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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cyclists on pavements

399 replies

origamiunicorn · 08/02/2019 17:29

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 Blush 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?!

OP posts:
MartaHallard · 08/02/2019 18:08

They're a bloody menace. They do it round here where there are proper cycle lanes. If people must cycle on the pavement, they should at least keep to walking pace. I've known two elderly people who have been knocked down by cyclists riding furiously on pavements, and had some near misses myself.

Original poster
origamiunicorn · 08/02/2019 18:13

Wow I only popped in the shower. Didn't realise I'd get so many replies.

I definitely don't want to start an anti-cyclist war but I feel better hearing similar opinions.

I have to say that I understand the mixed paths issue, I've had to step into a cycle lane for a bit to get past someone but I always look and would only do it when the coast was clear. There was no confusion on his part here though, a normal two lane road, pavement each side no cycle paths.

I can't find the replies now (not fun typing this on a phone!) but I laughed at putting a stick in his spokes mwahaha Grin and also didn't realise there was a law about it! The petty part of me wants to find it so I can shout it at nob-end cyclists.

StoneofDestiny that's awful Sad I've had someone plough into me as I was walking with my headphones in and didn't hear the bell.

OP posts:
Original poster
origamiunicorn · 08/02/2019 18:19

HA 1835 section 72 & RSA 1984, section 129

It's a mouthful but I'm tempted to commit it to memory and shout it at offenders Grin

I told my DP and he thinks cyclists should have plates so you can report them.

OP posts:
CloserIAm2Fine · 08/02/2019 18:43

YANBU

i see it on the quiet residential streets where I live, when even I would happily cycle on the road and I haven’t ridden a bike in 20 years.

Bell ringing is rude and smacks of “I’m an entitled arsehole so get out of my way” when actually the pedestrian has right of way and the cyclist should be on the bloody road

anniehm · 08/02/2019 18:46

They are designated shared use here on certain routes. Traffic is too fast to go on the road

TallulahBetty · 08/02/2019 18:47

I hate it. I hate the way some barge on through and expect you to go on the outside of the pavement as well. Pavements are for people, pushchairs and wheelchairs

recrudescence · 08/02/2019 18:49

Cyclists can, and should, be fined for riding on the pavement. I would like this extended to parents who allow their children to ride scooters or bicycles on the pavement too.

FrancisCrawford · 08/02/2019 18:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

anniehm · 08/02/2019 18:50

Btw in my city there's bylaws that say you can use the pavement except where prohibited - and there's a list of streets you cannot use the pavement online as well as them being marked on the street.

Donmesswime · 08/02/2019 18:53

There's a very wide cycle lane where I live, and some idiot on a bike, nearly knocked me down on the path. And yes, a man in his forties. I suspect it is the 'hobby' most MN husband's do.

Donmesswime · 08/02/2019 18:56

He was in full lycra gear. On the path, with the wide cycle lane beside him. I should have just stuck a heel into a wheel and knocked him off his bike. Because he nearly sent me flying.

FrancisCrawford · 08/02/2019 18:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JacquesHammer · 08/02/2019 18:59

YANBU.

Unless a pavement is designated as a shared space, cyclists should be on the road.

Pedestrians should be safe on a pavement.

DawgLover · 08/02/2019 19:06

I hate it. Where I live we have a pavement that is separated from a well signposted shared use path by a strip of grass on the right, plus the road runs beside the pavement on the left.

The cyclists who choose not to use either the road on the left or the path designated for them on the right and insist on ringing their bell whilst speeding down the pavement frustrate the life out of me.

Cannot imagine what it's like to be deaf / have visual impairments with these particular dickheads on the loose.

easyandy101 · 08/02/2019 19:06

Depending on what I'm riding I ride where I want

I don't expect anyone to make way for me or ride fast in a busy area, or endanger or cut close to people, if it's not feasible to ride I walk.

I have one rule of cycling (and driving and walking tbh) and that's that no one else ever has to make way for me, brake for me or do anything they wouldn't have done otherwise.

Pavement riders are annoying if they don't show care but I apply that logic on the road as well, some people are just idiots

Sometimes when I'm out on my BMX and say with a friend on foot and just rolling along at walking speed people come up and give me proper abuse though Shock

DaveCoachesgavemetheclap · 08/02/2019 19:13

My DH is a keen cyclist but would never cycle on the pavement because he's not a knob. There are several cycling paths nearby but they're full of parked cars so he takes his chances with the cyclist-hating nutters on the road.

EthelHornsby · 08/02/2019 19:18

As a cyclist I do not like adults cycling on the pavement, it’s illegal and unnecessary. HOWEVER I would like to ask what is the thing with pedestrians on the road? On side roads, where there is clearly a pavement for that purpose, what is it with people who wander down/across the road, frequently plugged in, looking neither to right nor left? Then look affronted when I use my bell to advertise my presence, or just cycle past them. They also do it with kids in tow - any ideas??

EthelHornsby · 08/02/2019 19:19

Or indeed motorists who park on the cycle paths- we are not going away, you know!!!

Doglikeme · 08/02/2019 19:20

Cyclists can't win.
I cycle to work (on the road) and I get shouted at, people pull up close to you just to scare you. I have to go around two roundabouts and people just go if it's your right of way etc.
Road users hate cyclists and it's absolutely terrifying. The cyclist you encountered was an absolute dick for so many reasons but I understand why so many people ride on the path. The best way to stop it is to drive safely around cyclists Smile

MrMakersFartyParty · 08/02/2019 19:21

Hate them. I have a double buggy and when they ring and keep going at me it's like playing chicken! No I won't step into the road with my children...

JustTwoMoreSecs · 08/02/2019 19:22

«The road is busy/dangerous» is such a stupid argument!
Of course you can go on the pavement, just get off your bike and walk during this part! That is what the pavement is for!!!

daisypond · 08/02/2019 19:23

I hate cyclists on pavements. Apart from children, there's no excuse. I was once sent flying on the pavement with my baby in a pushchair - which got knocked over with the baby inside it.

Nacreous · 08/02/2019 19:30

I've been knocked off my bike swerving to avoid a mother and baby using the (not shared use), clearly marked, cycle path instead of the (nearby but totally separate) footpath. Mother and baby were untouched. My ankle was so badly sprained that I was on crutches for weeks, and bruising is still there an entire year on. So it's not just cyclists that cause the problems.

People shouldn't generally cycle on the pavement but in my town lots of shared use paths are really shoddily marked so I doubt half the pedestrians even know they ARE shared use.

windydoggy · 08/02/2019 19:33

Not unreasonable at all op .
This annoys me so much.
Live in a village where an A road ran through but now bypassed so very wide road and now not much traffic at all .
But still the fuckers ride on the pavement ! Why do they feel the need , so few cars and me walking my dog on pavement and they expect me to rein dog in on a short lead so they can pass on pavement 🙄
They can fuck off though as I make sure dog and I take up most of the pavement so they have to get on road where they should be .
Tossers !!!

glenthebattleostrich · 08/02/2019 19:35

I was hit by a cyclist on a pavement when I was pregnant. Apparently it was my fault for being on a footpath on my actual feet. (Just a footpath, not a cycle path or shared path).

Ended up with nasty bruising and a day in hospital monitoring my (thankfully fine) baby.

I don't accept the roads are dangerous. If you are nervous do a proficiency course or find an alternative. I don't drive and hate cycling so walk or bus everywhere. And I live semi rurally.

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