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#1
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Pavement cyclist
As I walked into work today I walked behind a pavement cyclist. I'd seen
him coming up the hill, and it was a fairly steep hill for the bike he was on. He still made fast enough progress that he didn't inconvenience me at all despite a few wobbles. He was, of course, only 5 years old and on his way to school. His mum was walking behind him and she occasionally put a re-assuring (for her!) hand on his back when he wobbled. His bike had one gear and plastic platform pedals---it was raining fairly heavily---yet he went up that hill faster than many of the adult cyclists I see. His feet only came of the pedals once and that was when he hit the flat bit after the hill. His mum then had to run to keep tabs on him he was going that fast. A few minutes later I passed another child, who by way of contrast had just got out of a car and complained to his mum that he was getting wet! Colin |
#2
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Pavement cyclist
"Colin Blackburn" wrote:
As I walked into work today I walked behind a pavement cyclist. I'd seen him coming up the hill, and it was a fairly steep hill for the bike he was on. He still made fast enough progress that he didn't inconvenience me at all despite a few wobbles. He was, of course, only 5 years old and on his way to school. His mum was walking behind him and she occasionally put a re-assuring (for her!) hand on his back when he wobbled. His bike had one gear and plastic platform pedals---it was raining fairly heavily---yet he went up that hill faster than many of the adult cyclists I see. His feet only came of the pedals once and that was when he hit the flat bit after the hill. His mum then had to run to keep tabs on him he was going that fast. I wonder if they do child size polka dot jerseys? |
#3
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Pavement cyclist
Colin Blackburn wrote:
As I walked into work today I walked behind a pavement cyclist. I'd seen him coming up the hill, and it was a fairly steep hill for the bike he was on. He still made fast enough progress that he didn't inconvenience me at all despite a few wobbles. He was, of course, only 5 years old and on his way to school. His mum was walking behind him and she occasionally put a re-assuring (for her!) hand on his back when he wobbled. His bike had one gear and plastic platform pedals---it was raining fairly heavily---yet he went up that hill faster than many of the adult cyclists I see. His feet only came of the pedals once and that was when he hit the flat bit after the hill. His mum then had to run to keep tabs on him he was going that fast. A few minutes later I passed another child, who by way of contrast had just got out of a car and complained to his mum that he was getting wet! Colin Excellent! Now I think about it, I wonder at what point Pavement Cycling becomes a Bad Thing? If we lived in a part of the world that had pavements, we probably would have done the same with our kids. I guess the next stage is to ride with them on the road as an escort, and gradually wean them off any guidance until you are happy they can manage the road for themselves. After that point, pavement cycling is a no no. That's pretty much what we did, but without the pavement bit. -- Chris |
#4
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Pavement cyclist
"Chris" wrote in message ... Colin Blackburn wrote: As I walked into work today I walked behind a pavement cyclist. I'd seen him coming up the hill, and it was a fairly steep hill for the bike he was on. He still made fast enough progress that he didn't inconvenience me at all despite a few wobbles. He was, of course, only 5 years old and on his way to school. His mum was walking behind him and she occasionally put a re-assuring (for her!) hand on his back when he wobbled. His bike had one gear and plastic platform pedals---it was raining fairly heavily---yet he went up that hill faster than many of the adult cyclists I see. His feet only came of the pedals once and that was when he hit the flat bit after the hill. His mum then had to run to keep tabs on him he was going that fast. A few minutes later I passed another child, who by way of contrast had just got out of a car and complained to his mum that he was getting wet! Colin Excellent! Now I think about it, I wonder at what point Pavement Cycling becomes a Bad Thing? If we lived in a part of the world that had pavements, we probably would have done the same with our kids. I guess the next stage is to ride with them on the road as an escort, and gradually wean them off any guidance until you are happy they can manage the road for themselves. After that point, pavement cycling is a no no. That's pretty much what we did, but without the pavement bit. -- Chris Whilst reading something on a local authority road safety website I noticed that they do not offer cycle training to under 10s as they consider that they are too young to safely ride on the road and understand the dangers or training. I guess that this means they either do not ride at all other than off road or have to ride on pavements. Personally, I have no problems with riders using pavements providing they are courteous. It is no different to to sharing in remote areas where the cycle path is also a footpath, or the canal bank or even sharing with electric wheelchairs and the buggy type things that pensioners and disabled people drive some of them like lunatics. Dave UK |
#5
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Pavement cyclist
On Fri, 9 Sep 2005, Dave wrote:
Personally, I have no problems with riders using pavements providing they are courteous. It is no different to to sharing in remote areas where the cycle path is also a footpath, or the canal bank or even sharing with electric wheelchairs and the buggy type things that pensioners and disabled people drive some of them like lunatics. or parents (usually mothers) with buggys, who assume that because they have a buggy they have right of way to barge past you. But then, everyone on the pavement seems to think everyone else should give way to them -- Chris Johns |
