I vaguely remember something about being allowed to ride on the pavement/footpath if the road is to “dangerous”. I think it was from the 1968 road traffic act?
can anyone confirm or am i just imagining it after eating too much cheese?

You MUST NOT cycle on a pavement.

Laws HA 1835 sect 72 & R(S)A 1984, sect 129

Rule 64 in The Highway Code, and we all obey that, right? 😯

Also have a look at the 1835 Highway Act which defines a bicycle as a carriage and as such should not be ridden on the footpath (now changed to footway)

Never stopped me……
🙂

Max fine for riding on the pavement is £500. It’s a shame the scrotes who force pedestrians to take evasive action to avoid getting run over don’t get this point hammered home a bit more.

I don’t have a problem with kids on their first bike going to the shops with their parents guiding them, but hate to see elderly people having to dodge yoofs on their bikes tearing up the pavement. 😡

as with everything, a little dose of common sense mixed with respect for others would negate the need for legislation in this case.

Oh, and yes I have ridden on the ‘footway’ on occasion but I make sure I don’t harrass those who have right of way.

i ride on the pavement whenever i feel like it. I really couldn’t give a monkeys for what the law has to say about it.

Kev

Road is faster, safer and better regulated.

Max fine for riding on the pavement is £500.

I’d like to know if anyone’s ever been done for it, and then I’d like to see you catch me!

It’s a shame the scrotes who force pedestrians to take evasive action to avoid getting run over don’t get this point hammered home a bit more.

I’ve never even come close to running anyone over, unlike the old biddies flying round in their electric buggies….
😕

Some really clear statements on here

“You MUST NOT cycle on a pavement. Laws HA 1835 sect 72 & R(S)A 1984, sect 129”

“Also have a look at the 1835 Highway Act which defines a bicycle as a carriage and as such should not be ridden on the footpath (now changed to footway)”

Can some legal eagle explain to me (pro bono obviously) how there are blue signs embedded in pavements/footpath/footway/wildebeeste where I live indicating which side of the pavements/footpath/footway/wildebeeste that they should use illegaly ?

I wheelie along the pavements knocking old ladies hither and thither.

Can some legal eagle explain to me (pro bono obviously) how there are blue signs embedded in pavements/footpath/footway/wildebeeste where I live indicating which side of the pavements/footpath/footway/wildebeeste that they should use illegaly?

That’d be a dual/multi use path then wouldn’t it? What do the zebra’s use btw (they always migrate with wildebeeste don’t you know)? 🙂

After having my lights nicked off my bike once (stupid me for leaving them on though) was told to cycle home on the pavement by the police.
It was early evening, still fairly light and I was dressed in high vis stuff so I wasn’t difficult to spot, so not sure why they made me cycle on the pavement.

isnt there an exception for dinky wheels on a single speed?

There are many miles of fast single lane ‘country roads’ in my area, all have a pavement alongside on which I have never seen a pedestrian (the roads have no homes on them, just the occasional golf course/farmhouse).

I always cycle along these pavements rather than mix with surrey boy racers – am I being a law breaking reckless pedestrain killer or a sensible self preserving cyclist ???

I just don’t see how you can make any progress on the pavement, and having ridden thousands of miles on the roads of Surrey I don’t really see what the problem is!

I’d very happily push a cyclist off if I was walking along the pavement and they came too close, strikes me as very similar to the whole thing about smacking cars that get too close. If they’re close enough to shove, they’re too close. Simples.

njee20 – Member

I just don’t see how you can make any progress on the pavement, and having ridden thousands of miles on the roads of Surrey I don’t really see what the problem is!

I’d very happily push a cyclist off if I was walking along the pavement and they came too close, strikes me as very similar to the whole thing about smacking cars that get too close. If they’re close enough to shove, they’re too close. Simples.

That would help thing enormously! Fair enough if they are too close and going too fast, perhaps say something to them but pushing them off is just stupid. I hope the next person you push off either does you for assault or gets up and smacks you one.

I had an incident when riding with my children (7and 11) along the pavement, I made a point of telling them to keep to one side so an old man and his grand daughter could get past and the miserable old get made a point of taking up as much pavement as possible to make it difficult for us to get past. I WILL NOT risk riding on the road with my kids as there are far too many dickhead driver out there driving recklessly.

Perhaps a bit more investment in sensible cycle paths would help things.

I didn’t say it would be my first reaction, I just said I would be prepared to do it. Obviously I’m not going to randomly lash out, but it hardly helps the case of cyclists, we do all tend to get tarred with the same brush after all.

He may have been a miserable old git, but he was legally right.

That’s a bit like saying ‘I was doing a ton down the motorway and some cock was doing 70 in the outside lane’ annoying yes, but you were breaking the law.

