Why are there so many adults riding bikes on the pavement these days?
Posted by Far_Camel_5098@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 58 comments
When I was growing up in late 70s / early 80s we would regularly get told off by people (including the police) for riding our bikes on the footpath / pavement.
The assumption was that if you were over the age of about 10 and had done your cycling proficiency test you should be on the roads with the other 'vehicles'.
I know that the roads are much busier these days but I'm sick to death of fully grown adults (nearly always men) tearing along the pavement and expecting pedestrians to get out of the way.
These aren't the lycra clad cyclists btw. They are more likely the drug dealing, or off to their low paid manual job kind of people. The ones who have either not learned to drive, or have been banned from that method of transport and are now inflicting their terrible driving and behaviours on the public via 2 non-motorised wheels.
Are these morons everywhere? Or just where I live? Makes me want to stick my arm out and 'clothesline' the selfish idiots.
sjintje@reddit
>Are these morons everywhere? Or just where I live
It would probably help if you said where you lived! It does seem to vary quite a bit across the country, depending on how bad the traffic is, how many people actively cycle, and the availability of cycle lanes. Personally Doncaster was the worst, traffic hell (literally impossible to cycle on the roads), lots of bikes, no cycle lanes.
Flowers330@reddit
There may be one extra moron where OP lives
CensorTheologiae@reddit
Maybe they're car drivers and think that as driving cars on the pavement is normal now, it applies to bikes too.
TonightAdventurous41@reddit
Because there are more people driving like assholes than ever before?
GeggingIn@reddit
Low paid manual job, put into the same category level as drug dealers?
There’s plenty of middle class bell ends on the pavement too, your majesty.
OwlAviator@reddit
Nah, the middle classes are all in lycra, makes them so aerodynamic you barely see them as they pass
RBisoldandtired@reddit
Yes I’d say this cunt is one of those lmao
Batalfie@reddit
I'm more annoyed at the tonnes of cars parked on the pavement in my area. I know why but it's still fucking annoying. Honestly society has become too car dependent but again I can see why.
AgeZealousideal6865@reddit
Bikes should be on bike lanes and nothing else.
They seize up the roads and are a danger to pedestrians on the pavements.
Lostinaforest2@reddit
Roads were originally built for pedestrians and carts pulled by donkeys. Cyclists should be on the road. People driving cars should be more considerate and less judgmental.
Muggerlugs@reddit
Cyclists should be more considerate and less judgmental, I’m sick of being yelled at or having snarky comments by cyclists because I can’t move quick enough to let them fly past. Disabled and heavily pregnant currently and I’d love to throat punch the next fucker who behaves like that. Cyclists often seem to forget they don’t own the pavements.
Lostinaforest2@reddit
I think we agree that people should be more considerate of other people. Whether using the road or pavement.
Muggerlugs@reddit
Yes a fair point, there just seems to be an uptick since Covid of people forgetting the world isn’t just theirs on all fronts!
Drwynyllo@reddit
> Cyclists are probably the most selfish people around today.
Apart from car drivers with the mentality that the roads belong to them.
NellyG123@reddit
You want cyclists on bike lanes? Go advocate for them with the council then. I would like them, but I'm perfectly happy riding on the road. If a small friction point in life makes you irrationally angry, go create the change you want to see.
I do appreciate this also makes me sound quite selfish. I'm not, I just like riding my bike because it's fun, and the actual time lost to motorists waiting to pass is miniscule in reality, and in urban spaces cyclists can speed up the roads for cars by reducing congestion. How many cars can you get through a 20 second green light vs cyclists?
Final rambly point, remember when we all had bikes as kids? It's because they're fun as fuck to ride. Honestly, go to a bike shop and ask to have a go on an ebike. If you manage to get off it without a smile on your face you'll be the first that I've seen.
Engineer__This@reddit
Care to elaborate on these wild comments?
I occasionally cycle for sport/fitness and am very considerate of other road users, however I’ve been almost run off the road on multiple occasions (on purpose!) and shouted at for nothing.
I’ve also encountered some crazy behavior from cyclists as well.
Seems like it’s more about the person than the mode of transport they’ve chosen.
QueefInMyKisser@reddit
Last week I was driving my car at the 30mph limit and was undertaken by a bloke doing maybe 40mph on a dodgy e-bike on the pavement
HenshinDictionary@reddit
Assault is a very serious crime. Anyone who suggests this is likely the drug dealing kind of person.
BumblebeeNo6356@reddit
I imagine you are someone who would also moan if they were cycling in the road in front of you.
