Cyclists on pavements

[origamiunicorn]

Ok, please tell me if I ABU.

What's your opinion on people cycling on pavements? I don't mean young children who are clearly learning or parents who are accompanying them but adults. Full blown, fully grown adults.

Where I live it seems common place and I don't get it. AIBU to say if you are an adult and aren't comfortable on the road you shouldn't be riding a bike. It always seems to be middle aged men too who whizz past, so not an adult learner or someone who is gaining confidence.

Just now I was walking home from work and I hear this bell ringing and as I turn around this man in his 40s? whizzes past me and shouts "out the way!" to which I throw my hands up in the air at him and tell him to get off the pavement and then as I walk past him further up the road at a crossing he says something, calls me the C word and rides off. I mean what?!

I actually feel a little shaken with the confrontation so AIBU in my reaction? I thought it was justified considering. I mean if you're going to ride on the pavement like a child at least give people a chance to get out the way and... should people even be on cycling on the pavement?!

Oh and another pedestrian tried to hit me with a stick because I was sitting by the side of the road with my bike facing the wrong way for the street (had just crossed from traffic flow side to other side to answer my phone) and this was evidence to him that all cyclists break the law all the time so therfore should be hit with a stick

And another person who came up and gave me shit because I stopped at a red light and not all cyclists do stop

I just conclude these people are dickheads though, rather than representative of the wider pedestrian population

The other one that is just as bad is cyclists on fast narrow pieces of road when there is a cycle path. There's a bit near where we live where lycra clad gents end up causing all sorts of tailbacks and near misses when there is a dedicated cycle path right next to them. They're always the first to stick fingers up or smack wing mirrors when it gets too close as well (which often unavoidable because of the road).

It is avoidable. If you can't overtake without going too close you wait.

All that happens on these threads is they get full of cyclists telling us why they’re not the problem.

If you’re not the problem, then this thread is not about you.

I don’t get why cyclists get offended when people complain about cyclists who are a problem?

I mean, I drive. I know a lot of drivers are dick heads. I don’t drive like a dickhead so it doesn’t apply to me and I’m not going to waste effort defending those that do!

I'm not defending dicks just saying that it's rarely as clear cut as an argument as polarising as this obviously is would suggest

Because it's never just "some cyclists are a problem", it always ends up leading to people asking for licensing schemes, compulsory training, saying that if a cycle lane is there they must use it and so on. This affects all cyclists.

Because it's never just "some cyclists are a problem", it always ends up leading to people asking for licensing schemes, compulsory training, saying that if a cycle lane is there they must use it and so on

Why is it such a problem that if a cycle lane is there they must use it? Provided it is properly and safely maintained, surely that's just good sense!

Because cycle lanes are not for the benefit of the motorist, they are for the benefit of the cyclist. There are a myriad reasons why you might choose not to use it.

Ultimately, if a cycle lane is done well it will get good use, if done badly it won't. (The CS routes in London have been massively successful for instance.) Enforcing it by legislation would probably lead to a deterioration in the quality of cycle lanes as it reduces the incentive of planners to make sure that they work well.

A good proportion of cycle lanes are useless and dangerous. I tend to ride in the road proper rather than a cycle lane. In cycle lanes you get people treating them as a forward stop line when joining the road, people starting to indicate left while you're on their left, people driving close because you each have a lane and pedestrians walking into it without looking

Ones on paths are normally spar as people don't check them before turning left and people naturally park across them when waiting to turn out

The cycle super highway in whitechapel is a great example of an extremely poor cycle lane

*are normally worse

We're really lucky around here to have a great cycle infrastructure - I guess that's why it is so jarring when some cyclists ignore that.

If there is a decent, well-maintained and clear cycle lane then I reserve the right to consider you a bit of a chump if you don't use it.

The chance of me as a pedestrian killing a cyclist is zero,

Bold statement

I imagine the 3 pedestrians who knocked me off my bike had a similar concept of their own infallibility

tbf I only got hospitalised once

I think the 'hate' for cyclists comes from how arrogant, worthy and entitled they are.

The 'Ah, but drivers' argument is whataboutery at it's finest. Decent, respectful law abiding cyclists need to accept that a hell of a lot of their peers are selfish idiots and stop blindly defending them.

