In article , Andrew Price wrote:
On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:05:13 +0000, David Hansen
wrote:

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I am not very popular with many cyclists in this group for stating
this view, but I have no great objection to bikes ridden sensibly on
the pavement. Riding sensibly means riding at walking pace or below
in crowded conditions and some bikes and/or loads are not stable
enough at low speed to be ridden sensibly on pavements, in which
case they should be pushed.

That's the way it works in Germany, where there are some pavements on
which cyclists may ride, provided always that they moderate their
speed and respect the priority of pedestrians.

That's how it should work with shared use pavements in the UK too.

The disagreements (in my experience, and generally, not just in this group)
are about whether cyclists on pavements or shared use paths are generally
dangerous menaces who don't respect the priority of pedestrians or whether
the relatively small danger they pose is exaggerated, and whether (non
shared use) pavement cyclists who do respect pedestrians are harmlessly
breaking a pointless law, or bringing cyclists in general into disrepute
as lawbreakers.

(My views - those complaining are generally exaggerating the problems
that cyclists cause, but it's generally better not to give them another
excuse to complain by breaking the law.)