Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Cyclist Assaults Pedestrians on Wightman Road Bridge
From HoL's mailbox this evening:
"Hello I'm sorry to email you both directly, but for safety reasons I'd rather not add this on the website direct with my name appearing next to it, but was hoping you could add something without featuring my name for the safety of pedestrians walking along Wightman Road bridge at the moment.
"My partner and I were walking along Wightman Road bridge earlier tonight towards Wood Green. A cyclist came up behind us and demanded we move. We chose to ignore him, said nothing and just carried on walking along the pavement. But then he turned nasty and threatened to hit me.
"When my partner turned to him and said that there was no need for threatening behaviour especially to a woman, the cyclist punched my partner to the ground and then hit me when I tried to intevene.
"Although on a bike, it was clear he was quite large (over six foot), was muscular, around late twenties - early thirties, dark curly hair, educated sounding London voice, and mixed race. This wasn't some young thug with growing pains, this was a grown man. We have given the police a full, detailed description.
"Please can you warn pedestrians on the site to be very careful walking along the bridge at the moment, and not just from violent cyclists, but from cyclists in general who are refusing to respect pedestrian safety and are ignoring the "cyclists dismount" signs at either end of the bridge.
"It is only a short distance to walk along the pavement which is very narrow, so why can't they just pop off their bikes?.
"I fear that the trolls will have a field day with me on this but it really isn't much to ask cyclists to observe pedestrian and their own safety.
"Some say it would have been polite to have just moved for the cyclist, but on a pavement it would have been more polite if the cyclist just respected our safety, and the law as he has no right to be riding on the pavement in the first place.
"Thank you both"
Tags for Forum Posts: wightman bridge, wightman bridge closure
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Itsjono on
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I am dismounting on the footway for actual pedestrians, seems logical, fair. There is less room if you're pushing your bike, but there's enough.
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Did you report him to his place of work? I'm assuming it was someone driving a branded vehicle?
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I wonder if there aren't very good grounds to have a mobile CCTV camera covering the footbridge.
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So the Police will presumably be taking a look at the footage to try and identify the culprit...
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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As I said, I identified the guy who headbutted me, contacted his employer, obtained a witness statement and still, nothing was done. Don't hold your breath.
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
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How did that happen? Getting headbutted is not an every day occurrence.
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I sympathise John. The truth is that not all crimes are prosecuted for a variety of reasons. The Police actually caught three lads red-handed wheeling my motorbike up the road, youd think the witness statements of three PCs and CCTV footage would be enough to prosecute - they didn't even get a caution.
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Road Traffic law is straightforward on this, and does not depend on signage. It's illegal to drive a vehicle on the pavement. And a bicycle is within the legal definition of a vehicle. Incidents like this, and sad incidents of cyclist deaths on the road, make me wonder whether the time has come to require cyclists to train and to pass a driving test within a certain time period, like motorcyclists. Traffic conditions today are entirely unlike those which pertained at the time when bicycles first came on to our streets. There is a much heavier price to pay for lack of skill and lack of consideration for other road users.
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"It's illegal to drive a vehicle on the pavement." <- Not on Wightman Road it's not, how do you think all of those vehicles parked on the pavement got there?
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The vehicles are parked on the pavement because Haringey Council made a bye law permitting pavement parking within the white lines on the pavement, due to the narrowness and busy nature of Whiteman Road. Even so, it's still an offence to drive a vehicle along the pavement outside the white lines or if not intending to park the vehicle within the white lines.
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