18 August, 2009

Zero tolerance

Roads are dangerous and some drivers are irresponsible.  Excellent reasons to improve the road environment and driving skills/attitudes, but not remotely excuses for cyclists riding on the pavement.  There is no such excuse.  Ever.

I was going to stop there, as it adequately encapsulates my view of the subject: it's illegal, unacceptable and not open to debate. However, a commenter on that feeble Guardian article made a useful additional point: that the primary stereotypical criticisms of 'cyclists' (as if every single person who uses a bike is part of one homogenous class) are of riding without lights, ignoring traffic lights and riding on the pavement. Even if some fool can justify such practices to him/herself, it's not in a cyclist's interests to give critics any ammunition.

As another commenter says: "If you can't cycle on the road, you shouldn't have a bike".