To think that adults should cycle on the road

[LoopyLou1981]

It’s been a long time since I’ve been organised enough to get up (and get 2 kids up) and out early enough to walk to the station instead of getting the bus.
On a 2 mile walk, I’ve been ‘dinged’ at by 3 cyclists to get me to move over on the pavement so they could get passed.
Is this a new thing?! Our roads aren’t narrow or any more dangerous than any others. AIBU to think they should be on the road?!

in the main cyclists are people who are taking positive steps to improve their health and cut down on pollution

The motorists are not on the path (most of the time anyway).

If all the cyclists who currently cycle on the path moved over to the road the sheer numbers would mean that motorists would have to accept them. And if the motorists were sufficiently annoyed by them they'd no doubt be fully on board to shout for better cycling provision.

Cyclists who go slowly and carefully, giving pedestrians the right of way are much closer to being pedestrians than to being motorists. I don't mind if they carefully go through a red light (just like I don't mind a pedestrian crossing against a red light when it is completely safe to do so), and I don't mind if they slowly and carefully use a pavement which has no pedestrians nearby.

Aggressive, entitled, violent cyclists give all the other cyclists a bad name.

I am still grateful to the commuters among them for reducing pollution and traffic.

If they are illegally using the pavement, they should be fined/bike removed etc - the same as a driver driving illegally

The problem with fines is that there's no way of knowing who most of them are ... which I suspect some factor in when choosing to ride like maniacs

if the motorists were sufficiently annoyed by them they'd no doubt be fully on board to shout for better cycling provision
One would hope so but sadly I don't think they would, it seems to me that many people just hate cyclists and would be totally against doing anything that makes cycling more enjoyable or safe for them

'Are there other countries who do it better...manage to accommodate cyclists without inconveniencing Motorists or pedestrians?'

There are some countries who do it better. They tend to recognise that all 3 forms of transport are valid, and all 3 must be inconvenienced at some point to maintain balance.

@FaFoutis The motorists are not on the path (most of the time anyway).

Yeah, it's usually only when they are busy killing or seriously injuring the 3000 men, women and children each year.

(The 3000 people whose injury or death we have completely normalised as just how it is, oh well....; instead of recognising that this awful "car is king" superiority is the issue we should be addressing.)

YANBU.

If you go to Copenhagen you will see a cycling culture.
People cycle everywhere, bikes have priority, young children, shopping and all sorts of supplies are transported.

Yanbu. If you deem it too dangerous to cycle on the roads then don't cycle.

Or invest in making road cycling safer

Really more people should walk and use public transport and then the roads would be safer. Even where I live in London more people drive when they could easily walk or get the bus.

Sure tiny but the roads being dangerous do not mean cyclists get to ride on the pavements.

No I never ride on pavements. But I was almost knocked off my bike twice last week on the roads

All this anti cycling diatribe is just narrow minded backward thinking. The real enemy out there is the motor vehicle, its a lethal, dangerous, polluting box of metal, killing thousands each year. Yet a handful of cyclists on the pavement get everyone's back up. Its a massively disproportionate response to a small problem and an insult to all the cyclists that die on the road each year.

Drivers are so impatient and aggressive that I can see why people get scared and start riding on the pavement.

'Yet a handful of cyclists on the pavement get everyone's back up. Its a massively disproportionate response'

Did you not read the stories from people who have had themselves, their children or their animals injured by some idiot cycling into them at speed on the pavement? I'm not defending motorists, a lot of people seem to drive like lunatics, (I'm a pedestrian), but every single day I see cyclists doing selfish, illegal and highly dangerous things. That includes riding on the pavement. I'm tall and fit and never have an animal or child with me but I find it very scary when a cyclist comes up behind me

The real enemy out there is the motor vehicle, its a lethal, dangerous, polluting box of metal, killing thousands each year. Yet a handful of cyclists on the pavement get everyone's back up.

Both annoy me. I don't drive either.

And I cannot count the number of times I have seen cyclists running red lights. I cannot believe that all accidents involving cyclists and motorists are always the fault of the driver.

I rode on the pavement today. SHOCK HORROR.

About 20 yards or so as I saw a double-decker bus approaching behind me, the pavement was clear ahead, and wide, so I bumped up, let the bus pass and came back down when it was safe.

I'm insured too. And I was wearing lycra. AND I pay my council tax.

Life's easier when people aren't self-absorbed twats.

"I guess people who do this must think that their own superior personal judgement makes them entitled to infringe on space meant for pedestrians. And that strikes me as extremely arrogant, as well as foolish."

I am a cyclist who rides on sections of pavement. Let me explain why. Cycling is dangerous. I have had 3 friends killed cycling. It was 5 years before I got back on a bike after a close friend was killed. My cycle commute is 4 miles. There is one section of about 300m which is dangerous - a busy bus route (one friend was killed after her back wherl was clipped by a bus). There is a wide low-use pavement next to that section. I cycle on it. If I see a pedestrian (happens ever couple of days) I get off and push past them. I am aware this is illegal
and I feel guilty. The rest of the route is either off road, on quiet roads, or cycle lanes. There's no safer alternative road route for that section. I am not willing to risk my life doing it on the road twice a day so the alternative is bus. Difficult to afford and less healthy (hopefully I will cost the NHS less in years to come by cyclinn rather than taking the bus!).

@Lottapianos Sun 18-Mar-18 16:12:06
'Yet a handful of cyclists on the pavement get everyone's back up. Its a massively disproportionate response'

Did you not read the stories from people who have had themselves, their children or their animals injured by some idiot cycling into them at speed on the pavement? I'm not defending motorists, a lot of people seem to drive like lunatics, (I'm a pedestrian), but every single day I see cyclists doing selfish, illegal and highly dangerous things. That includes riding on the pavement. I'm tall and fit and never have an animal or child with me but I find it very scary when a cyclist comes up behind me

Yes there is shit and dangerous cycling, we know. But as the pp you are quoting was saying, the point is that the anger is wildly misplaced and disproportionate - 3000 people a year vs 3 (latest stats). One single car driver killed the equivalent of annual cyclist incidents in one bus stop smash - everybody tutted then carried straight back on. Why the hell are we not raging about this indifference to life?

There is a stretch that I hate on my commute - in a bus lane - in which cars overtake far too close. It’s also potholed adding that extra terror. Fun.