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.

Is this a joke? I can get to work more quickly on the bike than in the car, and therefore I have placed myself "higher up in the pecking order" and am therefore "intellectually bereft"??? If I spent 20 minutes sitting in stationary traffic on the road, instead of 15 minutes on the cycle paths, I would be a better person and society would be less miserable? Out of the two of us, I don't think I'm the arrogant bully.

I cycle on the road, stop at lights and crossings, have never knowingly worn a balaclava, and would not know one end of an angle grinder from the other. I really don't think I have ruined your life.

Why don't we have police on bikes to combat them??

This is the sort of us v them division that fuels road rage. Of course all people who ride bikes are the same.🙄

I ride to work, but sometimes pop to the shops or take a leisurely ride so am I excluded then or am I am I a smarmy bully? Am not elderly yet but good to know I will meet your approval in 20 years. I drive too and walk. We need a flow chart!

It's so frustrating. If cyclists are too frightened to go on the road then answer is to walk not to ruin life for those on pavements.

I disagree! There are plenty of pavements that are not particularly busy and it is perfectly possible for considerate cyclists and pedestrians to share, especially alongside busy roads.
I have been out with DH today to get a coffee from the drive thru about 3 miles from home. The majority of the route is on local residential roads/shared pathways/access roads but to get on them we needed to cross a busy road. I am not a very confident cyclist so we cycled maybe 100 metres in one direction on the pavement to cross at the zebra crossing then a little bit further in the opposite direction to get to the road we wanted to join. We didn't encounter any pedestrians but ride carefully and give way when necessary.
Illegal electric bikes are a different matter entirely. Legal ones you have to pedal. If they are whizzing along without pedalling they are illegal and we need more policing to stop this. However, as there are many issues of poor driving on the road that aren't picked up then I won't hold my breath for these dangerous bikes to be taken off the road.

Cyclists could push there bikes on the pavement if necessary. But cycling on the pavement should be outlawed.

I have the same problem here in central London and it tends to be middle-aged male commuters and delivery men on bicycles, not youths.

They tear through the lights, often in groups 5 or more, making it dangerous to cross the roads. My DC's too scared to walk to the bus stop to school alone because of it.

I'm sorry you feel unsafe OP , truly , but more I want to thank the overwhelming sane, logical posters who have pointed out that this is an inconsiderate arsehole issue rather than a cyclist issue.

As an almost 54 year old woman cyclist and a woman of colour you have no idea the amount of abuse and near death I receive just for going about my business legally on my bike - but attitudes like this makes the hate I receive seem legitimate.

And fyi, I'm also a pedestrian, so I'm also a victim of terrible cyclists and drivers.

Quite tight
Cyclists saying they are too frightened on the roads should not be then endangering and scaring pedestrians

They need to Walk or keep to the roads or cycle paths

Sounds like Amsterdam.

Yep. It's terrifying trying to cross the road.

This sounds horrendous OP. Are you in London by any chance? The balaclavas and general lawlessness makes it sound that way. I think there needs to be more controls and rules around e bikes. They are very dangerous. Also balaclavas - no one needs to wear one. Your post reminds me of an unpleasant encounter with a cyclist in Bristol around 10 years ago. I was stood with a group of people at a crossing point and a well spoken women on a bike came carearing through shouting at us all to F off out of her way. On a separate note, I’m worried about the growing use of e scooters for the same reason. I worry about being knocked over or by one of my children being knocked over by one when we visit places like Bristol. I often see people racing along the road on them with no helmet. So dangerous.

What an absolutely ridiculous question. You could say that about any problem. Does something have to affect someone all day every day to be an issue?

Wow. I’m so sorry you’re experiencing this - it sounds horrible. I live in a big city in the south east, and there are a lot of people doing this, but it hasn’t affected our quality of life really, it’s just a case of noticing there are more people doing it than before really.

To answer your original question, rural north Hampshire.

We had one teen with an escooter. It's just been confiscated by police for riding two-up, in the dark, without lights.

I like to cycle myself and the delivery drivers are a menace. Regular cyclists, well there's a few who are arseholes (Yes, Lycra and showing off) but much less of an issue. Infrastructure improvements would help for the regular cyclists but I'm afraid that the delivery drivers will do just about anything. I remember visiting the Netherlands over 20 years ago, so pre ebikes and Deliveroo, and the cycling infrastructure with the dedicated paths and separation made such a difference.

