r/Glasgow Tools

I do a lot of cycling around Glasgow and switch between roads and pavements whenever I feel the need to.

Some facts:

1) I've never had an incident where I've collided or nearly collided with a pedestrian on any road or pavement.

2) I've been hit by a car and had multiple near hits involving vehicles where the driver "never saw me" or "was in a rush". There's also the near misses with parked car doors opening. It's not always possible to make space for these as cyclists tend to get wedged between parked cars and fast moving cars. My most recent incident was last week where a car failed to give way and basically drove into the rear end of my bike after I had to quickly manoeuvre out of their way. They saw my gopro and stopped. They got out, apologised a million times and said they were in a hurry to pick their kids up.

3)If I were ever to collide with a pedestrian when I make use of the pavements it would involve a pedestrian being slightly knocked into by a cyclist going about 5mph. Though I'd likely have slammed my brakes and dodged them as best as possible so it would probably involve a cyclist brushing into them.
If (when) I collide with a car, bus, van, truck etc. whilst using the roads I am likely to be injured and hospital bound, killed or at the very least grazed with a damaged expensive bike that I rely on for my income.

4) I have never heard of any pedestrian in Glasgow being hit by a cyclist on the roads or pavements.
I have heard of a good few pedestrians being hit by cars and buses. Usually buses.


5) Bring up the statistics for collisions between pedestrians and cyclists and motorists and cyclists and I'm fairly confident (without actually checking because I'm lazy) that the latter will by far have the majority.


Here's my advice:

You can try and have a rational discussion with people who are against pavement cyclists but you'll always hear the same shit over and over and over. 'IT'S AGAINST THE LAW'. This is their mantra. They recite it in their fucking sleep. There's no reasoning with people like this. They won't ever complain when vehicles park on pavements or when the council drive their road cleaners onto pavements (before anyone says this has to be done you should know that there exist ones that are pushed rather than driven. GCC have both but they always drive a big fucking vehicle on a small pavement on Trongate which is against the law). They will only complain when people cycle on pavements.
So just keep cycling where ever you feel you need to. As long as you're doing it respectfully and with consideration then there's no problem. The police don't issue fines for this because they are rational and understand that there's more danger on the roads for cyclists.
I'd also recommend using headphones when you cycle. You see people's pointing to the road with grumpy faces but you can just shrug that shit off more easily.

Also bear in mind that the people who bitch and moan about their safety with cyclists on the pavements are probably the same people walking in front of traffic and almost getting hit whilst the little man is red. I've witnessed many near hits in this regard. Usually involving buses (I have nothing against buses).

I genuinely think some people get some kind of pleasure from bitching and moaning. Tomorrow could be the day where all cyclists stay on the roads at all times and the statistics for collisions will sky rocket. But these people will list find something else to bitch and moan about.

Fuck em.