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.

@LameBorzoi I only do it to cyclists who attempt to pass me on the pavement if they don’t warn me first! A quick “on your left/right” makes it safer for everyone. I do appreciate that some roads are dangerous for cyclists.

I do my best to be polite, but I do understand why cyclists get frustrated.

It's tiring always being "the third class citizen".

I'm not breaking speed records, but I do use my bike to get to places. I don't want to pootle along at walking speed / get off and walk every 100 meters / stop at every minor crossroad. I actually have a destination to get to!

It is not cyclists that are the problem. It's the appalling lack of dedicated cycle lanes in this country.
Cycling should be encouraged to reduce car use and get people fit. In European cities it is lovely to see young and old alike out cycling safely.

How does a lack of cycling lanes become an excuse for those arrogant rude entitled cyclists who terrorise the pavements?

I think the cyclist is in control of their actions and their gobs not a cycle lane, pedestrain or motorist

This is not so much a problem in the small town that I work in. Bikes are not that many, and the traffic is not bad and most bikers are just in the flow of traffic in town.

In the nearby city it is a shit show. There are clearly some problem demographics - mainly young university students, and the lycra crowd - both don't seem to care at all about other users of the road or spaces like parks.

However, there are systemic issues imo too. One is that the e-bikes and e-scooters are just so prone to being problematic. They go too fast, they are too quiet, and there are so damn many of them. They seem to come up so fast in places where you wouldn't expect that of a bike. It seems to me like they didn't think there would be so many, except they have given several companies contracts to leave them around town for anyone to use. They also massively litter up spaces when people drop them when they are done. It makes the city look like shit.

In general though their attempts at bike infrastructure seem to have gone really wrong somehow. They seem to be reaching for a kind of Dutch style bike utopia, but it's not worked out that way for various reasons, despite knocking down streets full of 100 year old trees to install bike lanes. There are more bikes but it's topped out and I think it's because they have made things too complicated. Which does not make people feel safe.

I don't know. About two weeks ago I say a man with his son, about six, on his own bike. They were in a cycle lane, but a significant major city corridor, with complicate intersections, in rush hour traffic, so the lane was cut periodically by places where the main road turned into other streets, or in some cases where driveways had to come out on to the street across the bike lane.

I was thinking, this is not a good road for bikes, and no 6 year old should be allowed to drive it on a bike any more than he would be ok to do so in a car.

The city keeps telling people bikes are for all, all bike infrastructure is for all users. But it's really nuts in my opinion - there are multiple places where that is dangerous and irresponsible.

Often it doesn't work because there's a complete lack of willingness to compromise car access or dominance at all.

The Dutch system works because it is expected that cars are "guests" on some roads.

Because people are only human. Yes, some people are just awful, and there's no excuse for that. With bikes, however, riding in the UK is made so stressful and inconvenient, I can't blame people for acting out sometimes.

Jail time? Calm down.

That’s certainly been an issue where I live. It does depend on how determined the councillor with the transport portfolio is, but when they aren’t very determined it tends to go something like this.

Council proposes plans to make the roads safer.
People complain because it’s all for “the cyclists”.
Council waters down plans so they don’t meet engineering standards and builds routes.
Cyclists aren’t doing what people think they should be doing (because the plans have been watered down so the routes aren’t fit for purpose) and the routes are generally not very good (because they don’t meet engineering standards).
Despite having got what they wanted, the same people continue to complain about cyclists and council because the routes are rubbish.

Even where we have had road safety measures put it due to really dangerous driving or roads being structurally unsafe, some people still persist in believing / commenting that the sole reason for these changes is to get at drivers.

What’s so sad about this is that there are regular collisions and people are getting hurt or even killed and there are solutions such as Vision Zero. But if we can’t have a local debate focussed on facts and engineering standards, it’s very hard to do anything about this.

That's simply not true. They are everywhere round here - partly because we live near a school and a large park which people come to visit, and cycly in - so the pavements are very affected. If I were to go outside right now I would be able to see several.

One of my dogs is in a wheelchair and getting to the park is a nightmare because we can't get past on the pavement.

And it is because of these problems that many councils are becoming increasingly exasperated with Lime.

I may be in a "golden zone" for Lime bikes but it is certainly a real issue round here.

I've just been given a work thing in Cambridge & have to go there once a month. I've only been once so far & I'm in no hurry whatsoever to go back. Death wish cyclists is one of the main reasons.

Your Council can put pressure on Lime though to keep their bikes in order. It might be worth looking up what other councils done as I think there have been cases where contracts have been threatened to be removed & raising it with your councillors.

I am a car driver, a cyclist and a pedestrian.
It is definitely a question of :

1. ATTITUDE
2. ADEQUATE CYCLE LANES It is a joy to be a cyclist in most European cities The rule is cars give way to cyclists, and cyclists give way to pedestrians. And it works ! Result - fewer cars polluting roads, far more cyclists out getting exercise and keeping fit in old age. And happy pedestrians.

Oh no! You might have to see some bikes! The calamity!

Oh exactly!

I think people still expect to be able to drive into town and park in front of the shop like people did in 1983. They forget there are five times as many people and ten times as many cars in the area.

They think that removing five parking spaces to put in a bike lane is depriving them of shopping and will kill business in the city centre - despite the fact that parking in the city centre has been impossible since 2003.

Omg it isn't having to see them. It is trying to navigate past them. They are just left on the pavement and I explained how we can't get past. I don't know why you consider this to be a trivial matter. Loads of complaints from pedestrians - blind people, people with buggies, mobility scooters, dogs in particular. Hammersmith and Fulham have removed the contract from Lime because of the problems.

It's another example of cyclists doing what they want regardless of anyone else. Are you genuinely ok with this?

It's just such a non-issue. And as a pp points out, so easily solved.

Its so, so trivial and tiny compared to the social, health, and economic disaster that is our absolute dependence on cars.

Turn car parking spaces into ebike parking (lime etc), fewer cars, more bikes

Cars lining every street, makes cities look like shit

Lameborzoi - seriously we all get frustrated but if you are a cyclist that gives you a god given right to be an arsehole - attitudes like this is what gives cyclists a bad name

What are you talking about?

I'm generally a polite person. I'm not excusing nastiness.

However, everyone has limits. And after decades of being vilified by drivers and pedestrians alike, due to the fact I have nowhere safe or separate to ride, I am about and the end of mine.

The whole point is that you leave it where you want. People are not going to leave the bike at an allocated space then walk the rest of their journey.

But you are the bad guy to pedestrians. We don't owe you our tolerance you can hurt and kill us and you don't NEED to ride your stupid bloody bicycle!

Honestly the absolute arrogance, arse in the air so everyone must behold your crack as you race up the pavement (our space!) yet somehow still unembarrassable shit attitude of cyclists gives me the physical disgust shudders.