Hi OP. I can see from your post that you're in my city (I saw the clips on SM of the bike theft, it's doing the rounds). I am also a cyclist, but agree with you. A lot of the problems are to do with ebikes/scooters, the roadmen kids & delivery drivers, not help by the council's poorly planned cycling infrastructure in the city centre. It makes it hard for a bog standard cyclist like me too!

Oh good, another cyclist bashing thread. Yes they’re the spawn of satan OP. All of them.

So, I posted earlier about the floating bus stops we have round here - bus users and cyclists are made to share the same piece of pavement (in front of the bus stop). The idea is that everyone is co-operative and looks out for each other. It is used a lot in Europe apparently.

The big problem here of course is that people here are used to spaces being clearly assigned to either cyclists or pedestrians and often people rail against the other lot getting in their way. And it isn't safe for eg deaf or blind people.

Here is an article about them including a video - possibly coming your way https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-69001698.amp

Unfortunately relying on people to do the right thing isn’t that effective in road safety. Many will because they understand the effect on others, but others just won’t. At least in this situation the cyclists have an excuse that the road design is poor (unlike other problems such as drink or drug driving or driving using a mobile phone).

There’s just no way that you can compel people to do what you want here - any more that I could compel the driver I saw on his mobile last week to stop.

The only solutions that actually work are safe road designs to solve the more low level problems and police enforcement to tackle more serious ones (where there is actual criminal intent not just people trying to cope with poor street design). LTN1/20 (which I mentioned earlier) is very clear that this situation is poor design for 3 reasons:

1. Cyclists shouldn’t be treated as vehicles not pedestrians in urban areas and should be separated from them (so no shared paths).
2. On busy streets, cyclists need their own lane physically separated from traffic (eg by bollards)
3. Cyclists shouldn’t be expected to dismount because some can’t (as bicycles are a mobility aid).

Police enforcement seems to vary between forces, but some forces are doing some really interesting pioneering stuff - West Midlands for example has had some interesting initiatives. It’s a real shame that this (and road safety issues in general) isn’t better reported.

If you are in Edinburgh, there is a fairly well-known cycle campaign (Spokes) so it might be worth seeing if they have any current campaigns to improve the issues that you mention.

(Also thanks to @cowleycyclist- I very much appreciated your kind post).

I don’t think cyclists should break the law. However, I would love to be able to afford to live in a beautiful city where cycling is easy like Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford and think you just have to accept poor cycling compared to commuting for 1.5 hours each way on the train. Move to a village on the outskirts and take the park and ride and I’m sure you’d rather put up with cyclists rather than standstill traffic.

I live in one of these places and this is where cyclists cause hell for me as a pedestrian. I frequently see cyclists colliding, too (one will be minding their own business and the other a moron on an e-bike or ploughing through a red light).

I agree it’s terrible but like I said I work in one of those places and would love to have cyclists on a pavement as my biggest problem on the way to work. Imagine having to cycle to the station, get on the train for 40 minutes then cycle again to work and think how lucky you are.

I think the issue is really wider when it comes to going on the toad. It's the entitlement mindset to be fought, regardless on how many wheels.
I walk, cycle and drive, and try to be considerate regardless.
When I walk, I look left and right before crossing, try not to press a pedestrian traffic light if there are no cars coming, I don't take up the whole path.
When I drive, I don't take risks, I respect cyclists, I keep my eyes wide open and get no distractions.
When I cycle, if I am on the road and a queue is forming behind me, I pull out at the first opportunity and let fastest vehicles go past. If I am on the pavement, I dismount when I cross a pedestrian, or I make sure to slow down enough/move to the side enough not to cause any harm.

Does anyone do the same? Very few in my experience. I see drivers speeding in busy roads, including in front of schools at drop off time. I see cyclists not stopping at a red traffic light, and carrying on cycling slowly even when there is a queue of 30+ cars behind them and plenty of opportunity to pull over for 30 seconds.....

@valianttortoise Sorry I am being a bit grumpy. Where I am in Cambridge, some of the infrastructure is very poor so it is partly that. However, I agree it is mostly the delivery cyclists weaving in and out of traffic, up and down pavements causing major problems. Perhaps that is also to do poor roads for drivers so they’re weaving around traffic and in pedestrian areas where cyclists aren’t allowed. I’ve found in the Netherlands more cyclists obey the rules than here.

The main problem seems to be food delivery riders. If we all stopped using Deliveroo/Just Eat and went back to picking up our own takeaways it would probably help.