I WRITE in response to Iain AD Mann’s letter (August 10) in which he suggests cyclists could share the footway with pedestrians to reduce the frustration of road users.
Our pavements are already much too narrow and used by a range of people; we should not be adding people on bikes to this overcrowding.
We hear from our supporters that, when people do cycle on the pavements it can make them feel vulnerable, especially those who are visually impaired, suffer hearing loss or have mobility issues.
Allowing people on bikes onto the footways is not a substitute for high quality, on-road cycle lanes.
Living Streets Scotland supports dedicated space for cyclists to discourage pavement cycling.
This will make people feel happier to walk and cycle more and maybe drive less.
Instead of trying to appease road users, we should be trying to reduce the motor traffic in our towns and cities and the amount of space it takes up.
Stuart Hay, Director, Living Streets Scotland, 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh.
IAIN AD Mann suggests that cyclists should be able to use pavements to keep them out of the way of buses and motor vehicles. This is a recipe for disaster.
For the commuter cyclist, bus lanes are a godsend, keeping them clear of motorists who are generally in a rush, thus making the commute much safer.
The argument that cyclists cause any significant delay to buses does not hold. At busy times, buses are stopping every few hundred yards and, outwith these times, buses are usually able to pass cyclists easily.
Pavement cycling is dangerous for both pedestrians and cyclists as well as significantly slower for the cyclist.
The cyclist loses priority at every junction and is constantly braking and accelerating. On busy roads a competent cyclist is often able to keep up with the motorised traffic and, with the ability to filter past stationary traffic, can often complete short journeys more quickly than somebody using a car.
Boyd Johnston,
45, Greenways Court,
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel