Canterbury bike police fine cyclists £30 for pavement riding

“I sent you my comment have been recently injured by a pavement cyclist but an error has occurred came up when I submitted for comment Please let me know if u have recd. Thank you”

“i was in the city centre a few months ago. i walked out of the shop past times, i saw a young person he was a tleast 16 if not 17 he hurtled past me,he knocked my elbow with his handlebars, that will show you how close he was to me, i had a bad elbow for weeks. i called after him , he totally ingored me
he still continued to race down the pedestrian area, no thought for anyone whatsoever .
i do get a bit cautious now, as i have to use a stick, due to back trouble, but the cyclists still continue to cycle down the high street, which is totally pedestrianised. so why they still continue to cycle beggars belief- and i must say it is usually middle aged people cycling. i would like to see more police patrolling our high street in canterbury, it is not safe when out of the blue they race around. i have never seen policemen ever only in a police car..”

“Pavement cycling causes fear and distress to pedestrians, especially the elderly, blind and very young children. We should be safe on the pavements but we aren't any more.

I believe that the real statistics for injuries to pedestrians by these thugs would amaze those who claim that there is no harm in it. I know many people who have been hit by them including a blind woman with a guide dog but no one reports them to the police. What would be the point? They just swear at you and cycle on and there is no way to identify them unlike cars where you can note the registration number.

I am sick of these people thinking they can do what they like and I support the police if they are truly trying to put a stop to it but I don't think that the £30 fine is much of a deterrent.

Look at cyclists websites and forums. Many openly boast of never having been stopped by the police and say they are willing to pay the occasional £30 fine if it means they can continue cycling on the pavement where they feel safe. They dont give a damn about the safety of pedestrians whom they insultingly refer to as "peds".

Perhaps confiscation and auctioning off of their bikes would make them think twice? The proceeds could go to a charity such as those supporting victims of crime or one that helps the elderly or young children.”

“I am pleased to see that at last some action is being taken about this problem.
What about cyclists who ride at night without lights though, that is a real and very dangerous problem, I have seen police doing speed checks on cars at night and totally ignoring cyclists who have gone past them with no lights on their bikes.”

“at the end of the day cycling on the pavement is illegal and there are very good reasons why . it doesnt take much intelligence to see that you cannot have bikes whissing along the pavements where old people , small children and women with pushchairs are god knows pedestrians are allready sick and tired of cars parking on the pavement and having to dodge traffic when crossing the road without this very real danger , being scared of the roads is no excuse for putting anyone in danger by taking a liberty and yes there have been deaths including one very high profile case of a young girl . where i live this is becoming a real issue and as local people admit the longer this goes unchallenged the worse it will become i honestly believe that a lot of people think its ok to cycle on the pavements such is the extent of the problem as they see so many people doing it .there are 2 instances i am aware of which happened recently in my town , a man was knocked down by TWO cyclists as he came out of his gate he suffered a broken hip and as a result is currently having to use a moblity scooter in the second which i actually witnessed and reported to the police a cyclist came whissing round a corner not caring what or who may be round it and ploughed into an old lady who was injured on the floor the womans neighbour arrived and took her home i told the neighbour she should call an ambulance and then call the police as i was going to do , i did call them details were taken and i did mention that i thought it was about time notices were put up reminding people a, it is illegal and b, its dangerous so far nothing has been done it will no doubt take a few more deaths to get results , oh and here a handy tip for anyone who feels intemidated by a cyclist knock them off there bike preferably back into the road where they should be hopefully when they feel brused the next day it will serve as a reminder - not to do it again .”

“I got fined £30 today for cycling (albeit VERY slowly) in the high street. The main road scares me so i take the high street route. I had no idea about cycle fines. I asked where the no cycle sign was. The policeman couldnt point to one. He just said I should know as its common sense. He also said its stated in the highway code?! I never knew it was a neccessity to read the highway code if you wanted to ride your bike. Would they say that to a 6year old kid? Ive seen more accidents with erratic electric wheelchair drivers than i have with cyclists. I feel cyclists get the bad deal. If there were more cycle lanes or cars didnt feel the need to drive so close to the curb i would use the roads more.....”

“i got a £30 fine 2day for riding on a pavement that was about 8metres wide and was also emty i was riding walkin speed speaking 2 my friend when the policed shouted so i moved onto the road but they were determained and gave me a 30 fine they wer also very stupid when i said the make of my bike was dk they asked how to spell it if people get scared they should trust the cyclists as it is more likely for a pedestrian 2 get hit while crossing the road than by a cyclist so they should keep that in mind when complainin”

“I would love to cycle on the pavements but I can't because there are so many cars parked on them.”

“I read this from the other side of the county, I am a local cycling campaigner and would like to make these comments.
Most pavement cycling occurs because cyclists feel very vulnerable when exposed to the speed and density of the motor traffic that occupies the road space they are expected to share.
KCC have at present a disgraceful policy of having a moratorium on amending any speed limits unless A&E or police statistics show that change is needed. This is not going to help KCC succeed in achieving the target expressed in it's cycling strategy document of increasing cycle usage by 38% in 2011against it's 2003 figure.

As well as moderating the speed of motor traffic, the high traffic densities coupled with highway engineering aimed specifiacally at speeding up motor traffic (huge roundabouts etc) present day cyclists need skills that can only come from years of continuous cycling experience, or high quality training to instill these skills. The provision of quality cycle training throughout the county is very patchey and needs to be adressed if people are going to get back on their bikes.

Cycling gets a lot of praise for its health benefits, lack of pollution and reduction of road congestion. Unless those in authority get serious about promoting it by traffic speed reduction and good training then we will enter the second half of this decade with headlines about pavement cyclists being fined still in the headlines.”

“Recently the Police have responded to residents associations in Broadstairs and another in Cliftonville by issuing fixed penalty fines to people cycling on the pavement. As already been stated the police are expected to use their discretion and take into account whether the cyclists is behaving carelessly or is a danger to other users. Statistics from DoT indicate you are 3 times more likely to be knocked down by a vehicle mounting the pavement than a cyclists riding on it. The emphasises by people should be to provide a safe environment for all road users and one way to do this will be to have speed restrictions of 20mph on all urban roads- occuring as in other towns and this has resulted in an increasein cycle use on the roads and this speed is also less intimitating to pedestrians and is safer. The other problem now is that there are two generations of parents who have limited cycling experience and cannot train their children to behave in an appropriate way. The basic "Cycling Profieiency Test" does not provide children with the competence to co-exist with the volumes and speed of present day traffic as well as the aggression of many drivers. Many children have started to use the pavement at an earlier age, have found it safe and continued to do so. Many people have behaved in a similar way by parking their cars on the pavement in order to protect the car and themselves from other motorist!
With regard to shared, use this is working well on Margate front and in many other areas in the Country. On segregated sections of the pavements it is often not understood how we should behave and more publicity is required to bring about an awareness of the use of the different facilities.
Enlightened Councils and Police Constabularies have worked with communities and interested groups to produce solutions which provides for all road users and, importantly, increases the quality of life of people in the communities. We must seriously consider the sort of environment we are leaving for future generations and take constructive action now to make provisions not rely on the Police to hand out fixed penalty fines.”