Far_Camel_5098@reddit (OP)
No because that is legal.
rice_fish_and_eggs@reddit
Yeah working class men who cycle to their criminally underpaid jobs are the worst.
ReddyBlueBlue@reddit
It’s not that their cycling and you know it, it’s that their cycling on the pavement and potentially hurting people.
rice_fish_and_eggs@reddit
Cycling on the pavement is absolutely fine and you know that. Cycling on a main road can be absolutely lethal. OP is just annoyed that people they believe to be below them are potentially breaking the rules to keep themselves safe.
Drwynyllo@reddit
> they are more likely the drug dealing kind of people ... 2 non-motorised wheels.
All the obvious drug dealers anywhere near where I live use e-bikes, not ordinary bicycles.
They're dealing drugs, so running the very small risk of being nicked for using an illegal e-bike is just a cost of doing business. Also, the 18+ ones can almost certainly drive, but an e-bike is much more convenient for a quick "escape" if there's other traffic.
Maybe you want to edit your rant again? :-)
DevilishlyHandsome63@reddit
Yep round by me, on pavements it's either dealers, women with helmets and glasses, (often with a basket on front of their bike), and the odd middle aged lycra buffoon. If they come near me , I just swing my rucksack off my shoulder, and they move.
Only__Link@reddit
Ah yes, must all be drug dealers and working class people. Yiiikes. All the motorised delivery bikes on pavements do get annoying, but it's super obvious that you are a bigger arse than the twats on bikes.
YesterdayPlus5587@reddit
Immigration
Engineer__This@reddit
Yeah! We need to stop letting so many bikes into the country!
Drwynyllo@reddit
> or off to their low paid manual job kind of people
Sheesh.
Fluffy_Juggernaut_@reddit
They're "drug dealing kind of people" now! OP needs to get a grip
idontlikemondays321@reddit
I don’t cycle or drive so no skin in the game but if I did cycle, I’d rather not have 4 x 4s up my arse if the path is completely empty. Yes, it’s not the rules but if you’re being careful and not going too fast then it’s sometimes safer.
F1nut92@reddit
Combination of a lot of things really,
Some drivers are awfully impatient, they want to get by the cyclist or slow moving car as soon as possible, regardless of the danger it poses to others or themselves. For some cyclists they’ll chance getting looks from pedestrians rather than potentially getting killed by an impatient driver.
The cycle lanes in this country (or at least a lot of the country) are a joke.
The size of cars is constantly increasing while the roads are not getting wider, factor in poor/non existent cycle lanes and already impatient drivers makes passing on roads even worse than it once was.
Paths are generally better maintained than the roads, potholes hit hard enough in a car with suspension, never mind a road bike with none/minimal suspension to dampen the impact.
Of course cycling on paths isn’t the solution, but it’s on the councils to put better cycle lanes in, repair roads etc, it’s unfair to entirely blame one part of the problem when do much more needs changing to solve it.
Vitalgori@reddit
Well,
But the infrastructure for bikes wasn't built.
Also, right now its warm outside, and this happens a lot when its warm outside, a lot of inexperienced cyclists dust off their bicycles and start cycling in for transport again.
Far_Camel_5098@reddit (OP)
Fair enough but it really isn't safe for cyclists to share the pavements with small children and OAP's either is it?.
I've seen some near misses, one which resulted in an old lady stepping onto the road to avoid a manic cyclist. Luckily, no cars were coming, but she did take a tumble and had to be helped up.
Vitalgori@reddit
> really isn't safe for cyclists to share the pavements with small children and OAP's either is it?.
I 100% don't think cycling on the pavement is a good long-term solution, but equating it to the danger of cars is silly. Least of all because most cyclists who ride on the pavement stop using it as soon as they are confident enough to go on the road.
If I get hit by a car when I'm walking or cycling, the *least* I expect will happen is property damage to my bike, but probably I won't walk the same again because of a broken leg - or worse.
On the other hand, there was a fairly representative video of a cyclist hitting a pedestrian recently on one of the cycling subreddits: https://www.reddit.com/r/MicromobilityNYC/comments/1lz38a0/what_a_biker_actually_hitting_a_pedestrian_looks/
> I've seen some near misses, one which resulted in an old lady stepping onto the road to avoid a manic cyclist.
Of course, and we need to build better infrastructure for cycling so we can all be safer.
NellyG123@reddit
Don't have a go at the 'off to their low paid manual job type people', have a go at your local council for not providing bike infrastructure. If they felt like they had a safe alternative to the pavement they would probably use it, and pedestrians, drivers and cyclists would all be better off for it.
