illegal to cycle on the pavement in london?

[Ricochet J]

No but what you don't realise is no cars were about. In the distance the light was green. When as I approached the lights, it was still green. Yet, these people showed no regard to their own lifes and just crossed a major main road.

 

[SiD the Turtle]

So they are in the wrong for crossing at the wrong time, but so are you for failing to give way to a pedestrian.

I agree its very fustrating but bombing through on your bike (especially in London) is likely to end either in someone getting hurt or someone throwing a punch

 

[Ricochet J]

So they are in the wrong for crossing at the wrong time, but so are you for failing to give way to a pedestrian.

I agree its very fustrating but bombing through on your bike (especially in London) is likely to end either in someone getting hurt or someone throwing a punch

Don't get me wrong. I understand where you are coming from. And I agree, I should have given way. But it's difficult to go with the law when you get people like these on the streets, that can't keep their end of the bargain.

 

[Psycho Ned]

Aye some pedestrians could do with a trip abroad (Spain or somewhere else in Europe) and see how long they'd last over there!

As I found out on my holidays last year a zebra crossing in Spain doesnt seem to equal pedestrian has right of way more like pedestrian is getting in drivers way so they speed up to get you moving quicker!

 

[Raumarik]

I hope you didn't buy a FS bike for onroad riding (see that a lot)

FS bike? whats that?

I have a mountain bike that I bought before I moved, would ride it to work but I feel a bit daft having it on the road instead of going through fields etc

 

[PaulStat]

Aye some pedestrians could do with a trip abroad (Spain or somewhere else in Europe) and see how long they'd last over there!

As I found out on my holidays last year a zebra crossing in Spain doesnt seem to equal pedestrian has right of way more like pedestrian is getting in drivers way so they speed up to get you moving quicker!

hehe yeah crossings don't seem to have the same significance on the contenant, did no one tell you?

 

[SiD the Turtle]

Don't get me wrong. I understand where you are coming from. And I agree, I should have given way. But it's difficult to go with the law when you get people like these on the streets, that can't keep their end of the bargain.

Agreed!

 

[Wryel]

FS bike? whats that?

I have a mountain bike that I bought before I moved, would ride it to work but I feel a bit daft having it on the road instead of going through fields etc

Full suspension.

Cycle paths scare me, what's the point in taking bikes off the road jsut so you can have idiot pedestrians walk in front of you and swerve round bikes coming the other way? I feel much safer on the roads, cars would need a real intent to cause me any damage.

 

[Psycho Ned]

hehe yeah crossings don't seem to have the same significance on the contenant, did no one tell you?

No.....they obviously didnt want me to come back

 

[ja3h]

wow...a lot of replies, since then i've cycled to and from *** station, mostly on road and a little bit on pavement

A dude in a bmw overtook me then swerved across me to avoid on coming traffic

what is a FS bike?

i have a cheapo 80 quid dual suspension mountain bike from halfords. I'm in zone 5 (croydon) and only go on the pavement when:
the road is too busy (most the roads are quite busy and there is barely enough room for two way traffic because of the cars parked in the road and i dont feel safe and don't wanna slow the traffic down so i go on the pavement if it is quiet).

when i'm on the road i feel a bit self concious because if there are cars behind me i think i'm holding them up *i pedal as fast as i can lol* i passed my driving test about 2 years ago so i think i remember the rules of the road
but i can't cycle one handed with my left hand yet..so i can't indicate

so should i continue going on quiet roads and going on the pavements when it is quiet? or just stick to the roads and No Swearing, Big Kev off motorists?

 

[Raymond Lin]

according to the highway code you should be riding on the road and cars should give you 6 ft of space when overtaking.

But in reality, you can ride on the pavement in some towns with no problems, ir. Brighton. You can ride all you like there, since there are cycle lanes all over the place, some are actually paraelle to the pavement, people seems to get mixed up and ride on the pavement anyway and no one cares.

 

[ja3h]

yes i got a full suspension bike! >.<

i go to the park to play tennis and go on grass sometimes!

 

[Raymond Lin]

FS is full suspension, as most people will tell you, £80 bike is not a decent bike. £80 will get you a good seat post anyway, thats not what this thread is about.

I think you should learn to at least ride with 1 hand first, you need to be able to indicate so others can see where you are heading, don't be afriad to slow cars down at junctions, you have as much right to be on the road as they are and they should give you 6ft to overtake.

