Should cyclists ride on the pavements?

Yes I do, and the majority of
Yes I do, and the majority of cars do, There is no justification to mount the pavement and ride along the path. How would you feel if your elderly grandparents or young mum with a toddler was knocked down on the pavement by a cyclist ? People every year are killed by bikes on pavements

Shared Cycle Paths are a bad idea and its an accident waiting to happen, it also make frighten cycles scared of the road.
My son has just been cautioned by the police for riding on the payment. He only went on the pavement after his lights batteries ran out,

Don’t preach to me about its ok to ride on the payment.

armchairracer wrote:Hi,

armchairracer wrote:

Hi, Cyclists who ride on the payment should be heavy fined and have their bikes taken off them. I really don’t understand way they think riding on the payment is ok ? They have wheels and belong on road. As mentioned earlier, their is more dangers riding on the payment. I have had several arguments with cyclists who ride on the pavements.

Great. So any car obstructing a cycle lane will also be crushed? Not quite sure what you’d suggest for pedestrians who walk on cycle-specific paths. Presumably you always drive carefully near cyclists, but you do know not everyone does, which us one reason for pavement cycling?

Having had a read through
Having had a read through this blog and its comments, all I can say is that it would be funny were it not for the fact that most of the people commenting on it were being deadly serious…

I see we had pretty much the full gamut of anti-cyclist issues amongst those comments too; road tax [sic], red light jumping, mandatory use of cycle paths, hi-viz, helmets, bells, lights, insurance, licensing, bicycle testing (a new one on me), travelling too fast, travelling too slow, road positioning, lack of awareness, aggression, arrogance, selfishness…

It’s the same whenever you get these kind of stories on local newspaper websites too. Given that these people clearly represent Joe Public, it all makes for rather depressing reading. 🙁

the pathetic shared use
the pathetic shared use cyclepaths they’ve begrugingly given us in Gloucester all have the terrible habit of stopping for every f*£&”*g side street with give way signage and stopping just where you need them most with “cyclists dismount” signs… not to mention barriers/chicanes etc. that are impossible to negotiate with my trailer still on the back of my bike. Deity alone knows how someone disabled using a hand-cranked recumbent would be able to negotiate them…

Doesn’t help that it’s taking me twice as long to cycle the same distance as I would on the road running alongside with all the give ways and the rough surface…

I’m sick and tired of being treated like some kind of poor relative of the pedestrian forced to share space with them and they don’t like it either X( .

Give us proper Dutch style segregated cyclepaths where the cycle has priority across side streets and we are not required to mix with vulnerable pedestrians either.

Confused is the word.
Confused is the word. Pavements are even worse kept than road. How exactly could I barrel along at 30kph dodging people stepping out of their front gates, cars backing out of drives, and coming to a screeching halt every 20m for yet another side road where I loose priority to turning vehicles?

Roads are for vehicles, roads connect to other roads. I often see cycle paths that I just ignore because I know those routes and I see cars parked in them, trees growing out of them or mixed use with people walking on the green bit! Or the path is just a few metres long. My half hour commute would take 1h20 on the pavements and be no less dangerous.

Motorists want their cake and eat it, cyclists off the roads. I suspect old ladies and mothers with prams do not want builders on mountain bikes bearing down on them. All of these sort of suggestions are just prejudicial waffle. We need more cyclist on the road not less. Cyclists will always have to be a vocal minority. Know the law and hold your line.