hours.

anyway, me dragging the subject up again, because I read a letter on the BN website..

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/comm...r_is_driving_cyclists_on_to_pavements/?ref=la