Henegunt@reddit
It's safer for bike riders and people are easier to avoid
citruspers2929@reddit
About 100 cyclists are killed by cars each year. A cyclist hasn’t killed a pedestrian for about a decade. So I’d argue that it is safer for cyclists to be on the pavement, yes.
Gloomy-Sink-7019@reddit
Oh you're just one of those weirdos who has an irrational hatred for cyclists
spectrumero@reddit
Unless you're a brave adventurous risk taker, the roads feel pretty terrifying to ride on regardless of your age or gender, especially if you are a "guy on a bike" but not a "cyclist" (in other words, someone forced perhaps by circumstance to ride, rather than someone who rides by choice). Driver behaviour has driven pretty much all but the highly assertive off the roads.
The other factor is due to councils painting a line on pavements or merely putting a sign up on pavements as a cheap box ticking exercise for cycle facilities (instead of a proper cycle network) is that the idea of pavement cycling has been more normalised.
Henegunt@reddit
You sound like a right prick to be fair
Flowers330@reddit
Are you sure it isn't a shared path for bikes too? Either way your attitude comes across pretty gross, don't clothes line anyone or stereotype people as drug dealers and low paid manual workers simply because they ride a bike on a pavement.
Far_Camel_5098@reddit (OP)
User name checks out.
Given that it is illegal to ride a bike on a pavement (definitely not a shared path) I can only assume that you are one of these people. And therfore you feel the urge to jump to the defence of this crime.
And I am not apologising for stereotyping when I've smelled the whiff of their illegal cigarettes as they speed past without any consideration for decent people.
rice_fish_and_eggs@reddit
Seriously is this you?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-68641891
bareminimumrequired0@reddit
How do you know that they aren’t prescribed cannabis (I’m sure that’s what is being referred to) Well that’s discrimination. That’s a crime. Pot kettle black.
watryatalkinabout@reddit
You fucking elitist shit bag.
RBisoldandtired@reddit
Well you’re a piece of shit.
bareminimumrequired0@reddit
Have you seen how people drive. F that
PigHillJimster@reddit
We have many pavements around our way that are shared 'footpaths/cycleways' however they don't have segregated markings along the way. The only clue is a blue circle sign occasionally on something, or the map from the library.
I wouldn't necessarily assume that a footpath wasn't also a cyclepath.
Having had a couple of adult friends in bike accidents where they weren't at fault, injured badly, and two friends killed, I have come to the point of view that if someone is riding sensibly on the footpath and not a danger to pedestrians, to just let them be.
Mr_Emile_heskey@reddit
I haven't cycled in a while, but when I was cycling regularly I found a lot of car drivers hate cyclists and unless I had a go pro mounted on my helmet, certain parts of road felt dangerous to ride along because of how users on the road drove.
Funnily enough, for the best part of a year I didn't charge my go pro, but still left it mounted to my helmet and I wouldn't need to get off the road because people would drive better. Always made me laugh.
Emergency_Mistake_44@reddit
I doubt you're out at the same time as the "drug dealing kind" and what are you doing while these "low paid manual job" kind of people are going to work?
Do_not_use_after@reddit
They didn't listen then, and they aren't listening now.
More seriously, suicide is still not allowed in this country. If you ride a bike on the roads you lay yourself open to the charge of attempted suicide, so best to stay on the pavements where it's just reckless endangerment.
BillyJoeDubuluw@reddit
I’m actually going to disagree with one of your points (low paid manual workers) and argue that, on the contrary, these people are usually older men that have too much midweek spare time on their hands.
I would suggest double checking you aren’t actually walking in a cycle line but would also be curious what area you’re in.
im-hippiemark@reddit
It is infuriating, the law is very clear on this. But then with so many cars parking and driving over pavements it could be that these cyclists are simply confused what a road is.
Guinness710@reddit
I commute on my bicycle and spend 80% of my time on the road but honestly sometimes it just can't be avoided. Also in the mornings during rush hour and there's traffic backed up down really long roads. Either I have to sit in traffic with those cars or dangerously filter down the middle. I'd rather just cycle on the pavement. However I drop my speed significantly when I spot any pedestrians as I also haaate when someone whizzes past me.
rellz14@reddit
you sound like a prick tbh.
mumwifealcoholic@reddit
I try very hard to stay off the pavement. But sometimes, I must.
Our roads are not designed for all these cars. I often don't feel safe on the road with the increasingly bigger and heavier cars too.
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