Frigging pavement cyclists

Why is it these days so many people break the law by cycling on pavements?

The answer is simple. Either they are ignorant of the law or they don’t care.

It frigging infuriates me and I want to drag them off their machines.

They may protest that they find the road too dangerous to cycle along.

That, however, is no excuse to get up on the pavement.

I don’t mean real cyclists like you and me, I mean Joe Public who has taken to using a bike purely for utility purposes as distinct from people who have taken up the sport. Although a significant number of “proper” cyclists also ride down the pavements when it suits them, and they ride across Zebra crossings to get across the road when they should dismount and  walk their machines. I hate them for it.

This summer I even saw a veteran in the colours of Western Road Club riding on the pavement.  Who did he think he was, Chris Froome? I bet Froome doesn't ride down pavements. Well, I hope he doesn't. But in truth you never know with the pros, a law unto themselves. They live in world of their own. Every road is La Course! Allez.

I once went on a ride with the professional La Redoute team  Paul Sherwen once rode for - oh, when was that?  Early 1980s?  At a crossing in a town, they all simply meandered through the pedestrians who had the green light.   The walkers just parted amiably - oooh, look, it's the pros!

Sorry to say, I just followed the wheels! Well, everyone on the crossing just stopped to let us by, the riders and the following team car and the L'Equipe press car  - a photographer had been taking snaps out in the country. We all just slowly rolled through. Merci!

That was  early season in the South of France, on the eve of the Tour du Haut Var.... As if that was their  excuse!

But I never did it again, your honour.

Back to the pavement cyclists, my real concern.

Don't these pavement cyclists ever think someone could suddenly emerge from a doorway, walk straight into their path and that they might knock them down... if elderly the impact might even kill them?

I am a cyclist of some 60 years.  At the age of 11 I was given my first big bike. It was a second-hand Raleigh Trent Tourist.  My father enrolled me for the cycling proficiency test and I am very thankful that he did.  A series of lessons on road traffic law and how to cycle in traffic, how to look behind you before starting off,  how make left and right turns and generally behave safely,  was followed by a playground test around a mock road layout. I scored a high pass rate of 91 per cent and was pretty pleased with myself.  For I had been taught the rudiments of road craft and road traffic law which I have never forgotten. I was imbued with new found confidence and respect for my fellow road users.

It was made very clear to me that it was against the law to cycle down pavements. If you did so a policeman would stop you.  Of course, that was back in the days when the UK had a police force, before Tory cuts reduced their numbers.

In my town we see a couple of plods make a token appearance on the beat perhaps once a month!

Very occasionally, I see one on a bike. And once - bravo - the cycling cop yelled at a pavement cyclist and made him get on the road. But we no longer have enough police to patrol the streets.

Only very young children were permitted to cycle on pavements. But you never saw young children riding down those pavements bordering main roads. They stayed on side roads, outside their houses. Today, of course, residential roads and many pavements are chock full of parked cars.  So there is nowhere for the children to play, to practice cycling while remaining in sight of the house. And mum or dad might not have the time to take them to the park.

But that doesn’t make it right to let them  loose on crowded pavements in shopping centres, as parents frequently do, on bikes and those blasted scooters.

Not many cyclists today appear to have taken the cycling proficiency test, judging by the stupid antics some get up to.  I think it should be mandatory!

Here's an example bad cycling I witnessed today.

There was the dad cycling on his small-wheeled bike with his young son  in tow on a small bike. – He was aged about eight.  

Mistake 1. They were riding down a narrow pavement bordering a main road into town.  So narrow there was no room to pass a pedestrian loaded down with  shopping bags.

So Dad was breaking the law and also putting his child in danger because at that age, a child

lacks the spatial awareness to judge the speed of approaching traffic - what if he find himself suddenly forced into the road to avoid a pedestrian, for instance?  Fortunately, in the few moments they were in my sight, they had the pavement to themselves until they reaching the traffic light controlled crossing which would take them to the supermarket. 

Mistake 2. When the pair reached this crossing, dad broke the law by cycling across it – you are always meant to dismount and walk your bike across crossings, unless it is a Pelican crossing, when  the illuminated signal will include the image of a cyclist and as well as that of a pedestrian. But this crossing was for walking across.

Dad rode across it, breaking the law again. Of course, his tiny son followed, wobbling behind What did he know?

Well,  thanks to dad, he is becoming equipped for a life of cycling, and in his experience it's perfectly OK to ride down pavements and perfectly OK to ride across pedestrian crossings.