 

[Raumarik]

Full suspension.

Cycle paths scare me, what's the point in taking bikes off the road jsut so you can have idiot pedestrians walk in front of you and swerve round bikes coming the other way? I feel much safer on the roads, cars would need a real intent to cause me any damage.

My cousin was "rear ended" on his bike when he stopped at a roundabout about a year ago, he'd been stood there for about 40 seconds when the car simply ploughed into him. Fortunately he survived but had 3 months in hospital.

Thing that gets me is my cousin was at the side of the road, he was waiting to go left so this guy had to have kept near the kerb in order to hit him. Driver has been found guilty of dangerous driving and banned though

In my area (sleepy towns in central scotland) I have no problem with cyclists or motor cyclists, I try to leave them as much room as possible. As far as I'm concerned it's just another person on the road, don't really see them as good/bad.

 

[j00ni]

cars would need a real intent to cause me any damage.

I would have to disagree. Last year I saw a car driver at a T-junction stick the front of his car out into a cycle lane, causing a passing cyclist to hit the bonnet and go flying over it, landing about 10ft further on. He got a compound fracture of his humerus, broke his nose and dislocated his elbow (and probably more that wasn't obvious from the basic examination I gave him whilst waiting for the ambulance. The ignorance of some car drivers makes me very mad

I realise that cyclists can be equally careless, but a bike would struggle to do the damage a car can

 

[BrightonBelle]

NAILED IT SPOT ON MATE!
It makes me angry the kind of crap you get these days toward cyclists.
I was cruisng along with my bike on Commercial Road from Canary Wharf to the City and the traffic lights were green. Yet, some people decided to cross. I'm not in the wrong! I carried on cycling because it was green! If they get run over its their fault. I nearly did run guy over.
He had the cheek to shout out
"You **** head. Why didn't you stop?"
I stopped the bike. Got of it and walked with my bike back on the pavement toward him. I looked at him. I asked him
"What colour are those lights?"
He said "Green"
"What colour is that crossing man"
He said "red"
I said "Then when you see these signs what do you do?"
He shut up and just went away

The other side of this is when some cyclists cannot decide whether they are a vehicle or not and proceed when there is a red light for the cars and a green man.

This happened in Moorgate in London. Don't think I could ever cycle to work I live in zone three and I reckon it would take ages - besides the safety aspect. Used to cycle all the time when I was in Cambridge, though I think the traffic there got 'used' to bike traffic.

BB x

 

[thelonecrouton]

I feel much safer on the roads, cars would need a real intent to cause me any damage.

You've never been hit by a car I take it? I have, several trips in ambulances with broken ribs/arms/collarbones. Not to mention broken motorcycles...

If I feel it's safer for me to cycle on the pavement, then cycle on the pavement I shall. Albeit I do it slowly and considerately.

 

[bam0]

It's not always illegal to cycle on the pavements, round where I live all the pavements are signposted such that bicycles are permitted on them. There are no markings for a cycle lane next to the pavement, cycles are explicitly permitted on the pavement.
Look for this sign;

 

[Wryel]

You've never been hit by a car I take it? I have, several trips in ambulances with broken ribs/arms/collarbones. Not to mention broken motorcycles...

Yes, it was my fault. It hurt.

I would have to disagree. Last year I saw a car driver at a T-junction stick the front of his car out into a cycle lane, causing a passing cyclist to hit the bonnet and go flying over it, landing about 10ft further on.

This is why I always pull out when i see a junction, I won't go blind into a junction even if it means slowing down or annoying cars behind a little. Saying that I almost never get 'honked' at for irritating drivers.

 

[growse]

You've never been hit by a car I take it? I have, several trips in ambulances with broken ribs/arms/collarbones. Not to mention broken motorcycles...

If I feel it's safer for me to cycle on the pavement, then cycle on the pavement I shall. Albeit I do it slowly and considerately.

Of course it's 100% safer for you to ride on the pavement, because you're the biggest thing on the pavement. You collide with a person going reasonably quickly, I think the person's going to be worse off than you.

Given this epidemic of law-breaking cyclists who should, frankly, learn to cycle on the road properly or a cycle lane if it's there (cycling on roads for 6+ years now, never had an accident), or I'm going to walk from A to B by clambering through people's front gardens because I consider it dangerous to walk on the pavement.