Pavement Cycling
Channel: Bicycle-Riding Motorist
Date: 2011-03-29

In order to take a route that uses quiet roads and avoid quite a big detour, I tend to cycle for a short distance across a very wide bit of pavement in the town. It is quiet, there is usually no-one on the pavement, or sometimes one or two people, and I am doing about 5 miles-per-hour maximum, so it does nobody any harm. However, strictly it is not allowed. I could dismount, but it seems silly to do that. Out of interest, what would other people do?

It is worth noting the following guidance given by the Home Office regarding the application of fixed penalty notices for pavement cycling: "The introduction of the fixed penalty is not aimed at responsible cyclists who sometimes feel obliged to use the pavement out of fear of the traffic, and who show consideration to other pavement users when doing so. This is not a clamp down on responsible cycling, and I know the police service too do not see it in that way." (Paul Boateng MP, Home Office to Ben Bradshaw MP, 9/7/1999).