I’d very happily push a cyclist off

🙁

I’d very happily push a cyclist off if I was walking along the pavement and they came too close

And I’d very happily get up and batter 7 shades of s**t out of you if you did it to me, pal.

I don’t think you would though. That’s internet bravado, nothing more.

I just don’t see how you can make any progress on the pavement

You don’t if you do it all the time. However, if you hop up to get round traffic lights, cut across junctions, through areas where there are no roads, past roadworks etc, it speeds you up considerably.
On the MTB, on the road, I ride like a nutter. I make no apologies for it. It’s just fun. However, I commute on a Roadrat, all panniered up, so it’s impossible to ride in the same manner.

Can you please play nicely and not threaten personal violence against one another? Consider yourselves warned. Mod

Sorry, but I would, in the same way I’d happily kick a dog in the head, and have done so in fact! Just because they’re a cyclist doesn’t mean I’m going to stand there and get mown down, if it’s me or them, they’re going down!

Talk about taking something out of context, I’m not talking about walking down a pavement and shoving people off, that’d just be stupid.

PP: so it’s internet bravado saying I’d push someone off who potentially risked injuring me, but you’d actually beat me up for it? You’re a lovely fellow!

Before i pop out during the school run to nose wheelie on the pavement through hoards of small children, puppies and frail old ladies thus breaking every cycling law possible, can i please clarify that i was thinking along the lines of exceptional (dangerous) circumstances only when the cyclist deems it unsafe on the road.
Not prone to dreaming things up, it’s in my head from somewhere and it’s bugging me.

PeterPoddy – Member

That’s internet bravado, nothing more.

OH TEH IRONING

Actually, this happened to me many moons ago walking home from school. A chap I knew was cycling towards me, we both assumed the other would move over, neither of us did, at the last minute we both moved over and he hit me. I put my arms out – as you would – and ended up pushing him off while I was basically unscathed.

Luckily he wasn’t PP so he didn’t beat 7 shades of sh1t out of me. We both laughed about it in fact.

But I’m sure that’s just me making stuff up now.

I just don’t see how you can make any progress on the pavement

ummmm, by kind of turning those pedal shaped things with my feet 😕
the roads in question have no houses and almost no side roads (one or two every km) so there’s no driveways and very few kerbs to negotiate – the roads on the other hand are very rutted/damaged at the kerb side with lots of debris – pavement is easier and safer….

…as for pushing cyclists off, it’s not that easy – someone tried it with me once and they underestimated the effects of 80kg of bike/rider acting through the contact area of one bar end 😆
sure I wobbled a bit but they ended up @ss uppermost in the bushes (this wasn’t on a pedestrian on a pavement btw, but a beligerant chav on a bridleway)

PP: so it’s internet bravado saying I’d push someone off who potentially risked injuring me, but you’d actually beat me up for it? You’re a lovely fellow!

And you’re soooo lovely that would push someone off their bike if they came close to you?
What happens if they smack their head on the floor? End up sprawled over a busy road? You need to put your tiny little brain into gear before opening your big clumsy gob.

[Quote]OH TEH IRONING
[/quote]

I’m well aware of that 🙂
Fact remains though, he wouldn’t get away with it with me, one way or another.
I just hope for his sake he’s exagerating, or one day it’s gonna bite him in the ass.

I’m backing out of this thread now, before it get’s all heated. It’s impossible to argue with Daily Mail readers and their ilk.

TTFN
🙂

OH TEH IRONING

My 2nd favourite post of the month!

Surely it depends on the pavements? There are pavements I would’nt ride on (eg. those running past a busy police station), there are pavements with white lines on which are deemed “cycle paths” – but which are far more dangerous to cycle on than other pavements (eg. the one going past a school on my trip to work)
and there are pavements round my way which I happily cycle on – with my dog on it’s lead (OH MY GOD!!! SURELY A TROLL!!) to get to the tracks where I walk/ride with her. Haven’t upset a pedestrian yet…

to me njee20 sounds like internet bravado back pedalling (no pun intended) into self defence.

clearly if something is coming towards us, what ever it is, we’ll act with some form of self defence and push against it, I saw a man do it when he got hit by a car, clearly it wasn’t going to work but its just a natural reaction.

however saying you’d openly push some one off as a statement is just puffing your chest out.

as Coyote said “a little dose of common sense mixed with respect for others”

You’ve made several assumptions on what I said, I never said it would be the first thing I did, just that in a situation where a cyclist put me in danger I would push them off, frankly it’s human nature, and I bet that virtually everyone on here would in the same situation. Of course I’d hope they don’t smash their head on the ground, but frankly, being totally objective, I don’t think a legal case against a pedestrian would get very far in that situation.

