A curious spot of news from over in that America, where it has been made legal to ride bicycles on pavements (in West Hollywood, at least). This comes after cyclists complained to the City Council that riding on the road was becoming increasingly dangerous, a worry backed up by statistics - there were 68 vehicle-bike incidents from January 2006 - May 2008, compared to a big fat zero for bikes-pedestrians.
But Mayor Jeff Prang (this is quite a funny name, given the topic) warned that this might not tell the whole story. “It doesn’t surprise me that there are none reported,” he said. “It’s not the sort of thing you report to the Sheriff. We hear about it, though, so we know it happens.”
It’d be interesting to see if this works out, and if it ever gets rolled out beyond an LA suburb. There are junctions in London where a quick pavement detour is practically lifesaving. We bet the likes of ’sm’ and ‘Rev Ponge’ (below) would love it - they’re desperate to get cyclists off the roads, innit.
2 responses so far ↓
Mayor Jeffrey Prang // June 24, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Fortunately for me, “prang” is not term used in association with accidents in the USA!
Maria Gatti // August 7, 2008 at 2:36 am
This is just about right. In general, of course, I’m opposed to adolescent or adult cyclists riding on pavements - but people must definitely have the right to do what they must to avoid serious risk of injury or death to themselves or others, whatever the law. Aren’t there common law/code civil provisions to that effect?
The only place I ride on pavements is under viaducts (underpasses) where the road is a death trap and there is no place to stop or pull over in the event of a mechanical mishap.
There are practically no pedestrians on these pavements, and I always give them right of way, stopping if I must.
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