Cyclists on pavement

[Rentergob89]

So this week a lady has been riding her bike on the pavement whilst children and their parents are attempting to walk in the opposite direction. She does not stop for anyone and yesterday had knocked a small child over grumbled something and carried on riding her bike on the pavement. Today I could see her coming towards me so I stopped where I was and refused to move for her. She stopped and said I was an inconvenience and I should move my fat a### out the way. I replied " you should not be riding your bike on the pavement you should be in the road" she then rode off swearing and shoving her two fingers up at me. Charming!! Two other mothers witnessed this and said thank you to me for saying something another however said I was in the wrong for not moving out of the way for her.
The pavement gets really busy after school as its the only way children and parents can walk to either their cars or the bus stop. All I am concerned about is the safety of the children but she seems to only care about herself. Was I in the wrong??

[WheelofPan]

Roads that are not designed to accommodate cyclists?

Did you really type that?

[user1471545174]

Oysterbabe is spot on, people on pavements are hyper-vigilant even about considerate, slow cyclists. It's not vehicle space, it's the only space pedestrians have so get off your bike or get on the road.

Those weak smiles as you pass aren't friendly.

[choirmumoftwo]

I don't think Ailicece meant all roads, just the ones where separate provision is made for cyclists, presumably because the road is unsafe or unsuitable.

[SoupDragon]

Ah I knew someone would come out with the HC stuff. Despite the space for discretion. There you go

I knew the "cyclists can do no wrong" brigade would be out in force. There go.

[SoupDragon]

Pavements are for pedestrians. Get off your bikes and push if you want to use them.

[SoupDragon]

i wonder how acceptable it is for a motorcyclist to be on a cycle path if they feel it is warrentd...?

[Namechangedforthis4]

Im not against cyclists on pavements where reasonable eg a child, v busy road, nervous cyclist etc BUT they should ride slowly and give pedestrians the right of way. Sounds like she was a total entitled cow needing a slap let's hope her chain broke further down the road

[acasualobserver]

I knew the "cyclists can do no wrong" brigade would be out in force.

A 'brigade out in force' suggests a sizeable number of posters with a similarly militant point of view. Who are they on this thread? Genuine question.

[WaitrosePigeon]

I would stand in her way every morning, but then I'm a dick like that.

[JustAnotherPoster00]

OP I think MN is letting you down here you should probably ring 101 and get it logged

[RhiWrites]

I agree with JustAnother. Ask for a community police officer to attend the route since this lady is regularly causing a hazard. They can have a word.

[Hedgehogparty]

Most of us here aren't just in one category.
At various times, I'm a driver, a cyclist and a pedestrian.
Idiots are idiots, whatever category?
A lot of the issues are around simple overcrowding.
A bigger issue for me is air quality in the UK - which is appalling particularly in London and which kills thousands of people a year.
Cycling has to be encouraged and at the same time, poor behaviour dealt with.

[ShotsFired]

Reading a lot of threads elsewhere about West Mids Police's new statistics-based safety initiative to target close passers (car drivers who buzz cyclists too closely), there was one comment which made me pause for thought.

Some angry bloke had come on ranting about how roads were built for cars, and that bikes should be fitted in as an afterthought (paraphrasing). Someone else replied to ask why instead roads weren't given over to cyclists with the cars fitted in as the afterthought - the benefits would be huge (heath, stress, safety, less dead people, pollution etc).

This is the sort of thing I think about when I am waiting at deserted red traffic lights; or when I pull in on narrow roads to let traffic pass me by; or when I am waiting patiently behind a car that has deliberately pulled into the kerb to prevent me passing to get to the ASL box at the junction; or when I am buzzed with inches to spare; or when someone comments about how "all cyclists are..."; or how I am suddenly a "Lycra Lout" because I choose to wear the most suitable clothing for the activity.

Then again I also think about them when I drive my car or go for a walk or am sitting at a cafe too. Because I am not just a cyclist, I am another human being, just like everyone else.

[FullTimeYummy]

Soupdragon, good point, that's totally the same.

The cycling brigade wouldn't like that now would they, eh? Eh? EH?!

[Dunkling]

Not in the wrong OP.

I will NEVER move for a pavement cyclist unless a child.

[WheelofPan]

Well said ShitsFired.

Brigades? The difference is though that I am right about the local discretion thing. ( otherwise we have copper shouting "oi! That 4yo with stabilisers get on this busy A road with lorries thundering passed and off the pavement" sort of thing). Rules need interpreting.

Whereas "bike riders can do no harm" people appear to not exist. Except in your befuddled head.

