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?!

The real enemy is not the bicycle.

It is when you are specifically talking about cyclists on pavements.

The police frequently cycle on the pavement passing my house even though it is not shared use so I doubt they would be interested unless someone wasn’t taking due care.

I am on the fence - if people are going to give way to pedestrians and be polite then I don’t feel unsafe and I feel panicky seeing children on the busy roads around here.

Anyone wanting to go fast and in areas where there are lots of pedestrians then it is not appropriate.

Who are the "cycling zealots"? How much time are they spending "screaming" at disabled people? Do you know how much lobbying they do?

Or are you being massively hyperbolic and castigating a whole group of people on the basis of the poor behaviour of a few?

Who has screamed at you on this thread? Get a grip.

And yes they do always go the same way. It draws all of the cyclist haters out in droves who then start going on about forcing cyclists to have training, ID, making it illegal to go on the road if there is a cycle lane and so on. It's not "defensive" to argue against the illogical and untrue crap that gets posted.

More than 99% of pedestrian collision deaths in this country involve a motor vehicle. The real enemy is not the bicycle.

Your argument is not really valid as PPs have already said. Cars belong on the road, bikes don't belong on the pavement. The fact that pedestrians get hit by cars has nothing at all to do with cyclists on pavements.

Pavements are for pedestrians. People who cycle on pavements (and I'm not talking about designated spaces but pavement) are selfish inconsiderate assholes who should fuck off.

It draws all of the cyclist haters out in droves

It also draws out the "cyclists can do no wrong" idiots.

I cycle on the road but expect my ds 10 to cycle on the pavement for safety’s sake. He knows to get out of the way if there are pedestrians.
I know this is technically illegal but I’m willing to take the flak for another couple of years. Preferable to being mown down by a prat in a speeding hatchback (local issue).

Except no one has said cyclists can do no wrong. That's another lie to add to the list.

Nowhere have I defended criminals maisel. You really are on a roll today. Do you want yo try and post something that isn't a lie?

I cycle on the road but expect my ds 10 to cycle on the pavement for safety’s sake. He knows to get out of the way if there are pedestrians.
I know this is technically illegal but I’m willing to take the flak for another couple of years. Preferable to being mown down by a prat in a speeding hatchback (local issue).

I would do the same if I had children. It's the adults that should know better. Unless they are accompanying a child, just get in the road

It annoys me too - especially when there's a cycle path next to the pavement.

I recently had a really scary experience when I was pushing my pram alongside an elderly relative wheeling herself in her wheelchair. Obviously if we came across someone walking the other way we stopped to let them past but a cyclist came up behind us, didnt ring his bell and then tried to push between us. My pram got knocked into the road. My relative grabbed the back of his backpack and he started yelling at us for blocking the pavement and all sorts of horrible names before speeding off. We were all really shaken. He was a lycra clad "proper" cyclist as well!

Stop accusing people of lying and insulting them and learn to read properly. It is a general attitude and happened every time a thread criticising cyclists pops up on MN. The amount of "whataboutery" and "it's not our fault" is ridiculous.

There is a lot of "whatboutery" indeed. What starts out as talking about an idiot on a pavement always turns into how cyclists as a whole are a menace, shouldn't be on the roads etc. Why are you surprised that people react to that?

And Maisel, if you want a reasoned debate, maybe you should stop the hyperbole of accusing people of screaming at disabled people. I don't appreciate being accused of disablism when I have done no such thing. If you carry on doing that I will carry on pointing out that you are lying.

If someone is cycling like a cunt on the pavement, it is because they are a cunt on a bicycle. It isn't the fault of the motorists. Most likely they are a cunt when they aren't on a bike too.