to think that adult cyclists who ride on pavements are selfish & irresponsible?

[Rafi]

I can understand it if there's a child on the back. But normally it seems to be some selfish idiot who thinks they can do what they want & never mind the pedestrians...

AIBU?

"Do you really obey every single law of this country. Really, truly? Obv doubt that you would cop to speeding a single mile over the speed limit, right now, however, you're setting yourself up on a pretty high horse with that argument.

"(I'm pretty sure that there is still a law that a pregnant woman can wee wherever she wants to - well there was when I did my A-levels, according to my gov&politics tutor)"

I'm not setting myself up on any sort of high horse. I make the point quite clearly that it is worth respecting not just because it is the law but because breaking it is selfish and dangerous.

As it happens, I very rarely knowingly break the law, but yes, it has been known, including driving offences. Not any more - I've learnt my lesson and I don't currently choose to drive anyway. But you know what I never, EVER do? Bleat about my hard luck life and say how it doesn't apply to me because I'm special and different.

As for the tosh about pregnant women, this is the sort of non-fiction writing that is more at home on the back of a matchbox than on Mumsnet. What's next - "did you know that WG GRace used an oak bat?" Paradoxically fascinating in its dull irrelevance.

"I think if you are going to be strict about this you should also penalise pedestrians who use cycle paths." Good idea. I don't think a single pedestrian has bleated anything to the contrary.

Oh MIFLAW, you are funny.

Those people are killed at junctions because they are waiting in an incorrect place at the red light - they're waiting in a blind spot. If I'm at a junction I will always make sure I'm in the middle of the lane (whether I am at the front of the queue or not), so that drivers have no excuse not to see you. Never ever ever stop at the lights beside a bus or lorry or van.

As a cyclist you do have to ride aware, you have to constantly think about car drivers and how to make yourself as visible to them as possible - things like making sure you make eye contact with drivers coming out of side roads etc.

I know.

But thanks.

I havent' heard anyone bleating Nope!

I am not a cyclist. I think they are the devils' machines and they always try to kill me when I get on one But they are hugely more environmentally friendly than cars and as such should be encouraged not have their journeys made so hard that they are discouraged from using them. Penalise wanker car drivers who drive a cm from their back wheel and overtake dangerously close, and shout insults at them because they have held them up for a millisecond. If it is actually illegal to ride of pavements rather than just a local bylaw? it needs to be changed. There should be strict rules about how cyclists should behave on the pavement but I think it's crazy that they aren't allowed to use them at all.

Cyclists around here are all really polite! There are also a number of paths that have been widened for cyclists but do not have signs saying so.

I would rather people were safe really.

I was knocked off my bike whilst cycling perfectly competently in a designated cycle lane by a driver who had no regard for my safety. This was after habitual near misses on the roads caused by drivers lack of care/attention/downright aggression. It certainly shook my confidence. Unfortunately it is often drivers who should be more responsible whilst on the road, not a simple matter of whether a cyclist is confident or not.

If you're too much of a wuss to ride your bike on the road then don't fucking have a bike - cyclists on the pavement will incur my wrath and maybe even the odd push too.

Viz the bell ringing, I have to say htat quite often I ignore a cyclist ringing a bell behind me, because I don't realise it's got any relevance to me.

I'm walking on a pavement and I don't expect to have to anything to do with non-pedestrians. So if a bell rings behind me, I won't connect that with me, IYSWIM. It's only when the cyclist rides past me effing and blinding at me, that I realise that ringing sound was aimed at influencing my behaviour.

And also, some people are deaf, quite a lot of people are deaf to some level or other, and they don't wear signs saying that, so the bell would not be any use to them.

"I am not a cyclist. I think they are the devils' machines and they always try to kill me when I get on one But they are hugely more environmentally friendly than cars and as such should be encouraged not have their journeys made so hard that they are discouraged from using them. Penalise wanker car drivers who drive a cm from their back wheel and overtake dangerously close, and shout insults at them because they have held them up for a millisecond. If it is actually illegal to ride of pavements rather than just a local bylaw? it needs to be changed. There should be strict rules about how cyclists should behave on the pavement but I think it's crazy that they aren't allowed to use them at all."

Of COURSE drivers who threaten the safety of cyclists should be penalised. It goes without saying.

However, walking is even more environmentally friendly than cycling. Where exactly is the pedestrian going to be allowed to feel safe from wheeled vehicles? Perhaps on the pavements which were built for their use. Or is that a "crazy" concept and should they just put up and shut up so that people on bikes are happy?

