To cycle on the pavement with children?

[Aquariusgirl86]

I commute to work on my bike and always cycle on the roads but recently bought a trailer for my bike so I can take my two children 14 months and 30 months out as we just got rid of the car. Is it ok to go on pavements? There are lots of cycle routes her but there's a few places I need to go that I can't use them, if I'm on small quiet roads I use the road but on medium- ish roads with wide pavements is it ok to use the pavement? I don't expect pedestrians to move out my way, I'm never in a huge hurry I just want to keep the kids safe.......aibu?

Can i just ask - without sounding too daft - do all bikes have to be on roads?

I don't have one, but my 5yo dd goes out on her bike every other day, with me walking alongside her. Her bike has stabilisers, she goes at a snail's pace, can't properly break etc - should she be cycling on the road instead of the path? With me walking on the path? Or is it different rules for children?

I would not take the trailer with the kids in it on the road. It only takes one idiot. Trailer possibly too big for the path to be honest. Can you travel any other way

I am under the impression that children under 10 can legally cycle on pavements. Probably doesn't apply if with an adult on trailer bike though.

MrsOakenshield - clearly you are over-invested.

I asked a local policeman about this when I used to cycle with my children to school. He said it was perfectly fine children or adults with children should most definitely cycle on the pavements. He said that as long as you are considerate to pedestrians then it was fine.

So I think if you feel safer on the pavement then use it, I would.

Your local policeman may have said that it's okay Somany but he is not right. Adults are breaking the law if they cycle on the pavement.

The town I live in has cycle lanes everywhere and the cyclists still hurtle at dangerous speeds all over the bits of the pavement that aren't given over to the cycle lanes. Drives me mad.

Having said that, if you're traveling in a very quiet area and you're respectful of pedestrians OP, I'd go for it if it keeps your DC safe.

Well from what he said an adult is not breaking the law if they are cycling with children. I cycle without my children and I always cycle on the road of course. But who expects small children to cycle on a road? That is really dangerous.

This thread shows perfectly why parents need to get out on the roads with their kids on bikes. Sensible, ASSERTIVE (yes gruffalump it's possible with a trailer or with a trailer bike) cycling is not highly risky. No adult should ever need to cycle on the pavement and as soon as dc can balance confidently, signal and follow your instructions on a bike you should get them on the road too. If cycling with younger dc they should always ride AHEAD of you btw. Then you can see exactly what they are coming up on, you can establish a good road position and you won't leave them behind. Contrary to what has been suggested in this thread there's every reason to think a trailer bike is safer than a seat on the back of the bike. If you fall off (which is more likely than anything else) and the bike goes over then the child in the seat could hit their head. A child in a trailer won't be upturned at all. That said when I slid on some black ice and the bike went over the seat itself and the straps held dd up away from the floor and though she had a helmet on she didn't need it because she never touched the ground.
Cycling with children is healthy, it's quick and it teaches them road safety. It's a safe and fab thing to do. Just not on the pavement.

According to the gov.uk website

"You MUST NOT cycle on a pavement. Laws HA 1835 sect 72 & R(S)A 1984, sect 129"

It does not say anywhere that this doesn't apply if you are with children, or even if you are a child.

Tbh the same sort of people who treat cyclists like crap for being on the pavements invariably treat cyclists like crap for being on the road as well. So who cares what they think. The road is v dangerous in places for cyclists so its sensible not to risk your families lives by using those places for cycling. Just cycle slowly and carefully on the pavement.

Personally I don't have any problem with considerate cyclists using the pavement on normal roads.
What I don't like is when people do it in pedestrianised town centres.

I cycle my kids to school in a cargo bike. If I have to hop onto the pavement for any reason, I simply dismount and push the trike, thus becoming a pedestrian, then I mount again when rejoining the road.

Half way house and legal.

YABU

YABU.

I feel for you, really I do. Cycling is sadly not well supported in the UK and I'd love to see it encouraged and made safer.

However, I have to walk to school with my children along a 'wide, quiet pavement', and it is very worrying when cyclists pass us riding on the pavement. My young children don't always walk in a perfectly straight line, they move from side to side a bit, and silent cyclists seem unaware that their obstacle (us) might move at any moment.

Please don't make your children 'safer' by endangering mine.

azz how can you tell someone not to risk their own families lives by cycling on the roads and yet tell them to risk someone else's by cycling on the pavement.

I've been run over by a bike on the pavement and it bloody hurt despite the cyclist being a small woman going at a slow speed. A bike & trailer combo running into a 3 yo could kill or seriously injure them.

It is not only a matter of running over a child/elderly person on the pavement. I hope you know that if, while riding your bike on the pavement with a trailer containing your DC, you get run over or hit a car getting out of their driveway, you will be in the wrong and will have no right to any compensation whatsoever. A person riding a bike on the pavement is often riding too fast to be able to stop in time for a car or for the car to come out slow enough not to run them over. It happened to a friend of mine. She was riding on the pavement, a car getting out of his driveway run over her, breaking 5 bones on her legs and hip. No compo at all, as she was riding on the pavement, even though the guy in the car was driving too fast out of his driveway and did not even look.

If he had run over a child walking on the pavement, the story would have been very different.

Please, don't endanger your and your DC's lives.

as a cyclist i have to say yabu

totally agree with frequentflyer - if you come to a part of the road you think might be a bit hairy - get off and walk.

have to say as easy as it is to fly off into tantrum mode and generalise about cyclists or motorists - that most car owners are polite that i come across

If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. Not confident enough to cycle on the road because of vvvvv young passengers

Pavements are for pedestrians and bikes are for cyclists. Not trail along prams.

Whilst pavement cycling is technically prohibited by the highway code, when the legislation was passed to allow FPN to be issued to pavement cyclists, the following guidance was issued by the home office:

"The introduction of the fixed penalty is not aimed at responsible cyclists who sometimes feel obliged to use the pavement out of fear of traffic and who show consideration to other pavement users when doing so. Chief police officers, who are responsible for enforcement, acknowledge that many cyclists, particularly children and young people, are afraid to cycle on the road, sensitivity and careful use of police discretion is required."

The bottom line is, that as long as someone has reason to be cycling on a pavement and shows consideration to pedestrians then the police will not issue a penalty. It's all very well saying that cyclists should be on the road, but if the road is potentially dangerous and there is an empty pavement next to it, it's sheer pigheadedness to suggest that the cyclist should not be allowed to use it as long as they show consideration to anyone else on it.

YABVU. My young son was sent flying into a dual carriageway in rush hour traffic by someone cyling with a huge fucking stupid trailer thing. He literally narrowly escaped death and had minor injuries/bruising and abrasions.

It is illegal and bloody dangerous.