Sharing pavements with cyclists and scooters is frightening

[Longlazyday]

Particularly the proliferation of motorised scooters and bicycles, and delivery people using these modes of transport and needing to be quick.

See the right of children to run freely on pavements and precincts, and people in general to walk without needing to be on high alert has been eroded.

What’s my point? Why is this considered to be reasonable. Why not just declare full on Mad Max.

Cyclists who demand to speed along shared-use paths without making way for pedestrians are exactly the same mindset as drivers who expect to speed along roads without care for cyclists. The rule is, or should be, take care of the most vulnerable road users. If I'm cycling on a shared path and there are young kids or animals who are hard to corral into the right lane, I slow down and often get off the bike and walk it past. Same if I can't get past someone without leaving lots of space. It feels more polite to say 'excuse me' when you're moving at the same speed and at the same height, get past the person, then get back on. Cyclists who speed through red lights and cycle on pavements make it worse for the rest of us (I'm often the only cyclist on the actual road in my town and I'm sure drivers resent me for it).

no it is meant for sharing
it is a sustrans route

people moan about cyclists on roads, and about cyclists on pavements. Given that most of the country is unlike London or big cities and doesn't have a cycling infrastructure, where do people think the cyclists should go?

I agree with the OP, they shouldn't ride on pavements but use the road BTW but that triggers regular posts about cyclists blocking the road too... just wondering what the general consus is.

Our town has an e scooter trial and then dropped it because people got hurt and the scooters were left everywhere.

But I do think it was shortsighted. The same town wants us to stop using cars. So they clearly need to invest heavily in creating car free paths for ebikes and scooters. But instead they do short term policies that typically increase car use, like putting up parking fees so people choose to drive for longer to get to the out of town shopping centre

I am a cyclist and inconsiderate cyclists on pavements annoy me. I will use shared use paths, but I always ride sensibly and I hate the fact that people lump all cyclists together and assume we're all idiots which creates a hostile environment and makes cycling less safe for those of us who do ride sensibly.

The thing with pedestrians is that you don't pass a test to be allowed to use a pavement. There are no disabilities that prohibit you from using one (though I have seen posters claim visually impaired people should be banned from shared spaces). It's all ages and you aren't even required to be sober.

If you're going to cycle with pedestrians you've got to take that into account and cycle appropriately and be prepared to dismount where necessary.

CirreltheSquirrel· Today 05:59

I am a cyclist and inconsiderate cyclists on pavements annoy me. I will use shared use paths, but I always ride sensibly and I hate the fact that people lump all cyclists together and assume we're all idiots which creates a hostile environment and makes cycling less safe for those of us who do ride sensibly.

I couldn't have put that better myself.

That said, I rarely use some shared paths, because they're too busy with pedestrians, but on the quieter ones, if I'm approaching people on foot, I'll ding the bell (as per Highway Code) and shout "Coming past!" and give a cheery "Thank you!" as I go by.

I rarely have a problem.

I also move left on roads, if cars are coming and wave them past, although in the last couple of years, most seem reluctant. I get the odd bellend shouting insults, but nowhere near as much as 20 years ago.

Where I live there at no designated cycle paths either on the pavement or the roads but get cyclists riding on pavements which are already narrowed by parked cars.
And mobility scooters can be a nuisance here as well - most are fine but there are a few near here who travel at maximum speed.

Surely you should be more bothered by the car drivers that kill and injure people every day.

People can be bothered about more than one thing at a time.

Cyclists go on the pavement to avoid cars and that leaves pedestrians with nowhere to go

i am a big believer in public transport A buses in particular. Concentrating on cycling at all costs does not help the elderly and infirm or disabled people.

I don’t drive and took dc to school by bus. I then went straight on to work and cycling just wasn’t practical. Yet the message seems to be we all need to be cycling everywhere. It’s such limited thinking

Unless it's a shared pavement they shouldn't be on it. I've lost count of the times an e scooter or cyclist has been coming along the pavement towards me and lo and I've had to point out they need to get on the road. Adults 🙄

My child was knocked over by a cyclist going way too fast on a shared use path. I wrote to so many people - council and various mps to say I didn’t think this particular shared use path (gets very busy at weekends) was working. But I got absolutely nowhere. The replies were among the lines of “we have to encourage healthy modes of transportation and also to improve the environment” so they just see it as the pedestrians safety is not the priority

I don't think it's good enough to take an inappropriate pavement that's too narrow, too many obstructions etc and say "hey presto, we've designated this as a shared space" and then pretend everything is fine. They need to be designed properly with safety in mind.

I’m completely & totally in favour of cyclists on roads.

At side roads it’s better for the parent to be on the road: you’ve more visibility and are more visible to drivers, so can tell your child/ren when to cross. I did this for years, it isn’t appropriate for adults to cycle on most pavements.

We don't have cycle lanes and our pavements are quite old and narrow. As a pedestrian, I use a double pram and I'm constantly having furious cyclists repeatedly ring their bell at me, when there's nowhere for me to go.

As a driver, the electronic scooters are a menace. Pulling out without bothering to look, just relying on your stopping. Not using lights at night. And the kids that own them literally stop traffic doing wheelies in the middle of the road.

Unfortunately cycle bells aren't great - I can't hear them when there is other noise going on (and no I never use headphones outside the house as too dangerous).
Although one advantage of having such crap pavements near us is that you don't get a lot of cyclists

( I don't think cycles belong on pavement)

Buy If you are in favor of cyclists on roads , would you be happy to have no pavement and walk on roads ? Because the risk to you from cyclists is far less than the risk to a cyclist from a car

We need to encourage cycling /( health and climate change )that means less space and speed for cars in our cities

They're supposed to be speed limited to 12km/hr where I am plus helmets. I've not seen one going that slowly.

We've had one weaving over two lanes of traffic, blissfully uncaring that all cars were having to drive slower behind them. Or the one that zipped across the road meters in front of me, wearing all black. I barely saw them & had to brake, hard. Or DS nearly being wiped out on our holiday on the busy beach Esplanade as teens on rentals flew along the path. I refuse to go there again now. Or the teen who has been charged with manslaughter in my suburb because he hit someone who blazed across the road in front of him!

I believe you should have to have age restrictions, licences and a full set of road rules, like cars & other motorised vehicles.

I've only seen one unicycle rider here - but he seems very respectful & careful & an example of how useful these craft can be.

But one thing is far more lethal than the other

There need to be new rules around electric scooters and bikes as they just go too fast

and cyclists should have to abide by the speed limit! Where I am it is 20 and you see the bikes careering past.

I don’t believe pedestrians should have to pay the price because cyclists finds roads too dangerous. Sort the roads out and use the bloody cycle lanes

And dangerous and risky behaviour by drivers and cyclists is symptomatic of the exact same mindset.

Also scooter users and cyclists just go through the lights. Almost hit by one when I was crossing the other day. And now people are riding them in supermarkets and shopping centres. Was in Poundland yesterday and not only was there a child scooting up the aisles but some stupid woman parked her e scooter in the middle of the aisle so noone could pass.
And I'm sick and tired of seeing Lime bikes being abandoned everywhere especially when the super twats leave them parallel to the pavement.

Whilst I’m sure the majority of cyclists are fine, I’ve come across so many that are smug and arrogant and seem to think they should be worshipped for saving the world. And unfortunately they are the more vocal and like to chew you out if you dare to exist in their space. They also tend to be the ones riding the pavement or sailing through red lights. Perhaps fellow cyclists could call them out more often too!

they seem to forget that walking is also good for the environment