On Tue, 25 Jul 2006 19:04:42 +0100,
Paul Boyd <
[email protected]> wrote:
> On 25/07/2006 18:47, Alan Braggins said,
>
>> That might might be true of the article as a whole, but surely "let's have
>> wheelchair friendly ramps but let's have cyclists not abuse them" is as
>> valid an interpretation?
>
> Except where local councils paint white lines leading up and over these
> ramps, across pedestrian crossings and in front of bus stops, with a few
> random white bike symbols thrown around for good measure. Actually, I
> think this is the councils abusing the ramps, not the cyclists.
>
What makes a pavement ok to cycle on? Is it the presence of signs, or
just a traffic order of some description?
The reason I ask is that the second nearest crossroads to where I live
has toucan crossings but AFAICT, no signs allowing cycling on the
pavement to get to the crossings.
I have little problem with pavement cycling, even the "yobs". Although
occasionally they come shooting past you at speed (probably about 12mph)
and surprise you, almost all of the time it is the surprise rather than
the danger that makes you jump. When they have to go slowly because
there isn't room to pass then they either go slowly or ride on the road
to get around. I will let pavement cyclists past when convenient but, if
it's inconvenient to me (e.g. aproaching a lamppost where either I'm
going to have to stop or they are going to have to cycle at my walking
pace for a few seconds) then I let them wait.
I have more problems with very young cyclists who are just old enough to
not have a leash connecting them to their parents. And even there, I'm
most concerned about getting tripped up and falling on them, but this
applies as much to toddlers on foot as on bicycle except that generally,
once you are past toddlers on foot then they won't catch you up again.
I do wish that they (all but the toddlers) wouldn't cycle on the
pavement. Most of the time it looks more dangerous, and they will zoom
out into the road, back onto the pavement, back onto the road and that
scares me far more. I really don't ever want to see a cyclist go under a
car or lorry; Friday night on the Euston road where it looked like a
cyclist (or at least his/her bike) had gone under a lorry was more than
I ever wanted to see and the cyclist had gone by the time I went past.
(Even worse, I ended up going past twice - because of working my way
through the traffic congestion, I forgot I wanted KX and went to Euston
as usual, then had to walk back pushing my bike because the east bound
road was completely closed)
Tim.
--
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t,"
and there was light.
http://tjw.hn.org/ http://www.locofungus.btinternet.co.uk/
