Around Town

Felix, I don't know where you live in London but I live on a main road and every day I see more cyclists on the pavement than in the road. Nearly all of them are male and most cycle recklessly fast.
I used to be very supportive of cyclists needs but that rosy view is fading fast as more and more of them seem to be selfish and arrogant. I know that it is a minority that behave in this way but their numbers seem to be increasing every week and, like many people, I am getting sick of them.

I am surprised at how aggressive many pedestrians' comments are towards cyclists. I must say, as a pedestrian in London I hardly see any cyclists riding on the pavement. Of course I find it annoying when the occasional cyclist does not stop at the zebra crossing I'm about to walk over but I perceive London's motor traffic as a significantly higher stress factor. For example, having to twist my head in all directions at every junction to avoid being knocked over by turning cars which never give way to pedestrians. Maybe some of the stress of being a pedestrian in a very crowed city with narrow streets and aggressive (motor) traffic is channelled as aggression towards cyclists who are a more vulnerable and, for many people, pretentious minority.

Now, please, let’s be serious about this....
How can anybody in his right mind compare fascism and cycling? Cyclists cannot impose their will anywhere in the city. The road is for cars, the pavements are for pedestrians, none of them is willing to share so the comparison is stupid at least.
Cars, on the other hand, having polluted the atmosphere to unhealthy extremes impose on everybody their nasty fumes. Cars take up about 10sqm of space to transport a single human, and occupies the same space when unused, imposing its useless presence in our streets. Cars and their clumsy way of moving dictate the shape, dimensions, colour, form, smell, and feel of our streets. Cars cause more deaths than anything else on the streets. Cars and their dangerous way of moving about have clattered our streetscape with sings and barriers. Cars impose their noise to all of us. This sounds to me much more like fascism. So, please let’s be serious.
PS. For any one cyclist riding on the pavement I can point at twenty pedestrians stepping carelessly onto the road where they shouldn’t, finding their way between stationary (car)traffic or shouting at cyclist while standing on shared circulations.

As a Dutch guy I'm reading all this with big eyes.
Cyclists and fascism have nothing to do with each other. The bike is a means of transportation, just like the car and your own legs.
The problem in England and the USA is that there has never been a policy to create good infrastructure for cyclists.
As a result of that cyclists have to ride on the roads in between cars and yes, that encourages cyclists sometimes to cycle on the pavement.
Can anyone blame them?
Indeed, dismounting the bike is not beneficial to anyone. All a cyclist needs to do is to adapt his/her speed which doesn't mean that they may not go faster as the pedestrians as long as it's safe. Walking next to the bike requires much more space then riding slowly on the bike so stop nagging about cyclists who don't dismount their bike! It's in your advantage that they don't. Cyclist who ride fast usually also have good reflexes (the're young and healthy) so have some fate in them.
For some is cycling a sport, for many more it's just a way to transport yourself. It doesn't give any pollution and it works great for short distances (let's say 10-20 km.).
Everyone who chooses to go by bike to his work doesn't need the car. Again, this is only a great advantage for everyone else.
Though I agree with DMH I have to say that cycling paths are not that good in Belgium compared to the Netherlands, I'm sorry to say it. They are a lot better than in most European countries.
In the Netherlands they are the best of the world, beyond any doubt.

Am I the only cyclist who does not mind bendy buses (that much)? It is the moronic pedestrians who walk on the road, and the car drivers who imagine their mirrors are for checking their make up and hair styles that get me wound up. My cycling has made me far more aware of other road users which has made me a better driver when I do use the car. Maybe cycling in London should be part of a new programme to improve poor driving!

I've lost count of how many friends of mine have been killed whilst riding their bikes on the roads in this country; all of them experts at riding their bikes, generally hit from behind or the side by vehicles who just conveniently never saw them.
The fact is that if a bike hits your car then the car gets a dent whereas the cyclist gets injured or worse. I know that some cyclists go through red lights and do some mad manoeuvres, but then most motorists speed, use their phones, have poor lane discipline and give cyclists too little room.
So please give us the space we need so that I don't have to stand at the side of another grave with a young mother and children who have lost their husband and father because someone couldn't be bothered to take care when passing a cyclist.
By the way, if you think that I'm some half witted failure who rides a bike because I can't afford a car then you're wrong.
I drive a car which cost more than most people earn in several years.

In response to Jon Dyson, NW10, I too am a cyclist who stops at red lights, doesn't ride on the pavement, doesn't ride to the right of keep-left signs, doesn't ride the wrong way down one-way streets. I shout out "@rsehole" at the lycra clad idiot "cyclists" with their dayglo humps who give us all a bad name. I also shout that at the pedestrians who walk out into the road without looking. And the cabbies who spontaneously manoeuvre without checking their mirrors and the car drivers who think it's their duty to run you off the road.
Yes, the majority of cyclists are dangerous idiots. But nothing will change until there is some *traffic policing* in central London. Ken, what do you think? We could bring back the stocks at Bartholemew Fair for all offenders.

seriously. England is the most backwards country, next to the states, when it comes to cycling paths, respect and policy. this country will never match its southern neighbors Belgium and the Netherlands in aptitude for common sense.