Cyclists have made my home city too stressful to live in any more

[valianttortoise]

Cycling on the pavement (on e-bikes, racing bikes, whatever) at speed, silently, no lights often, no pausing for pedestrians to cross at zebra crossings or even green men. An e-bike nearly hit me yesterday while a policeman was literally standing there watching (outside a government building in case you're wondering where on earth I saw a live one) and he did nothing, just looked at me like "wow that was close!"

I can't handle it any more it's miserable. I can't drive so it's not a car thing it's a pedestrian safety thing.

I also think seeing that it's fine to do this, in balaclavas often, is sending a message that crime and bad behaviour in general are ok. No one will stop you.

Some men (boys? hard to tell in balaclavas) on e-bikes provided by the council took an angle grinder into a busy central square last week and just calmly cut out bicycles from stands to steal them (obviously a crime I feel conflicted about in itself but how long until they realise they can just mug pedestrians at knifepoint? It was 3pm, bright sunshine).

I find it kind of hard to believe what we're just supposed to live with now. No safe spaces for walking - forget about it if you're visually impaired.

If you live somewhere with no antisocial cyclists where is it please as I'd like to join you.

Generally because I am legally riding on a shared pathway, and the road in question is a hellscape. You try playing chicken with the metal death boxes!

I suspect primarily it's another development that does not give cyclists any right of way. The cars travelling down the road have right of way, but the cyclists practically end up stopping at every cross street. When you have to do that, there's little point in being on a bike - you might as well walk.

Just buy a stiff golf umbrella - you extend it as you cross. You poke as they try to kill you.

@jetlag92 Oh, that a good idea for e-scooter riders who cut across pedestrians on pavements, poke them with a massive umbrella as they whizz by. 😂

People in Switzerland cycle. People in Finland cycle. While geography does make a small difference, the quality of the infrastructure matters far more.

Parking is not a human right. I used to find it difficult to find a spot in my village, particularly on a Saturday evening (bloody second homes). I sometimes ended up parked at the bottom of the hill.

So I solved the problem by buying a bike and selling the car.

Cycling in bad weather can be really nice if you have the right gear, somewhere sheltered to put the bike, and good paths away from cars splashing you.

Exactly. This is what I mean when I say "we aren't willing to give up any car privileges".

If you try to remove a few parking spaces (that can never make a dent on transport needs) to make a bike path that could serve hundreds or thousands of people per day, people kick up the most almighty fuss!

Make a bike path that forces cars to pause for a second / give way when turning on or off a main road, it's a "traffic disaster".

Yes, I don't care about rain, I just wear waterproofs. I don't care about snow or ice, I'd use studded tyres if it happened more often - according to a Finnish friend-of-a-friend it's annoying when the temperature hits minus 30 because the grease in his bearings solidifies and he has to get the bus to work. Wind is hard work unless you're electrically assisted.

You know what I do hate? The moron in the Isuzu pickup truck who close passed me on a slushy road and gave me wet socks. The other lane was clear, he could have gone in the wheel ruts of that and passed me safely. But no. That was when I asked for a helmet cam for Christmas.

If anyone is interested in how the Finns cope with cycling just below the Arctic Circle in winter, this is Oulu:

The comment was in relation to car drivers who mount the pavement to park but continue to drive until the find the perfect spot.

Cambridge has always had a large cycling culture so YABU if you’ve been in Cambridge forever and are only just frustrated with it now. Although I’ve never seen balaclavas here, personally.

anywhere else I guess YANBU if this is a huge change because I get it.

Even in Cambridge where it’s expected it can be wearisome - I use the road as a cyclist and in a car and find it infuriating how many cyclists jump red lights

Only read the OP and am sure this has been said, but in my city it's drivers who cause the biggest nuisance - speeding, racing, not having any patience with other road users. And it's drivers who can kill you, so - whilst I hate them being on pavements - I don't have much headspace to care about cyclists.

The Kingston scheme seems to have taken the decision to give all the main bus routes a cycle lane, which means all the main roads leading to other areas. I guess they thought this made sense as it means that people cycling those routes have a safer option now, as these are the most traffic dense areas.

But are these where people want to cycle?

For a start, all the cycle lanes lead to and from Kingston, but lots of journeys there are for shopping or socialising. It's not a major hub for say office workers.

They didn't look at where people would want to go on their bikes.

Anyway, for whatever reason, the demand to cycle along very busy roads doesn't seem to be there and hasn't increased.

I'm still cross they took out the bus lanes.