General Discussion
I've recently moved to Dawlish and am working locally. I get the bus every morning from the first stop outside the town going towards Exeter - or at least I did. The downwards slope of the road coming from the direction of the South Devon Inn makes this stop a really popular spot for illegal pavement cyclists to freewheel down, squashing the people at the bus stop into the wall (if you're lucky), bumping into you or threatening you if you're not.
These are not kids, they are mostly adults who no doubt will bleat about the roads being too dangerous for cyclists if they can get beyond 'F off', which is their standard response when challenged. I just wish someone would think about pedestrians for a change.
These are the brain dead, organ donors that Devon County Council think are worth spending thousands of pounds of tax payers money on by providing special cycle paths for them. As mentioned in other posts on here they probably wont use them as they prefer being a bloody nuisance on the roads and footpaths. Lynne and the other prolific forum moaners will no doubt answer your post with a interesting array of green and other environmental excuses.
Suggest you take half a brush handle with you tomorrow and jam it in the spokes of their front wheels, then if they use the F word at you wrap it round their neck.
Wish there were more cycle paths. And as you seem aware of the green and environmental reasons as to why they should exist there's no need for me to repeat them, is there?
As there is no room for a cycle path on the stretch of pavement I refer to, wish there were more cyclists who obeyed the law.
It is illegal to ride on the pavement if only the police would enforce it (see previous 'Police???).
It is illegal to park a car on a foot pavememt ..but never enforced. If you're pushing a wheelchair or a pram its a pain to come off the kerb and go in the road around a car and back up the kerb.
and I'll put my hand up, as a pedestrian, to crossing roads when the coast is clear even if the red man is telling me not to. Then of course, there are pedestrians who walk on cycle paths. Oh yes, and the car owners who park their cars right across the flow of the cycle/footpath up by the Marine Garage so that both cyclists and pedestrians have to divert out onto the main road.
In other words, car users, cyclists, pedestrians we are all guilty of doing things we shouldn't and infringing on the 'space' allocated to others and in doing so, causing all sorts of problems.
The above is not me excusing cyclists riding on pavements or anything else for that matter but rather is my way of saying that many of us do things we shouldn't when it comes to the highway code and road safety.
Might also be taking a shower
or using the special communication system to cheat on XBox
What they wont be doing is solving any local crime. Sorry investigating not solving
Does anyone think the new councilors might have something to say on the matter or do we just keep paying for a service we are not getting
Anyone interested in reporting this and trying to influence policing priorities, which at present concern 'antisocial behaviour on the Lawns' can use the link on the Devon and Cornwall police site for the Dawlish neighbourhood team.
Preachy little postings about 'we are all guilty' are just so helpful... Looking forward to seeing the same rationale applied to knife crime etc.
Well, a lot of us are guilty of infringing the rules of the road/pavement/cyclepath. That's not preachy but fact.
This link should take you to the correct page
Chrysaor's right though - perhaps we should report transgressions rather than just moaning about them. And I'm not just talking about cyclists riding on pavements but other things as well, like, for instance, motorists parking where they shouldn't.
(But whether anything will happen as a result is altogether an entirely different matter).
and/or raise the issues with our recently elected town councillors to see if they can help bring them to the attention of the local police?
Hopefully if the Police do pay any attention it will be on the side of the tax paying motorist for a change by issuing fixed penalty notices to cyclists who do not use the cycle paths when available to them.
The more you minority road users moan and groan the more attention you are attracting to yourselves and when the government force you to have insurance, road tax and a MOT for your cycles you will wish that you had kept quiet.
There is some confusion over the Law it is illegal to ride a cycle on a footpath but not illegal to park a car on a footpath as long as there is no obstruction. Why is this well it is illegal to mount the kerb so you would think it is illegal to park on the kerb or footpath the expanation a Police Officer has to see you mount the kerb if he just comes across a vehicle parked on the footpath not causing a obstruction there is little he or she can do. So why dont the Police enforce the law when they see cyclists who are on footpaths, have no bell, have no lights after dark, who cycle the wrong way down one way streets because they probably dont have time plus the extra paper work plus cut backs have left them very short handed.
Popped over to Exmouth on the ferry a couple of days ago and saw how much development has been going on there for the last few years. Makes Dawlish look like we are back in the stoneage.
The one thing that impressed me was the extensive cycle paths along side the main road on the front and guess where the majority of cyclist's were riding...indeed, in the road blocking and slowing down the traffic.