On Sat, 2 May 2009 23:52:16 +0100, Clive George wrote:

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 2 May 2009 21:40:05 UTC, "jsabine" wrote:

The Medway Handyman wrote:

Clive George wrote:

All cyclists? Those honest hardworking shipbuilders? I think you've
got a touch of class envy there.

They wern't cyclists, tyhey were blokes on bikes.

So, what's the difference between a 'cyclist' and a 'bloke on a bike'?

Arrogance, IMO!

The problem is there are cyclists....and cyclists. Just like motorists,
good and bad. Unfortunately there are many more cyclists who are
holier-than-thou and very arrogant. And I'm speaking as a pedestrian.

My house is not on a particularly busy road (neither is it a residential
backwater). But just walking down to the shops, more often than not I
get a cyclist whizzing past me on the pavement, missing me by
millimetres, with a silent approach that is dangerous. People are badly
injured by these kinds of cyclists, yet if they don't stop there is no
way of tracing them as they have no number plate or other means of
identification.

Are these cyclists the lycra-clad keenies TMH hates, or "normal" people who
TMH likes?

Is the pavement marked as shared use?

(If it is, blame the clods who made it so, and bring it up in the local
paper, making sure it's the "facility" which is pointed to as the source of
the problem. Shared use pavements help none of us. If it's not shared use, I
have no qualms about recommending collision courses, having taken
appropriate care.)

There are some places where shared use makes sense - even if it hasn't been
officially implemented). We have a road near us that is dead straight for
0.7 miles and used to be national speed limit. It has now been reduced to a
40 limit and had cycle lanes painted on both sides, but the lanes for other
traffic are too narrow to give good clearance when passing bikes and heavy
traffic flow prevents easy overtaking by crossing the centreline. The road
runs through farmers fields and has only a few houses at one end, hence
very few pedestrians. Many cyclists use the footpath making it safer for
themselves, easier for other vehicles and with so few pedestrians, a
minimal amount of courtesy from the cyclists overcomes any conflict of
interests with pedestrians.

SteveW