Cycling UK Forum

Ayesha wrote:What's a "Zebra crossing"???

Is it a pedestrian RoW across a roadway, that is denoted by white stripes and Belisha beacons to warn motor traffic of its existence?

Yes?

If it is, its an extension of a "Pavement" which cyclists MUST not ride on. ( Rule 64 ).

No, a Zebra doesn't create a pedestrian Right of Way. (They already have Right of Way.) It merely gives them precedence, under certain conditions. It isn't a pavement. For details see The Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings Regulations and General Directions 1997. A cyclist wheeling a bike is a pedestrian, so benefits from the precedence.

The HC advises cyclists not to ride across Zebras (rule 79), but this isn't law. A cyclist doesn't get the precedence.

Well just for interest, I spent two hours on Friday afternoon wheeling my bike round the Jewelry Quarter, three hours on Saturday wheeling my bike around Birmingham's crowded centre ( German Market ), and about half an hour yesterday wheeling my bike round Solihull's pedestrian High Street.

THE BIKE RACKS IN ALL THREE SHOPPING AREAS ARE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PEDESTRIAN AREA. To get to the bike racks, I could ride - ILLEGAL, push my bike ?? debateable ( that's what this thread is about ), or FLY, I would cause a shock I wonder which is the Council's prefered method?

I pushed my bike and.....
No-one said a blinding word.... except "Sorry", when they bumped my handlebars.....

5 Star LOL.


The long and the short of it is...

No-one gives a toss, including the boys in blue, if a cyclist wheels their bike along a footpath they are forbidden to ride.
Only when the cyclist is 'reckless', 'under the influence' or uses the bike as a weapon, will the police get involved if a member of the public makes a compliant.

Oh, PS. On Friday, a chap approached me. I thought I was going to be told "You can't wheel your bike on the footpath", but he asked "Do you know where the Museum is?". Phew, I thought I was in deep trouble then...

Ayesha wrote:Well just for interest, I spent two hours on Friday afternoon wheeling my bike round the Jewelry Quarter, three hours on Saturday wheeling my bike around Birmingham's crowded centre ( German Market ), and about half an hour yesterday wheeling my bike round Solihull's pedestrian High Street.

Although of course it doesn't sound as though most of those are footways that form part of the highway, so they'd be covered mostly by pedestrianisation orders more than pavement cycling law. Still, the placement of the racks ought to make a strong case that the council intended you to push your bike.

Does anybody anywhere know of a cyclist who has been prosecuted for wheeling a bike on a footpath?

pete75 wrote:Does anybody anywhere know of a cyclist who has been prosecuted for wheeling a bike on a footpath?

No, but plenty of incidents outside schools where a policeman/woman has instructed a cyclist to "Get off and push it" on a ROADSIDE pavement. If it really were a criminal offence, the local magistrates could have had a 'fine feast' at the expense of the schoolchildren's parents.

The question is...

Which is the lesser of the seven deadly sins?

1/ Riding furiously on a roadside sidewalk.
2/ Riding intoxicated on a roadside sidewalk.
3/ Riding calmly on a roadside sidewalk.
4/ Pushing recklessly along a roadside sidewalk.
5/ Carrying the bicycle while walking on a roadside sidewalk.
6/ Levitating the bicycle without physical contact while walking along a roadside sidewalk. ( only applicable on the 4th of May ).
7/ Pushing the bicycle responsibly along a roadside sidewalk.

The other philosophical question is...

"Are we free do do as we please until a law is passed to stop us. Or should we not do anything until the law makers give us permission to do what we desire?"

I for one, believe in freedom of movement, and if I wish to push my bike along a sidewalk, I will. If a lawman ( a flesh-and-blood lawman with his own spoken words ) says otherwise, I will find an alternative.

pete75 wrote:Does anybody anywhere know of a cyclist who has been prosecuted for wheeling a bike on a footpath?

I suspect that if this had happened in the last few decades, we should have heard about it a lot sooner. As even pavement cycling itself went largely unprosecuted during that time, it was never likely that wheeling a bike would attract much action. I'd be interested to hear from somebody who really knew, why so many cyclists grew up believing walk on pavement, wheel the bike in the gutter advice. If people were prosecuted for this in those days, cases would have been dealt with summarily (in the "Police Courts" of that era) and it would only have got to the higher courts (and the legal textbooks) if somebody had decided to take it further. Having seen how the Lord Chief Justice of the day dealt with Corkery v. Carpenter, there can have been little enthusiasm for bothering.