[myownprivateidaho]

Bad to ride on pavement. But I've just come back from Japan, where it's normal even in big cities. So while she was wrong (and I think illegal) I don't actually think it's inherently dangerous.

[ShotsFired]

Dunkling I will NEVER move for a pavement cyclist unless a child.

Why?

I mean that seriously. At what point do they stop being ok on pavements and "should" be on the road? How do they learn how to ride safely and assertively if they are kept in a traffic-free environment? Should they just be chucked on to the roads to ride to school one arbitrary day? (I did my cycling proficiency in the school playground, then we moved out on to the roads to practice.)

And if you are a driver, what are the cut-off points for treating any cyclist as vulnerable and giving them due space and appropriate courtesy; and instead treating them as a menace you have to get past, whatever that involves? Is it ok to 'buzz' kids on the road? If not, why not? Is it ok to shout abuse at an old lady going to the shops? If not, why not?

(I refer to "you" here as a general term for drivers who take an instant/blanket dislike to anyone they see riding a bike on the road)

[littleprincesssara]

It honestly flabbergasts me that cyclist will go to any lengths to defend illegal and dangerous cyclists. I get that it's a tribal thing 'we're all part of the same gang so we need to stick together' but it's so stupid and wrong-headed. When you get start saying "well it is wrong but but but..." and come up with a million excuses it just comes across as defensiveness.

My family are horsey. I don't know a single horsey person who would defend someone riding a horse dangerously. Horsey people would be outraged at that.

Maybe if good cyclists (who are the vast majority) changed their attitude and decided to make clear that illegal, dangerous cycling is outrageous and not acceptable, it would help curb attitudes and encourage the minority to change?

[Yokohamajojo]

This makes me annoyed too, I have one man coming up on the pavement cycling as me and two DC walk down, he gives me dirty looks if we don't move away from him and one of these days I am so going to blow, it's a big pavement with grass on one side and he doesn't even make the slightest attempt to cycle around us using the grass verge

[MistressMolecules]

I think you were in the right op.

But slightly to derail the thread, I have a question to ask - I am considering riding a bike to get about (I can't drive) with a baby seat on the back. I am not a confident bike rider (dyspraxia) but can ride. I would be terrified on the road especially with the 1 year old on the back. I would not behave like the cyclist in the opening post (pedestrians would obviously get priority over me) but would people have an issue with this and does anyone no what the law would state in this case?

[whatsthecomingoverthehill]

It's hardly surprising that SoupDragon has ended up on a thread about cycling.

And littleprincess you are falling into the same way of thinking that seems to permeate in this country. There have been a variety of views. The vast majority, including from cyclists, say that cycling on pavements is wrong. It isn't a tribe.

But now comes the but....there seems to be a curious fascination with making a big deal out of stuff that cyclists do wrong. It is not defending those cyclists who are idiots to wonder why cycling gets such disproportionate attention. And what concerns me as a cyclist is that this attitude is carrying on permeating through society and is giving license to those who really do hate (and that is the appropriate word) cyclists.

I don't cycle on the pavement, run red lights or cycle in the dark without lights. I wear a helmet and high visibility clothes. Yet pretty much every week I will have cars beeping at me for existing, because I happen to be on the road in front of them and am cycling in the middle of a lane when it's not safe to overtake (a lesson learned from cars trying to squeeze past and forcing me onto the pavement, so now I don't give them that option).

I haven't started a thread about the car which cut in front of me forcing me to slam on my brakes the other day, because what is the AIBU? It's obvious the driver was wrong. Just as it is obvious that the cyclist the OP is talking about is a twat.

[acasualobserver]

It honestly flabbergasts me that cyclist will go to any lengths to defend illegal and dangerous cyclists.

Examples? And what about the cyclists on this thread who have done exactly the opposite?

[ShotsFired]

littleprincesssara It honestly flabbergasts me that cyclist will go to any lengths to defend illegal and dangerous cyclists

Who is defending the woman on the bike in the OP? Aren't we all saying, yes, we agree, she WAS a total dick? But the point is, she is not representative of cyclists as a whole. Just like one good or bad horse rider does not represent the entire horse riding community.

Because the undercurrent of "all cyclists..." inevitably begins in threads like these. In fact you have done it yourself with your "cyclists will go to any lengths" opening line, when the bike riders commenting on this thread have proven that to be patently untrue, but - yet again - have been lumped into one single entity who won't ever hear a bad word said against one of our supposed "brethren". Cyclists aren't the Freemasons you know

For absolute clarity - I ride a bike and I am stating for the record that the woman on the pavement was dangerous and irresponsible and 100% in the wrong. Happy now?

(Thinking about it, I drive tens of thousands of miles a year so I'm actually far more a car driver than a cyclist )