I've been on my soap box again...
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Cyclists have been known to ride on the pavement and this occasionally brings them into conflict
with pedestrians. This conflict has been known to cause injury and even, in very rare cases, death.
Pavement cycling is therefore another of the motorist's list of cyclist infractions, used to
self-justify a lack of care towards cyclists on the road.
So let's have a look at pavement cycling and the real danger it poses, starting by quantifying how
dangerous bikes are to pedestrians.
Per mile travelled a car driver is five times as likely to injure or kill a pedestrian as a cyclist
(RAGB). And over half of all car mileage is on major roads which have negligible levels of
pedestrian traffic, so the real level of danger per unit exposure is probably more like ten times
that of cycling. Now factor in the fact that annual UK bike mileage is about 1% of the mileage for
cars (Transtat - caution, sampling errors).
Putting it in perspective, then, cyclists pose some danger to pedestrians, but it is at least two
and probably nearer three orders of magnitude lower than that posed by cars. In statistical terms,
allowing for sampling errors and the confidence levels of the figures, cyclist danger to pedestrians
is negligible.
OK, that's clearly unacceptable - we know it's dangerous because Common Sense tells us so. So let's
look at the specific issue of cyclists on pavements. Here, surely, the figures show that there is
dangerous and irresponsible behaviour going on. Beware the Cyclist Menace.
Er, not quite. During the 3-year period 1998-2000 out of a total of 2,630 pedestrians killed on the
roads, 185 were killed by vehicles on footways. Of these 185, one was killed by a bicycle and the
remaining 184 were killed by motor vehicles. So you are nearly 200 times more likely to be killed on
the pavement by a motor vehicle as by a bicycle. You are nearly 3,000 times more likely to die as a
result of some other road traffic incident, such as a driver failing to yield right of way on a
crossing. There are, in short, much bigger things to worry about.
But surely Common Sense can't be wrong? Surely pavement cycling is a menace?
Granted, it certainly has some nuisance value, and it does cause a degree of alarm particularly in
older pedestrians who tend not to hear the bikes coming. But then, you have to ask yourself why the
cyclists are on the pavement in the first place. What is it about the road which persuades cyclists
to ride on the pavement, despite the attendant inconveniences of having to yield at every side
turning, coming into conflict with pedestrians and street furniture and so on? What could be scaring
these cyclists off the roads?
It couldn't possibly be the way cars are driven, could it?
Guy
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