#6
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Pavement cyclist
On Fri, 9 Sep 2005 11:00:21 +0100, "Dave"
wrote: Whilst reading something on a local authority road safety website I noticed that they do not offer cycle training to under 10s as they consider that they are too young to safely ride on the road and understand the dangers or training. The DfT advice is: Level 1 training - Year 2 (age 7) Level 2 training - Year 4 (age 9) Level 3 training - Year 6 (age 11) Level 1, Beginners and basic cycling skills - held off-road and teaching children how to control, balance and manoeuvre; Level 2, Introduction to on road cycling - held on quieter roads in groups, children will learn where to position themselves when riding on the road and how to observe traffic, signal, turn/manoeuvre safely and basic Highway Code; Level 3, Advanced cycling - held on busier roads to teach skills required for making longer journeys and to develop strategies to deal with all types of road conditions - e.g. roundabouts, traffic lights, multi-lane roads. |
#7
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Pavement cyclist
"Chris" wrote in message ... Colin Blackburn wrote: As I walked into work today I walked behind a pavement cyclist. I'd seen him coming up the hill, and it was a fairly steep hill for the bike he was on. He still made fast enough progress that he didn't inconvenience me at all despite a few wobbles. He was, of course, only 5 years old and on his way to school. His mum was walking behind him and she occasionally put a re-assuring (for her!) hand on his back when he wobbled. His bike had one gear and plastic platform pedals---it was raining fairly heavily---yet he went up that hill faster than many of the adult cyclists I see. His feet only came of the pedals once and that was when he hit the flat bit after the hill. His mum then had to run to keep tabs on him he was going that fast. A few minutes later I passed another child, who by way of contrast had just got out of a car and complained to his mum that he was getting wet! Colin Excellent! Now I think about it, I wonder at what point Pavement Cycling becomes a Bad Thing? If we lived in a part of the world that had pavements, we probably would have done the same with our kids. I guess the next stage is to ride with them on the road as an escort, and gradually wean them off any guidance until you are happy they can manage the road for themselves. After that point, pavement cycling is a no no. That's pretty much what we did, but without the pavement bit. -- Chris Whilst reading something on a local authority road safety website I noticed that they do not offer cycle training to under 10s as they consider that they are too young to safely ride on the road and understand the dangers or training. I guess that this means they either do not ride at all other than off road or have to ride on pavements. Personally, I have no problems with riders using pavements providing they are courteous. It is no different to to sharing in remote areas where the cycle path is also a footpath, or the canal bank or even sharing with electric wheelchairs and the buggy type things that pensioners and disabled people drive some of them like lunatics. Dave UK |
#8
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Pavement cyclist
On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 11:02:17 +0100, Dave wrote:
electric wheelchairs and the buggy type things that pensioners and disabled people drive some of them like lunatics. Yet another target of Daily Mail bigotry. As someone else pointed out in a past thread, cyclists are rapidly becoming an easy target for tabloid journalists, now that it is unacceptable to criticise other segments of society. Just imagine the article which Simon posted with the word 'cyclist' replaced with 'black youth'. There would be a perfectly justifiable outcry. And let's just think - are electric wheelchairs and buggies REALLY a danger on the pavements? Or are you just listening too closely to the sensationalist news reports? And so what - some old dear clatters your ankle. Better that than a truck hitting you when you cross the road. |
#9
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Pavement cyclist
On 2005-09-09, John Hearns wrote:
On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 11:02:17 +0100, Dave wrote: electric wheelchairs and the buggy type things that pensioners and disabled people drive some of them like lunatics. [snip] And let's just think - are electric wheelchairs and buggies REALLY a danger on the pavements? Or are you just listening too closely to the sensationalist news reports? And so what - some old dear clatters your ankle. Better that than a truck hitting you when you cross the road. Locally the electric wheelchair users are polite, courteous and use the pavements and cross the roads with care. The OAP-wagons are however a menace. There's a lot of weight to them & if in one of their random veerings they were to run into something expensive of yours (such as your parked car) they'd be causing some very expensive damage. I'm sure if people were to kick your ankles as you went about your buisiness you'd take a very dim view of it- failure to courteuosly and competantly handle powered vehicles on the pavement is a bad thing too. -- Tim. |
#10
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Pavement cyclist
On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 11:42:24 +0100 someone who may be John Hearns
wrote this:- And let's just think - are electric wheelchairs and buggies REALLY a danger on the pavements? Of course they are, all forms of transport involve danger. The rather more important question is how dangerous are they? They are certainly not as dangerous as motor vehicles, but on the other hand there were eight deaths with the things last year (media reports about three weeks ago, which did not indicate the circumstances of these deaths). -- David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000. |
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