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I am only responding to this out of courtesy because Alan seems to be posing a question directly at me.Alan, I feel that my previous post set out how I feel, and that there is no point going round in circles covering old ground. Doing so may put off others from using this forum. I'm going to restrict myself to responding to new contributors, or at least new sentiments, views or suggestions.As a matter of fact, I'll probably be posting a lot less in future anyway. I made an effort in the last few weeks to revitalize this forum, and there have been more posts, but I have had no response from the webmaster or editor to suggestions to improve the site, I have had people defending cycling on pavements, and I have had people arguing that residents of Hammersmith and Fulham should pay the £8 congestion charge to be able to shop at their local shopping centre!Please don't anybody bother to point out that "People are entitled to hold opinions different from your own". I know that. I'm just a bit exhausted.I am a member of the Hammersmith & Fulham Community Safety Board which meets the Borough Commander, senior councillors and other relevant figures from the borough six times a year, so I shall continue to use that to get my voice heard. I announced in the summer that I had pushed for one of these meetings to admit the public, but very few attended in the end. I'll try to bring about another open session and announce it here, if any of you would be interested in attending and discussing issues with people who really should be able to make a difference.God bless.Edward

Edward Noel ● 7178d

I am relieved that Alan has made his position clearer by saying, "Nobody disputes that adults shouldn't cycle on pavements."The Highway Code is a distillation of the law, not the other way round. The section which I posted quotes the actual legislation from which it is derived beneath it.Alan supports the police turning a blind eye to children cycling on pavements. It's not worth arguing with him any more that that is still against the law, children often have adults on bicycles accompanying them, children are less experienced therefore more reckless, or that it is the experience of breaking the law and acting in an inconsiderate way at a young age that conditions them to indulge in more serious anti-social behaviour later.What concerns me is that the police do nothing to stop adults, when even all the participants on this board seem to have finally reached the consensus that adults shouldn't cycle on pavements.Re bells - yes, obviously good bells should be fitted and used to warn drivers and pedestrians ON THE ROAD of a cyclist's presence. I am, overall, greatly in favour of cycling, but the trouble is, some cyclists seem to think that they become above the law as soon as they mount their bike. So they don't have bells, I often see them in the evening with no lights, and instead of wearing the recommended bright clothing they are often in black...with hoods!!!Their common sense often deserts them too. They ride on pavements crowded with people and pushchairs, they ride the wrong way up one-way streets, they jump red lights, they don't use the cycle lanes provided, etc, etc.A couple of years ago, I nearly killed a cyclist who was riding their bicycle towards me in the middle of the road whilst TEXTING on their mobile phone - I promise you!Will the madness ever end?

Edward Noel ● 7178d

"The reason cyclists die or are injured is their lack of attention or that of other road users. The reason cyclists die or are injured is their lack of attention or that of other road users."This is a statement of the obvious and would also apply if you replaced the word "cyclist" with "pedestrian" or "car driver".If everyone did what you said then there would be no deaths or injuries - but we don't live in a perfect world.There aren't infinite resources to spend on improving road safety so clearly there needs to be prioritisation on areas where some focus will have the biggest benefit in reducing the number of deaths and injuries.From Casualty Road Figures Great Britain 2002 167 reported pedestrian/cycle collisions in 2002 resulted in 170 pedestrian injuries (3 fatal, 40 serious) and 38 cyclist injuries (1 fatal, 9 serious). (The report doesn't state what number of collisions occurred on the pavement or the road)34,986 reported pedestrian/motor vehicle collisions in 2002 resulted in 32,034 pedestrian injuries (493 fatal, 6443 serious) and 1290 vehicle user injuries (8 fatal, 114 serious).There were therefore 192 times more pedestrians injured by collisions with cars than cycles.Cycling on the pavement may annoy you but you need to have some perspective.  Just because it annoys you and you see it as potentially dangerous doesn't mean it is a major cause of death and injury.There are many orders of magnitude more deaths and injuries caused by car drivers killing/injuring car drivers, car drivers killing/injuring pedestrians, car drivers killing/injuring cyclists and car drivers killing/injuring motorcyclists (spot the theme here...) and this is where the focus should be as it will achieve a far bigger reduction of the actual numbers of people that are killed or injured than any campaign against cycling on the pavement.If you don't believe me, just take a look at the DFT website where they detail various safety initiatives - I didn't see cycling on the pavement mentioned once because it is an insignificant problem compared to other transport safety issues.

Michael Robinson ● 7184d