I’m not saying that riding on a pavement is never appropriate, I think with children it’s often sensible, but I think people do forget that it is totally illegal and you have no right to be there whatsoever.

Irrespective of road condition I still don’t really see where pavements would be faster than a road over a long stretch.

Each to his own and that I guess…

Edit: if you want to read it as internet bravado that’s fine, it was certainly taken out of context, my point being that I would have no remorse for acting in self defence.

what if you don’t want to go faster, what if you are just pootling down to the shops and back?

I’m backing out of this thread now, before it get’s all heated. It’s impossible to argue with Daily Mail readers and their ilk.

OH NO, EVEN MORE IRONING111

what if you don’t want to go faster, what if you are just pootling down to the shops and back?

At the risk of sounding extremely high and mighty (not the intention): you pootle on the road?!

Is there a link between people who ride road bikes, and those who ride on the pavement I wonder? Ie are those who ride on the road a lot more, rather than just viewing it as a way of getting to the trails, more tolerant of it and thus less likely to ride on the pavement.

peasnotwar: Before i pop out during the school run to nose wheelie on the pavement through hoards of small children, puppies and frail old ladies thus breaking every cycling law possible, can i please clarify that i was thinking along the lines of exceptional (dangerous) circumstances only when the cyclist deems it unsafe on the road.
Not prone to dreaming things up, it’s in my head from somewhere and it’s bugging me.

I think you’re remembering guidance given by the Home Office related to fixed penalty notices, which is nicely summarised on Bike for All:

On 1st August 1999, new legislation came into force to allow a fixed penalty notice to be served on anyone who is guilty of cycling on a footway. However the Home Office issued guidance on how the new legislation should be applied, indicating that they should only be used where a cyclist is riding in a manner that may endanger others. At the time Home Office Minister Paul Boateng issued a letter stating that:

“The introduction of the fixed penalty is not aimed at responsible cyclists who sometimes feel obliged to use the pavement out of fear of traffic and who show consideration to other pavement users when doing so. Chief police officers, who are responsible for enforcement, acknowledge that many cyclists, particularly children and young people, are afraid to cycle on the road, sensitivity and careful use of police discretion is required.”

I knew someone who got stopped for riding in a pedestrianised area of the town centre, a road that had been block weaved and closed to normal traffic. Plod was hiding in a shop doorway, when the cyclist approached at walking speed, just going along with the shoppers and giving way to all and any. Plod stepped out and goes into one.

Cyclist pointed out that moving as fast as the peds or slower and giving way ought not to be seen as dangersous, plod then proceeded to issue the £30 on the spot fine.

Not sure if that person ever paid the fine, they suspect that plod may have got their details slightly wrong…

Just as well I.D. cards aint compulsory, eah ?.

Solo.

njee20 – Is there a link between people who ride road bikes, and those who ride on the pavement I wonder? Ie are those who ride on the road a lot more, rather than just viewing it as a way of getting to the trails, more tolerant of it and thus less likely to ride on the pavement.

no, probably not, I used to commute every day on my bike, never went on the pavement as I was often travelling at the same speed or faster than the traffic, same as when I now go into town.

Is there a link between people who ride road bikes, and those who ride on the pavement I wonder? Ie are those who ride on the road a lot more, rather than just viewing it as a way of getting to the trails, more tolerant of it and thus less likely to ride on the pavement.

I’d guess people who ride road bikes ride on the road more partly because it is way more hassle to go up and down kerbs on a road bike, and partly because they are just not as scared of the traffic as people who don’t ride on the road much. Also I guess they’re usually going at much closer to car speeds than the pootlers.

Personally I dunno why anyone (other than little kids) bothers riding on the pavement, it always seems to be slow, puncture prone, dangerous at junctions / driveways and a general waste of time.

Joe

I CBA with the numerous cycle paths near me as you just can’t go as fast on them. Plenty dog-presents and glass also.

no, probably not, I used to commute every day on my bike, never went on the pavement

Well I meant people who ride on the road, rather than specifically those who ride road bikes. It seems to be a phobia thing, most people who ride on the pavements seem to harbour the attitude that it’s much safer, whereas those who ride more on the road don’t seem to see the problem.

Well there were a lot of real d*$k heads commuting in London today because of the tube strikes. Riding all over the pavement, trying to avoid traffic and red lights and really not making any progress. If your riding a bike then your on the road, if you can’t handle riding in traffic then PUSH your bike on the footpath or perhaps take public transport.

UpQuickDownSlow beat me to it. It’s technically illegal to ride a bike on the pavement, but official guidance is not to issue fixed penalty notices unless the person riding is riding irresponsibly.

It seems to be a phobia thing, most people who ride on the pavements seem to harbour the attitude that it’s much safer, whereas those who ride more on the road don’t seem to see the problem.

Subjective safety.