Charities critical of guidance which would allow cyclists to use pedestrian areas in Wales

This is quite right. Look how many people are killed in the rest of Europe by cyclists they routinely allow in pedestrian zones!

What do you mean, almost zero?

I'm a disabled person who would be excluded from vast areas if I wasn't allowed to cycle there.
I already don't fancy having to show my (intimately placed) scars to anyone who wants to have a go at me for cycling where I 'shouldn't'.
As I was explaining to someone earlier, disabled people have different needs. e.g. a brief set of steps for me is easier than a longer slope, and I can't use a wheelchair.
The stats on disabled cycling are higher than you may think:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2014/dec/11/mass-cyclin...

'This is often an ignored area, but the statistics show that 5.1% of cycle commuters in England and Wales are people whose day-to-day activities are limited in some way – that is to say they have some form of disability. While this isn’t much below the total proportion of commuters with disabilities, at 6.8%, there is a huge variation between areas for bike commuting among those with disabilities, ranging from 0.2% to 25.9%.'

Very similar to that awful propaganda pushed by the blind charity in London based on a manipulated survey.

They seem to manage ok in Japan.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2013/oct/31/uk-learn-ja...

Cardiff's pedestrianised areas are littered with masses of street furniture making it difficult to move even on foot at busy times...add to that the surface of choice is fairly slippery...Cardiff is in a perfect place to be epically cycle friendly, small, compact, vast swathes of pedestrian only areas that could be spacious....

At the moment the Active Travel Bill, which is great, is in its infancy but will deliver better non vehicular access to places...and Cardiff really needs less cars in the city centre.

I am really tempted to say we could create a segregated area for our blind friends, or for our wheel chair bound neighbours but that would be discriminatory I guess...next they came for those in grey trousers

How do blind people (and perhaps other disabled people) cope on streets in the Netherlands?

It seems obvious not to mix people on bikes and on foot anywhere, though that appears to be the aim of many UK local councils, for pavements at least, given their fondness for 'shared space'.

According to a Guide Dogs for the Blind Association survey in 2010, blind and partially sighted people feel that Shared Space streets were 'no-go areas' because of the lack of boundaries (this may have been 'shared' as in the Exhibition Road model, as opposed to car free areas).

Perhaps the answer is if the Welsh government is keen to make a space available to both groups of user and also accommodate blind and/or other disabled people, they need to define the space for cycling by means of shallow kerbs and possibly additional differentiation by means of colour and texture.

I don't think this would place any additional burden on the blind considering they've got to find their way to a shared space area in the first place. And they like boundaries.

i see (no pun intended) no problem with allowing bike in pedestrian zones if they ride responsibly. I regularly ride slowly through one as the alternative is a badshit crazy ring road, rather risk a run in with the plod than a middle age portly man in a big car or a powered by fairydust texting girl.

Round these parts, the organisations for the blind are happy having buses in the pedestrian areas, but not bikes. It's a type of madness.

Instead of saying "don't allow cyclists here, there, everywhere" surely it's more helpful to point out that putting cyclists and pedestrians together in a limited space doesn't work well for either party, especially if the pedestrians are more vulnerable in some way such as having limited vision.

Seems to me that well-defined high-quality dedicated cycleways (away from the main carriageway and separate from the footway) are in everyone's interests. Hopefully Guide Dogs could help to positively promote this message?

A collision with a pedestrian is at least equally bad for a cyclist, I'm not sure why they think cyclists will crash into people at the first opportunity. It's a very bizarre belief.

“Prioritising cycling” means providing high quality routes that everybody can use (8 to 80, the less-able), not sweeping everyone who isn’t in a car off the road.
This conflict is entirely manufactured by the decision not to provide for people on bikes, who have no quarrel with blind or disabled people (or anybody else for that matter).

Unless there is a specific prohibition in force, you can legally cycle on the pavements in Queensland, Australia. There isn't carnage and cyclists aren't killing pedestrians on a daily basis if ever - it takes a lot of getting used to as a cyclist as its such an alien concept for a non-Queenslander. (Queensland also introduced a 3 ft minimum passing distance rule this year).

We're moving comparatively fast, and near silently. So I can see that we're something a blind person would worry about. I also believe that an unquantifiable worry will get amplified disproportionately. So I have some sympathy for the individuals in this difficult situation, and its right for the charity to raise those concerns.

I hope though that they are not the only concerns listened to by the council. They won't have done a fair job if we see cyclists needs squeezed out by a larger pressure of motorists on one side, and a smaller charity lobby group on the other.

Haven't the RNIB already been called out on their questionable beliefs around cycling a while back and yet they still persist with this anti-cycles rhetoric.

For those foolish enough to believe this will lead to exclusive cycle paths dream on. The chances are when road space is at a premium, the cyclist will be either banned or forced to mix it up with traffic as usual. Not enough local councillors and therefore local councils see value in providing good cycling facilities.

Finally someone is calling for segregated cycling paths. Every day we're moving towards the Dutch model.

Don't allow bikes in pedestrian areas - design car free areas so that they are suitable for pedestrians and for cyclists.