why cycling on pavements shouldnt be allowed

thrawn wrote on 03/09/2006 19:37 +0100:

Quoted message said:

http://tinyurl.com/gawcl

Only two points surprised me about this story
1) That sidewalk cycling is apparently permitted by the City
2) Drink-cycling seems is not illegal there

The US of A is the only place where I support pavement cycling ;-)

IIRC though in some states its illegal to ride on the pavement if there
is a sidewalk available.

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Tony Raven said:

IIRC though in some states its illegal to ride on the pavement if there
is a sidewalk available.

???
do you mean road instead of pavement?
(my only expereince of US cycling is NYC where the green "walk" means
"beware cyclists"😉

MartinM wrote on 03/09/2006 20:15 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Tony Raven said:

IIRC though in some states its illegal to ride on the pavement if there
is a sidewalk available.

???
do you mean road instead of pavement?
(my only expereince of US cycling is NYC where the green "walk" means
"beware cyclists"😉

I meant pavement.
In the US the pavement is what we call the road
What we call the pavement is called the sidewalk in the US.

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Tony Raven said:

MartinM wrote on 03/09/2006 20:15 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Tony Raven said:

IIRC though in some states its illegal to ride on the pavement if there
is a sidewalk available.

???
do you mean road instead of pavement?
(my only expereince of US cycling is NYC where the green "walk" means
"beware cyclists"😉

I meant pavement.
In the US the pavement is what we call the road
What we call the pavement is called the sidewalk in the US.

I see, another Tomato/Tomato. I did hear of a colleague who had the
cops sent out to look for him when he walked 1m down the road to buy a
paper in Texas

MartinM wrote on 03/09/2006 20:23 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Tony Raven said:

MartinM wrote on 03/09/2006 20:15 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Tony Raven wrote:

> IIRC though in some states its illegal to ride on the pavement if there
> is a sidewalk available.
???
do you mean road instead of pavement?
(my only expereince of US cycling is NYC where the green "walk" means
"beware cyclists"😉

I meant pavement.
In the US the pavement is what we call the road
What we call the pavement is called the sidewalk in the US.

I see, another Tomato/Tomato. I did hear of a colleague who had the
cops sent out to look for him when he walked 1m down the road to buy a
paper in Texas

That's nothing compared to the looks you get over there shouting at your
children to stay on the pavement ;-)

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Tony Raven wrote:
....snip...

Quoted message said:

The US of A is the only place where I support pavement cycling ;-)

IIRC though in some states its illegal to ride on the pavement if there
is a sidewalk available.

....snip...

I don't know of any state-wide requirements to use the sidewalk when
available. There are plenty of cities that make that requirement. But
there are certainly more cities in which using the sidewalk is illegal
(the very young are typically excepted). I've seldom seen cyclists
cited for illegally riding on the sidewalk.

They (illegal sidewalk cyclists) are getting to be a significant
nuisance here in Winnipeg (downtown). I'd really like to see the cops
crack down on these pests. I do ride in the downtown area and have
done so at rush hour. If you've at least half a brain (I qualify for
that, albeit just barely), it's reasonably safe.

MartinM said:

Quoted message said:

I meant pavement.
In the US the pavement is what we call the road
What we call the pavement is called the sidewalk in the US.

I see, another Tomato/Tomato. I did hear of a colleague who had the
cops sent out to look for him when he walked 1m down the road to buy a
paper in Texas

I've only been to the USA once. I was working there for a couple of
weeks with a few other British people.

We'd seen an interesting-looking restaurant, quite near to our hotel,
when we drove into work one morning and we decided to walk there in
the evening. However, we couldn't work out how to cross the road.
There were no pedestrian crossings of any description. We could see
*exactly* how we would drive there but it must have only been a
quarter of a mile from the hotel!

Eventually we managed to send the fastest runner across, so we could
now get a good view of the traffic from both sides of the road, and he
managed to guide the rest of us across.

Actually, the traffic did slow down a lot when they saw people in the
road. They must've thought we were Martians or something.

Judith

"Judith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

MartinM said:

Quoted message said:

I meant pavement.
In the US the pavement is what we call the road
What we call the pavement is called the sidewalk in the US.

I see, another Tomato/Tomato. I did hear of a colleague who had the
cops sent out to look for him when he walked 1m down the road to buy a
paper in Texas

I've only been to the USA once. I was working there for a couple of
weeks with a few other British people.

We'd seen an interesting-looking restaurant, quite near to our hotel,
when we drove into work one morning and we decided to walk there in
the evening. However, we couldn't work out how to cross the road.
There were no pedestrian crossings of any description. We could see
*exactly* how we would drive there but it must have only been a
quarter of a mile from the hotel!

Eventually we managed to send the fastest runner across, so we could
now get a good view of the traffic from both sides of the road, and he
managed to guide the rest of us across.

Actually, the traffic did slow down a lot when they saw people in the
road. They must've thought we were Martians or something.

Judith

Quite. It is very difficult to live in (certain parts) of US without access
to a car. In Austin TX, the city "downtown" area seems to be mostly
offices, banks, and restaurant/ entertainment. Big department stores are
located in shopping malls the size of Winchester (!) dotted around the
periphery, on the main roads, like our sheds that house B&Q et al. But
their sheds are somewhat more aesheticically pleasing, and house the likes
of Sears, Nordstrum, and other major stores, and dozens of smaller stores,
all with inside access to each other. No graffitti. No chewing gum on the
floor. Pleasant "interchange" areas (carpeted!!! with sofas and coffee
tables dotted about!!) between the various stores. And MASSIVE free parking
areas. But if you don't have a car to get there, you have a problem.

Crossing a 5-lane highway on foot, though, isn't too difficult, remembering
that the centre lane is usually empty, and has a twenty limit in it anyway.
(Centre lane may only be used for turning on or off the highway when it
means crossing opposing traffic, so essentially the centre lane is a two-way
lane!).

thrawn said the following on 03/09/2006 19:37:

Quoted message said:

http://tinyurl.com/gawcl

Hmm.... and not a million miles from my home (half a mile, if that!), a
cyclepath leaves the road to join the pavement, and carefully passing in
front of a bus stop.

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/