wrong to cycle on sidewalk?

[summerdays]

Other folks riding on that bit of the world which lays at the side of a road, slightly raised up, usually with a curb and flooded with bipeds is just plain annoying to me, especially when I'm at a light or stuck behind slow moving traffic.

I've been known to get off and run to get through lights or slow moving traffic! there isn't anything that says you can't run with your bike on the "foot way". Did it last week when I just made it to the lights when they turned red so knew I would be there till the end of the next cycle as I was going to turn right. And I was already late so didn't want to wait. And I particularly like doing it when two motorists are having a stand off in a road, when you pass them and get back on the road feeling smug

 

[sheffgirl]

I ride on the pavement/sidewalk/footpath/footway quite frequently now.
I do it safely and considerately where I feel that the road isn't safe for me to use.

There's a section of Penistone Road where I ride on the path. It becomes a cycle/shared path about a third of the way down. Its a busy dual carriageway and I don't feel safe riding on the road. I got squeezed into the kerb one time on there, and came off. Its a wide path and I always consider pedestrians, although there aren't many. I would not cycle on narrow paths or if there were more people around.
I'm sure i read that early next year the section of path I use will all become a cycle path, which will be good, I've seen a other cyclists use it as well.

 

[ufkacbln]

In Law, a cycle is in fact a "carriage"








.... and a vehicle

It depends which regulation you refer to

 

[ufkacbln]

I remember being stopped in Fareham many years ago for "cycling on the pavement" by one of the first PCSO's

Pointed out that a Traffic Regulation Order was in effect and that the Council had simply not got round to replacing the markings following repairs.

He insisted, but after a quick call verifying that all was needed was a TRO to be in place the markings were irrelevant

 

[Sara_H]

There's a section of Penistone Road where I ride on the path. It becomes a cycle/shared path about a third of the way down. Its a busy dual carriageway and I don't feel safe riding on the road. I got squeezed into the kerb one time on there, and came off. Its a wide path and I always consider pedestrians, although there aren't many. I would not cycle on narrow paths or if there were more people around.
I'm sure i read that early next year the section of path I use will all become a cycle path, which will be good, I've seen a other cyclists use it as well.

Penistone Road is a complete mess. Are you a member if CycleSheffield? Penistone Road comes up as a topic frequently!

 

[sheffgirl]

No, I'm not, looked at their website, is their forum any good?
Unfortunately there isn't an alternative to penistone road for me, apparently it should be complete in the spring, just checked and the section I mentioned (Leppings Lane to the leisure centre) will become a shared use path. I just hope they signpost it well, the kids at Hillsborough college seem to have no idea what a cycle path is

 

[winjim]

I commute on Penistone Rd and I would much rather be on the road than that cycle path with all its junctions. I just hope that the new layout is wide enough for me to filter as at the moment I hop onto the path if it's busy.

They have moved that box though!

 

[Cyclopathic]

As a cyclist and a pedestrian I can tell you for certain that there is nothing wrong with cycling on the pavement if you are careful and considerate. You will be taking up half the room than you would if you were wheeling the bike and with care you should never be a problem to anyone. I've always used the pavement when it's been appropriate and have never so much as clipped anyone ever. Whilst wheeling my bike I have scraped peoples shins on two occasions. I know anecdotal evidence doesn't count for much but it is still evidence.
The people that boil my urine are the tits who ride along at full pelt regardless of who is around or who might be coming out of shops.
Whatever the law or anybody else says ever, riding carefully on the path is ok and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

[Drago]

And what about the ammunition that your behaviour gives to the very vocal anti cycling brigade? You being careful won't cut any ice with them as they form their view of us as a user group, and the louder these chumps get the more likely someone with authority to make laws will hear them.

 

[MontyVeda]

And what about the ammunition that your behaviour gives to the very vocal anti cycling brigade? You being careful won't cut any ice with them as they form their view of us as a user group, and the louder these chumps get the more likely someone with authority to make laws will hear them.

sod 'em! They're ignorant twunts and are best ignored.

If the OP feels safer using a stretch of empty pavement than the road, then I suspect he/she probably is safer using the pavement.

 

[Sara_H]

And what about the ammunition that your behaviour gives to the very vocal anti cycling brigade? You being careful won't cut any ice with them as they form their view of us as a user group, and the louder these chumps get the more likely someone with authority to make laws will hear them.

My safety is more important than the views of a few ignorant mortards, whose views are likely well formed long before they see me pottering benignly on the footway.

 

[Cyclopathic]

And what about the ammunition that your behaviour gives to the very vocal anti cycling brigade? You being careful won't cut any ice with them as they form their view of us as a user group, and the louder these chumps get the more likely someone with authority to make laws will hear them.

Stuff 'em. Seriously.

 

[Racing roadkill]

No it's not.

It's not a terribly bright idea though.

 

[Brandane]

A bicycle is a vehicle and unless you want to ride on a designated cycle path stay on the road. Nothing worse than stupid cyclists on the pavement.

Where do you get your definition of "vehicle" from? A legal decision in Scotland (albeit in the 1930's) ruled that a bicycle is NOT a vehicle, but it is an aid to pedestrianism and as such can be used on a pedestrian right of way.

 

[summerdays]

Where do you get your definition of "vehicle" from? A legal decision in Scotland (albeit in the 1930's) ruled that a bicycle is NOT a vehicle, but it is an aid to pedestrianism and as such can be used on a pedestrian right of way.

I thought it came from the Highway Code and presumably the relevant acts behind it? I'm sure the Highway Code refers to a bicycle as a vehicle as the No Vehicles sign applies to bikes.