Debs wrote:Seems to be the age old problem of just a few idiots riding bikes in a careless way, and which gives all cyclist the bad name, and a ban.
Not really sure what the answer is, maybe the Tory government needs to stop reducing police numbers, get more bobbies back on the beat, and perhaps on police bicycles (?)
Is it a few though?
I often cycle into Birmingham from Longbridge using the Rea valley cyclepath through SellyOak/Cannon Hill Park, and often bemoan the fact that I'm continuously slowing down for pedestrians etc - but I do, bell, cheery "good morning" and all as I go past at about walking speed relative to those I'm passing. If I'm in a hurry I use the Bristol or Pershore roads.
This Sunday I walked the path from Cartland Road into Cannon Hill park and back, pushing a buggy with my 1yr old granddaughter in it, and was passed by lots of cyclists - I didn't count them, but at about 40 mins each way on a Sunday morning it must have been numbered in dozens.
I heard 2 bells - one a cheery one from behind, the other from a gentleman coming towards me who clearly wasn't about to - and didn't - deviate from his speed and direction one bit.
I heard one more warning - to the "person" who raced up behind me with a loud horn blasting away, thanks for waking the baby.
I can recollect a handful of people who slowed down on approach, rolled past, then accelerated away.
But most - and I mean most - charged past without a thought, brushing elbows as they wizzed by, some at quite a speed, weaving in and out of pedestrians (inc small children, toddling along/learning to ride their bikes), as if we were plastic traffic cones on a slalom course. Some were obviously inexperienced, some were heads-down-and-in-a-hurry.
Mind you, I should have expected it - similar experience on the same path a year or three back, when I was hobbling along with a walking stick, recovering from - you guessed it - being rammed by a motor vehicle while out on the bike.
Cheery "hello" or "good morning" or "just popping past on your left" - not a single, solitary one.
I remarked to my wife later that while I find the roads scary at times, I became more nervous of the bikes on the shared path while I was walking.