Sharia law for pavement cyclists?... Or dangerous drivers?

10:35am Wednesday 6th August 2008

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By Simon Munk »

Mayor Johnson once advocated hardline "Sharia law" for cycle thieves. Now it seems as if Waltham Forest Guardian readers want the same for pavement cyclists. The recent debate in the paper rolls on with "Pedestrian" from Leytonstone calling for another police campaign against them. But I have a few problems with those so vexed by two-wheelers trundling along the pavement.

I'm not saying pavement cyclists aren't annoying. Far from it – I often confront cyclists on the pavement to try and get them to ride where they should be, in the road. In fact, I'd agree with much of what "Pedestrian" says: "Pavement cyclists are breaking the law and their behaviour intimidates pedestrians and sometimes causes them physical injury." There are two problems: the word that's there: "sometimes", and the idea that's not: "cars".

The simple truth is, cyclists on pavements very rarely injure or kill. Transport for London's 2001-2005 figures, analysed by the Cycle Touring Club, show 52 injuries from cyclists riding into pedestrians on the pavement. That's just 10 a year. Since 1999, two people in the whole UK have been killed by pavement cyclists. Contrast that with cars. Cars between 2001-2005 killied or seriously injured 7,447 pedestrians in London. Cars on the pavement in London killed 17 pedestrians and injured a further 2,180 more in those five years. That's cars… ON THE PAVEMENT!

So, yes, cyclists on the pavement are often idiots who ride terrifyingly close to the elderly, young babies (I know, I have one), the disabled etc. They're scary morons. But you're over 40 times more likely to be injured on the pavement by a car than you are by a bicycle. And I bet none of the people who've written angry letters to the paper or the police about cyclists have written about dangerous drivers. Dangerous drivers are also the reason why we see so many pavement cyclists.

Waltham Forest has one of the highest hit-and-run incident counts in London (157, 2005). It sits in an East London hot zone of vehicle mayhem with neighbouring boroughs Hackney (187), Newham (195) and Redbridge (157 also). Yet in London, the number of traffic police has halved in the last 12 years. And our borough police commander told a public meeting last year that traffic enforcement wasn't a priority.

Perhaps so few people complain about idiots on the road because we're so used to them – they're everywhere. You can't cross the lights as a pedestrian on red these days. You have to wait until you actually see the cars stop. On average, at both the Bell junction and High Street junction, you'll see three cars run the red at every signal change. Often with drivers chatting on their mobile.

Cycle round Waltham Forest and you will, as well as getting fitter, living a greener life and getting most places faster, see a constant stream of bad driving. Every "ASL" stop box at the front of the lights is blocked by boy racers revving their engines. Lorries (the most lethal vehicle to cyclists) cut you up and turn without indicating routinely. I've lost count of the cop cars I've been cut up by or seen pull up in the ASL next to me after the lights have gone red. If even the Police can't be bothered to obey the Highway Code, do they expect anyone else to?

This mass of bad drivers scare cyclists. Imagine that annoying cyclist and how they made you feel when they whipped past you at about five miles an hour. Now imagine a driver doing that to them (the same distance away) at about 30 mph, and in a metal box that weighs several tonnes. Sadly, the scared cyclists, instead of getting good cycle training on "assertive" road cycling (first lessons free, in Waltham Forest), tend to scare pedestrians on the pavement in turn.

I'd really welcome mandatory training for any cyclist caught on the pavement. But here's my suggestion if you really want to crack down on pavement cycling: push your local police and council for a crackdown on dangerous and reckless driving – red light cameras, anti-mobile campaigns, random checks for insurance/MOT. In other words, pavement cycling is the symptom, dangerous drivers are the root cause. As to hardline Sharia law for reckless drivers? I think it'd be more effective to introduce a mandatory week's commute on a bicycle.