Nancy66, yes pushing people into the traffic sounds like a perfectly proportional response.

As for the bell ringing I'd be annoyed if a cyclist expected me to take any notice of that. Like HerBeatitudeLittleBella I wouldn't think it was meant for me. The pavements on the main road here are dangerously narrow and it seems to me that most cyclists stop and say 'excuse me' to get by. I may just have been lucky or maybe we get a better class of cyclist round here

No it wasn't a joke it was a question to those that don't mind cyclicts on the pavement as long as they are respectful of pedestrians around them.

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Clearly we need way more cycle path routes

To the OP, YANBU at all!

I can't believe the number of people who think it's OK to ride on the pavementm despite it being illegal. I don't care how careful people are, bicycles don't belong on pavements.

(caveat: I think it's ok for children to ride on the pavements while they are very little. Just while they're getting a feel for their bikes, learning the rules of the road, etc. But past the age of 7 or 8, no one should be on the pavement.)

I loathe people who cycle on pavements. I can - just about - stomach the Dulwich mummies round where I work who pedal along slowly on wide pavements with young Tarquin in the baby seat (usually helmetless ), but the selfish shits who race up behind me when I'm walking along the pavement and swerve round my children, missing them sometimes by centimetres deserve to be fined.
If the roads are too dangerous (and the South Circular round us is busy, but jolly slow), do what I do. Walk. Or take the bus. Just as environmentally friendly, and frees up space for pedestrians to use the pedestrian walkway.

I particularly resent the way some of the fuckers wear helmets to protect their precious heads, in case they get damaged when they ram into walkers. Poor dears.

And yes I know this is inconsistent.

"But I make no apologies as we are totally calm, respectful, walk if necessary, never frighten or push people... If you think that deserves punishment, you are entitled to your view. But I will respectfully disagree."

Splendid.

For the record, I am not incapable of separating these issues.

The statement, "because it's the law" was in answer to some nonsense about this being only my opinion. It is not. It is the opinion of a lot of people on here and is ratified by law.

I'm not constantly confusing you with mad drivers or cyclists. In fact I have consistently separated the two camps out. But I don't like them and I don't like you either because i find you all selfish and dangerous. I walk on the pavement rather than on the road so I don't need to be constantly in fear of being hit by traffic. I don't see why that should be jeopardised because you can't be bothered to follow the rules (or, in many cases, because a cyclsit is too lazy to follow a one way system.)

Also, no one has said what's wrong with MY plan to drive a car respectfully and calmly and politely on the pavement. Presumably because, unlike cyclists, I am not special and different and therefore the rules apply to me.

By the way, how do you know you never frighten people? Do you stop and ask them individually? Or do you just assume you are in the right?

i am shit at cycling. i have no idea why. so i do cycle down my road on the pavement to enable me to get to the cycle path without killing myself. but i do so very very very slooowwwwwly and panic and get off and push if someone else comes along the pavement.
so from a personal pov i think yabu

chisigirl - agreed, except where they are designated dual use pavements. And I think a lot of pedestrians aren't aware that these exist, let alone where they are, so think cyclists are on these pavments illegally when they are not. I ride courteously on these but still get dirty looks from pedestrians and/or pedestrians thinking it's perfectly acceptable to walk in the designated cycle lane on shared use paths and get angry with cyclists when that is actually the same as walking in the middle of a busy road!

But other than shared use pavements, then there is no excuse and cyclists should be on the road. A bike is a vehicle not a pair of feet, and the place for a vehicle is a road. If you are too scared to cycle on the road then you shouldn't be on a bike; we don't allow scared learner drivers to drive their car on the pavement (and most of them go slower and are easier to spot than the average cyclist ) so why should we let a scared cyclist do the same?

How can you not be aware that a path is dual use?? it's got a big fuck off bike painted on the ground!

My DH is a cyclist and he sometimes uses the pavement because if he didn't he would get knocked off by lorries and cars. He is always aware of pedestrians but his biggest problem is when he's on the road and pedestrians think they can walk out in front of him without looking.

I think that a small amount of inconsiderate cyclists where ever they are cycling do not care about other people (pedestrians etc) Don't tar everyone with the same brush!

well where are we meant to 'practise' then? its only to get to a safe place to practise

some aren't cosmosis. they can be segregated (with a big line between the two sides and your "big fuck off bike" on the ground) or they can be unsegregated where it is a free for all.

belcantwait - you could always walk your bike to the safe place to practise...

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