Yes, it's a healthy low carbon footprint option but until every city has large , separate cycle lanes it is still dangerous, and dadly attracts 'risk takers ' because of this.

Every pedestrian has a 'cyclist story', so it is a genuine problem. I found myself on Christmas Eve, chasing a lycra lovely down a canal path swearing my head off, so incenced was I that he nearly knocked me and partner into the canal by racing up behind us expecting us to leap out of the way, then swearing at us because we slowed him down. Absolute Arsehole, and the fact that there are arsehole drivers doesn't make him any less of one.

I agree with Jacques to some extent, we have one amazing cycle path which is shared with pedestrians. I see absolutely no reason why cyclists need to go on the very busy road alongside it. It makes me angry because I feel if more cyclists use the designated path then the council will be inclined to invest in more like it.

Unfortunately though the many on road cycle lanes are not properly clear and maintained. Debris littered at the edge of the road, lethal pot holes (doesn't need to be big to throw a cyclist off their bike) and cars parked randomly on the kerb. All everyday scenarios that you will only recognise if you are on a bike. They can appear out of nowhere and the cyclist is forced to swerve into traffic. In that case they are safer ignoring the cycle lane and riding in amongst the traffic in the first place.

I was a pedestrian on the same route that I now ride my bike on. I only invested in a bike last year as work started a new cycle to work scheme. I do not have a single bike related 'pedestrian story' in the whole two years I walked. I do have two swan related stories though.

If shared spaces contained dedicated areas for riding I'd agree

But they don't, you can walk all over a shared space but can only cycle in the part you share

Every pedestrian has a 'cyclist story

And vice versa

I think the 'hate' for cyclists comes from how arrogant, worthy and entitled they are.

And people wonder why cyclists feel the need to stick up for themselves on these threads.

Daily cyclist, lots to say about this! First, that man is a DIQUE and gives cyclists a bad name. This really is a big problem for cycling overall. There are lycra types (not all) who behave badly who give all cyclists a bad name, when well behaved cyclists are not a threat and should be encouraged as more cyclists means more net exercise and happiness and less pollution.

My answer to the pavement issue: it's complicated. Often there is no proper safe space on the road for cyclists. Under those circumstances, it makes sense for cyclists to be on the pavement. THIS ONLY WORKS if they slow right down and actually get off when pedestrians approach if they're on a narrow pavement, which is what I do, especially if the pedestrian looks frail or is kid or has luggage etc. As a cyclist, you don't want to spook pedestrians. A cyclist who goes slowly, and makes it clear that they're definitely NOT going to hit anybody (to the extent that they'll get off and walk when needed) belongs on the pavement more than they do on the road if there isn't an adequate lane/shoulder.

There is cultural context for this too. In the UK this is not so normal, except on designated shared ways. In some european cities, bikes go on the pavement (even when they're not on good separated bike lanes like in berlin and copenhagen), and they go slowly, and everyone negotiates each other and it's all fine.

This only works if people don't behave like MAMILs (middle aged men in lycra). Key point is that cyclists going slowly and being very respectful aren't a threat on the pavement, and they themselves would be in significant danger on many roads. Cyclists who go fast and act entitled have NO place on the pavement. That guy is unbelievable. Entitlement at its worst, and puts people off being/being friendly to a cyclist!

Hope this nuance sheds light on column C, the respectful and slow pedestrian/cyclist hybrid!

I do sort of feel that the MAMIL has a lot to answer for in terms of people's generaI attitude towards cycling in this country. I totally get why a motorist who needs to get somewhere is aggrieved at being held up by a peloton riding for leisure. I don't think they do any of us normal cyclists any favours at all.

I am not responsible for the actions of other cyclists, and no one can "give me a bad name" other than myself. People who make assumptions or judge me because of the behaviour of others are idiots.

Personally I think the highway code needs updating in respect of cycling.

I am a cunty cyclist who cycles on the pavement! We can't win really, when on the road we get abuse from drivers and when on pavement we get abuse from pedestrians. At least I've got less chance of being knocked over when I am using the pavement so I'll take my abuse from pedestrians

The real wankers are drivers who don't indicate when turning and then look at you in horror when you carry on as you were, thinking you're safe to cross the road, and they nearly smash into you.

For disclosure - I'm a woman in early 30s and don't have a bell on my bike!