i am a conscientious individual. i am a conscientious cyclist. i am a safety nut. i am, therfore, the last person you would expect to be pulled over by a copper when riding a bicycle.
and yet, that's just what happend this morning.
now, when i cycle, i always wear a helmet, use lights, tuck my trousers in my socks, use hand signals, reflectors, lights, and i even have one of those reflective strappy thingys that go around your waist and over one shoulder that make you look like an S.S. Crossing Guard. I am the MODEL of bike safety. They could photograph me for one of those pamphlets they give out to kids in schools on how to bicycle safely. You know the ones; they have a pictures of road signs and their meanings and a drawing of someone excercising stupendous bike saftey, and all the kids look at it and declare "what a dork! no way am i doing that!" and throw the pamphlet in the trash. Yeah, that's me.
Which is why I was REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY dismayed, pissed-off, hurt, and offended when I of all people got stopped by a cop this morning on my way back from grocery shopping. Me, the model of good citizenship, with my bicycle laden with potatoes, skimmed milk, and washing up liquid.
Yes, I was cycling on the sidewalk, but only for a very brief distance so as to get round a bus. In the centre of Bristol there is a horrendous one-way traffic system. It's a big loopy thing with 4 lanes moving in each direction, and it's loaded with busses and impatient people who are late for work. I hate it.
So I ride in the street like a good girl all the way back from the grocery store, and i'm attempting to navigate my way through this automotive hellhole, when the bus in front of me stops. Traffic in the lane to the right of me is moving at about 40 miles an hour, and is very unyielding. I noticed a gap in the curb of the sidewalk. So i veered left and hopped up onto the sidewalk ('pavement' for all you brits who don't know what a sidewalk is) just long enough to get around this bus. Just as i'm passing the bus and getting ready to drop back into the street, a beat cop puts up his hand and orders me off my bike.
I truly did not know before this morning that it is actually illegal to ride on the sidewalk in this country. I've never heard of such a thing. Where i'm from, you're not supposed to ride in the street - it's considred too dangerous. I only ride in the street here because there are too many pedestrians and the sidewalks are crowded, so it's much faster in the street. Apparently it's also mandatory. I explained that I was only going around the bus because the traffic was moving too fast to safely get into the right lane, and he said that it was dangerous to the predestrians if i'm on the sidewalk. But I always yeild to pedestrains when i'm on the sidewalk! and besides, a pedestrian/bicycle collision is a fuck lot less lethal than a bicycle/angry motorist collision. So i think it's a stupid law. But i played all dumb and sweet and what a wonderful country blah blah blah and the fuckwad let me off with a written warning. i would have much rather told him what i think, but i didn't want to risk a fine - i just don't have any money to waste. So i swallowed my pride, kept my head down and my mouth shut, and thanked the nice constable for correcting me becase i didn't know i was breaking the law.
I'm going to explode soon.
6 comments:
agh, tell me about it. in central London, it's practically suicide to cycle in the road. at one point, the designated cycle lane is actually between the car and bus lanes...
It's suicide wherever you cycle here because people walk on the cycle paths, cycle on the paths, and cycle the wrong way up the the road with three babies, a large gucci handbag and a large baguette on the bike, whilst using a mobile phone and smoking (the cyclist that is, not the babies -or the baguette or Gucci handbag).
Is it really illegal to cycle on the pavement? Someone should tell cyclists. They seem to regard it as their natural thoroughfare.
The cycle lanes in this country do seem to be set up with the sole intention of killing cyclists and so I can understand why people cycle on the pavement.
But, speaking as a pedestrian I loathe and hate people who cycle on the pavements (to the extent of once pulling someone off a bike when they expected me to step out of their way.) So I'm comming down in favour of the law on this one. Older people or people unsteady on their feet can't get out of the way of a bike quick enough and because cyclists tend to slalom round pedestrians you often don't know which direction they're planning to take. There was actually a fatality a few years ago when a cyclist collided with a pedestrian and I think that is why the law was tightened up.
As for carrying children on bikes whether in a little seat or not - that should be made illegal and punishable by death or at the very least a public flogging.
had there been a cycle lane, i'd have used it. the problem with this particular traffic system is that there is no no lane and nowhere for the clyclists to go, save smeared across bumpers or under wheels.
and on the rare occassion i use the sidewalk, i never slalom around peds (i too hate it when cyclists do that). i go very slowly and will even come to a complete halt if there is insufficient space to pass around people safely. but of course neither you nor the copper who flagged me have any way of knowing that, which is why the whole scenario is so infuriating.
oh no CB I didn't lump you in with the rest of the cyclists...
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