Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Cyclists on Green Lanes footpath - is this a thing?
On the way to the post office this afternoon I almost got bowled over twice by cyclists mounting the footpath to cycle "offroad" on Grand Parade. They seemed totally unbothered by it, but I'm fairly sure it's illegal to ride on the footpath. Can anyone enlighten me?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by James R Grinter on
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Figures from 2007-2008 suggest a lot more pedestrians walking on the pavement were killed by motorists, than cyclists, not that this condones the behaviour.
Funnily (!) enough, it comes down to subjective safety - you feel safer about the motorists passing you than you do about the cyclists passing you - and subjective safety is probably why the poor cyclists were not on the road either.
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
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Some interesting comments on here, and I think that (in this part of the world- Green Lanes) we might distil part of the problem down not to cyclist and pedestrians but rather the fact our footpaths are littered with obstacles (be they telephone boxes urinals/advertising hoardings), and too many cars parked on Green Lanes making what should be an arterial road traffic route more like a vehicular cardiac arrest.
Get the street clutter sorted, and pedestrians would feel safer as they have more room around them- and are not constantly being cannoned between bus stops/ phone boxes and shop wears slowly spilling into the footpath. Get the roads sorted so both traffic and cyclists can move safely and swiftly and the cyclists would not feel at risk of being crushed between two steel objects and therefore del the need to mount the pavement.
Now, that said, there is an issue about cyclists and pedestrians taking personal responsibility for their safety. The number of times I have seen a pedestrian cross the road looking the wrong way is stunning- the problem is they are looking with their ears. Bikes do not make the same noise as cars… So, they hear nothing and assume it to be safe. On the other hand, the number of cyclists cycling at night in dark clothes with no or limited lights is stunning beyond belief.
At least those of the pedestrian fraternity that may never get to understand the cyclist logic would rest assured that the person most at risk in this scenario is the cyclist themselves. I saw a young woman get ploughed into by a car at the bottom of Pemberton the other evening, she was wearing black and had a pissly little red thing on that you would be hard pressed to compete with a birthday candle. The driver was in the wrong because he was rushing to get out into Green Lanes, and did not look properly, but I would forgive him as I can see exactly how it happened. Its dark, there is moving traffic, pedestrians crossing hither and tither and lots of bright and distracting lights from all sorts of sources- how could you see the girl in black (who did not have a helmet on either).
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Isn't this just the drug dealers and couriers who do this on Green Lanes? You can see hundreds of cyclists bravely heading up Green Lanes every evening if you want to sit in Passion Cafe and watch. Fine we have the language for "cyclists on the pavement" but some of us could out a bit more thought into this if we want to sit down and type.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on
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Sometimes the amount of crowding, street furniture and shop displays comes to pedestrians' aid - there's no clear path and the (often teenage) cyclist has to come to a losing-face stop. Not that one would aid this by narrowing their path into non-existence, naturally
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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@ Noots.
Re 47% I accept, of course, that one observation over a period of 40 minutes on one evening in one part of London is not statistically significant. However it showed that on that route, at that time, a lot of cyclists were riding without lights.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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Over here in Tottenham, we are instructed to ride on the fo0otpath, and to share nicely with pedestrians. It is a bit easier as our footpaths are about twenty feet wide up the High Rd and round most of the old one-way, but some pedestrians are still getting used to the idea. Selfish idiots.
Am seeing more of this around the place where there's room too. The Highway code absolutist rules don't always apply. Other countries do it all the time, but with better trained people/ different expectations.
So now I cycle up the footpath in Tottenham, whereas before I was just too terrified to go on the road.
Another cyclist was killed by a lorry this week.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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And now consider the possibly increased risk and restrictions on the freedom of children - especially younger children. And also for disabled people. And for older people - especially if they've already lost some confidence because of falls on broken pavements.
I wonder if this could have the unintended consequence of increasing the barriers of such groups to using "the public realm". And possibly making cars an even more attractive option.
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P.S. I should have given a link to the website of Dr Mayer Hillman. Who I and John Mc have mentioned before. His wide ranging research and publications include transport - vehicles, walking and cycling - and the impacts especially on children. He observes that they can end up like small prisoners - restricted to "cells" and only let out accompanied by adults, usually in in secure vehicles
Several of his publications are either downloadable or viewable on the website. I won't pretend I've read them all. But plainly some are very relevant to this discussion thread. For example from 2002.
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I've not yet seen anyone doing idiot cycling on these pavements. Those in a hurry stick to the road. IMHO (and many others) cyclists and pedestrians are a better mix than cyclists and cars, and tipper trucks. Where there's room, and expecting the best from people, it's the obvious choice. Xref the post about pedestrian crossings and how much car drivers obey laws that are all about keeping foot-people alive. Cars are too much like home on wheels and isolating and so enabling monster egos.
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Permalink Reply by rosesky on
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As a civilised middle aged lady cyclist I find Green lanes horrendous, with cars lining both the sides of the roads, it feels very very unsafe to me. As someone pointed out the pavements are horrendous too, cluttered with street furniture and and merchandise. I usually end up pushing my bike on the pavement and then turning off into a side street at first opportunity. How anyone manages to cycle at speed on there deserves a medal. By the way, three years ago my son was mowed down by a huge truck whilst pushing his bike on the pavement, on the junction of Endymion and Wightman. Fortunately the truck only crushed the front of the bike and narrowly missed killing him. Because he wasn't injured, the police did nothing even though we knew it was a huge blue and yellow (Ikea ? ) truck and the time of the incident. He was pushing his bike on the pavement because i had forbidden him to ride on the roads till he'd completed cycle training. It's dangerous both on and off the pavements in London
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