If the implication is that if nothing has been done about it, it won't start now, it seems to me that this is another case of "past performance is no guarantee of what will happen in future." As a bit of a parallel, a while ago somebody posted that they had been warned by a police officer not to cycle across a footway - I cannot now remember the exact details but they were going somewhere where they had a right to go. I was not alone, IIRC, in confidently asserting that they could legally ride across a footway. More recently, we have had a post about PCSO's waiting for cyclists to do just that to reach some sort of cycle-parking facility and issuing tickets. That's the way it's heading.

I have no claim to be a legal eagle but I do try to give a reasoned case, unlike some of the cut-and-paste stuff that acquires near gospel status. eg Some time ago a piece was quoted more than once, mocking the suggestion of "furious cycling" being an offence. That was in spite of several local media reports of recent prosecutions under the Town Police Clauses Act 1847. More recently, there was a prosecution for the more serious offence under the Offences Against The Persons Act, 1861, when the reality dawned.

Let's remember that currently, PCSO's have few everyday powers beyond issuing tickets to cyclists, so even the time-worn jibe of "have you nothing better to do with your time" is pointless.

The Highways Act 1835 is antiquated law which has been stretched and twisted to deal with cyclists. Fixed penalties stretched it a bit more. There's nothing to say it will end there.

.

gaz

What you are saying is very interesting, because I was assuming the origin of this was much earlier. It won't be in any of that legislation, which is not that old, but rather in a fundamental assumption that a pedal cycle is a vehicle. endov. (The only exception being when it's a carriage. )

From a personal POV, those were the days when I spent a lot of my time with a copy of the HC checking my sources for "due care" cases. It shows how little attention was paid to the activities of cyclists because I don't remember reading a word of what you have quoted. It does all fit in with my understanding of the legal status of cyclists and their bikes.

When you wrote uber primary, I initially thought "What's wrong with tertiary" but that would be on the pavement.

5 pages of "Wheeling bikes on footpaths " some people need to get out more .... hey ..cycling, that would be a good idea !!!!

gaz wrote:... Amongst other comments are the following (no added emphasis) ...

Yikes. Well spotted. I can't find old copies of the HC online (except for the first edition).

Thank goodness the current one doesn't contain that stuff. Beware the next edition.

The obvious explanation to me is that a bike is a vehicle, so where else would you push it?

The practice would have developed in an age of narrow pavements and quiet roads.

It doesn't seem to be in the original Highway Code. In the 1954 edition, on p.29, there's a rule about keeping near the edge of the road when pushing - again, this must assume roads with limited pavements.

Most of us out here live in the 'real world'...

Over this last weekend, I pushed/wheeled my bike for about six hours total along sidewalks and through pedestrian areas.

The foot police officers in Birmingham and a couple of PCSOs in Solihull had ample opportunity to slap me a ticket ( if it were illegal ).

The policeman and WPC in Birmingham weren't blind. They acknowledged my presence.

Maybe ( probably ) its different in Leeds. The council must be strapped for cash and write specific by-laws to get money off unwitting cyclists.
You should complain.

gaz wrote: ... I am well aware that my memory is a dangerous place in which to go in search of facts. Does anyone have a 70's copy of the Highway Code to see if the answer lies therein?....

By coincidence, I've just found a copy of my own dated 1968 price 1s 3d or 6p in new money. It's the one I think of as having the modern cover (Wording in what was then the new traffic sign font, illustrated with a modern "keep left" sign.)

Much less advice to anybody than there is today: 150 rules altogether. Nothing about wheeling a bike in the gutter, but the legal stuff, which, like your copy, is all in the back, makes it clear that wheeling a bike on a footway is illegal. I don't think there's been anything to change that, in a formal sense.

In 1968, the heaviest car on the road was a Jensen Inteceptor. All the others couldn't kill you if they tried...

Wheeling in the gutter was a 'relatively' safe thing to do.

Nowadays......