Should cyclists be allowed to ride on the pavement, for their own safety and for the sanity of motorists?

Question

This question seems to have caused a stir and divided the nation!
Answers rocks!

Answer 1

Well, looking at this from both sides. I used to ride when I was younger but now I drive everywhere.

If I was on a bike I wouldn't feel safe on the roads. traffic, potholes s**t drivers etc etc.

When I'm in my car I am nervous of bikes in case they suddenly change direction without looking.

and when I'm on foot its not nice when you have a cyclist coming at you on the pavement at 20mph. But I can see why many cyclists do ride on the pavement.

Its a difficult one to call and I'm not too sure. More cycle routes and wider roads are what we need.

Answer 2

How about putting the cars on the pavements and the pedestrians and cyclists on the road.

In Devon where I live there is a move toward dividing the pavements in half, half for pedestrians half for cyclists. Gone are the days when cyclists were made to ride on the road, back then there were only two cars an hour and everyone used bikes; nowadays there are cars everywhere and if you are going to cycle you should at least be safe!

Gone are the days of being told to get your bike OFF of the pavement, these days in Devon, they tell you to get it ON the pavement!

As for the highway code, that was outdated 20 years ago, yet people still try and live by it now!

Answer 3

The pavement is for pedestrians. Cyclists keep off. Too many cyclists use the road when it suits them, the pavement when it doesn't. Well, bikes are road vehicles, it's illegal to ride on the pavement, for the very good reason that pedestrians need somewhere they can feel safe from wheeled vehicles! And that includes kids - just because you're only 10 doesn't mean you can't crash your bike into someone's tottering grandma.

There is a safety issue for cyclists using the road, which is the poor standard of driving of most car drivers, with the cyclist in the most vulnerable position. It's an issue that mainly affects towns, which are the most demanding areas for drivers where mistakes tend to be made; there are huge areas of the countryside where there is little traffic and cycling is fun.

Urban areas should only be tackled by cyclists who are experienced with their machine, equipped properly (eg rear-view mirror, horn, hub gears, crash helmet), knowledgeable about road use, and on the look-out for car driver stupidity.

Answer 4

Hi. I Drive a car, ride a motorcycle, ride a cycle (including taking my 5 yr old boy to school on a Tag-A-Long) and of course I walk. I live in a small seaside town so you cannot hide behind anonymity for doing something stupid. Yes, cyclists should ride on the roads. But after 3 attempts on my life in a 2 mile ride I do sometimes wish there was an alternative. The trouble lies in the fact that a large percentage of each user group fails to appreciate the limitations of the other. The driver (whatever age & sex) of a motor vehicle should give due consideration to that of a cyclist and pedestrian. The cyclist should do likewise for the pedestrian. (Personally, when on 2 wheels, I give very little away to any car driver, as any one of them could be an assasin) But this is unlikely to happen soon. I am looking forward to when the latest plans are implemented for parking near my sons school. It will be such an A**e for car drivers, they'll all be cycling!

Answer 5

Yes.
My wife cycles a lot, using cycle lanes wherever possible, sometimes they're on the road and sometimes they're on the pavement. Where both are too narrow the cycle lane simply stops, forcing cyclists to share a narrow road with busy traffic. So she uses the pavement - in a responsible manner.

Caveats:
1. cyclists who ride on pavements must do so with care: a friend at work suffered a broken elbow after a cyclist crashed into him on a pavement.
2. wherever possible, pavements should be widened to allow space for cyclists and pedestrians.

Answer 6

If pavements were safe to ride on, then yes, but you have no idea hoq annoying it is to respoke the wheel weekly because of all the enormous bumps, mad twists and turns, and of course the pedestrians. Considering most UK cyclists can outrun a car in an urban commute, it makes more sense to have them on the road. When cyclists get proper cycling lanes though (look at The Netherlands) and drivers get a mentality change ('cyclists have a right to exist') I'm sure traffic will be fine.

Answer 7

Pavements are for pedestrians, cyclists should follow the highway code , most cycle accidents result from breaches of the code yet Police keep turning a blind eye.
Cyclists can push cycles on the pavement legally so this is what they should do if they are too lazy to ride fast enough to feel safe on the carriageway

Answer 8

Cyclists should not be allowed to ride on the pavement, as the pavement is what it says, for Pedestrians. It's time cyclists looked at themselves. They do not have insurance, they do not pay road tax and they have no respect for either pedestrians or motorists. I do not care for their argument that they are saving the planet, if this was so, why are they constantly clogging the roads and making car users frustrated. It's time we motorists demanded that cyclists were banned completely from our roads. As a motorist who pays road Tax, why should I put up with a non paying, non insured person, fouling my roadside and waiting for the first chance of claiming my insurance for damages?
Cyclists should keep to cycle tracks and leave the roads for what they were built (Cars)

Answer 9

So the cyclists are on the pavement to reduce the agrivation of the motorist - what about the pedestrian that can't be in the road and gets side lined by the cyclist?

Answer 10

i'd accept as true with Alex who supplies you a properly built answer. even with the indisputable fact that in simple terms to operate that even once you've very obviously defined cycle paths you'll nevertheless get nit wits who wander throughout them or walk in them without idea to the cyclists attempting to apply them. around the position I stay someone had the great idea to make the roads so slender (through including a bus lane) that cyclists ought to percentage the pavement with peds. that's a recipe for disaster and that i visit regularly journey in the bus lane fairly than using the so said as cycle direction. There are fairly good provisions for cyclists who in simple terms favor a leisure pursuit which consists of wooded area trails yet this does no longer help the courageous few attempting to journey to paintings.