I had a traffic incident yesterday…as pedestrian in the sidewalk(pavement?).
I was walking with wife to local shop. At some point I see a guy riding an e-bike on the sidewalk toward us. No worries at all because sometimes people come out of their houses or lateral streets, rides a few meters in the sidewalk and then go down to the street.
So, I did not care at all, pointed at some flowers to my wife and suddenly I felt something in my right forearm. The ebike guy hit me with something. I guess it wasn’t the handlebars otherwise the guy would be on the ground. I turned my head to see who the F he was but was already riding away after making a not so kind gesture.
I don’t understand. It was the heavy traffic hour (17h00) and if the guy falls, he falls in front of cars whose drivers wouldn’t have time to react. Wife reminded me that bike and scooter riders expect pedestrians to give way. In this case, I just minded my own business, and the guy hit me with something anyway.
I guess I will be more proactive next time and ensure the impact is with the handlebars. As cyclist I learned long ago that hitting anything with the handlebars ends in a crash.
That sucks. Once i was almost hit by a bike walking on the sidewalk. Cyclist was swerving to avoid someone else and realized i was on his new course at the last minute and stopped braking with his feet 10 cm away from me. I had no time to react as he was coming from blind side. And way too fast for a crowded non cycling sidewalk. At least he did say sorry. Maybe pedestrians should wear swangas like texan cars
I know that it is in theory forbidden to use the walkways. But come on, it is just a bicycle. They are supposed to make some noise if you don’t see them. You say the street was with heavy traffic and I have to admit that I use the walkways in those situations too sometimes.
Now hitting you and not stopping is another thing. It may have been just to omit an accident, but at least a stop and a sorry would have been appropriate!
I hate people that do that. It’s not “just” a bicycle, it a hundred kilos or more of potentially fast moving metal-mounted mass, can cause quite a lot of damage if you hit someone. If the road is really too busy to ride on then just get off and walk. That’s allowed on the pavement anyway.
As can be seen from this case
accidents do happen on pavements/sidewalks/walkways, Stats for Switzerland are not available, but the UK, which does publish such figures, averages about 3 deaths per year from cycle/pedestrian collisions on pavements.
Exactly that, but on the street you have thousand(s) of kilos and a few horses more. It seems to be very difficult to kill one of 'em pedestrians with a bike as your numbers of only 3 deaths show. I bet there are a few more cyclists killed by cars…
As somebody who was knocked flying by someone riding ‘just a bicycle’ on the pavement necessitating a trip to A&E I disagree very strongly with this sentiment.
Pavements are for pedestrians and they should be able to walk safely along them without having to constantly keep an eye out for cyclists.
I was lucky as I got away with just a few stitches in my leg but for an older person or a child being hit by a cyclist could be much more serious.
I will have to agree that not just e/bikes, but all bicycles should be off the sidewalks&pavements. I have had too many close calls walking home from work!
It’s never 'just a ‘something’ … that is just an excuse!
The pavements which are dual use tend to be outside of towns and infrequently used by pedestrians.
Even so, cyclists on these should slow down when passing pedestrians and be prepared to come to a stop if there are pedestrians across the breadth of the pavement who are not aware of you coming.
I forcibly got a man to get off his bike in a no-cycling area in Luzern where there was a market on.
He had already crashed into one elderly gentleman.
I was pushing my bike at the time as were other cyclists apart from this one.
As cyclist I’ve memorized the calmer streets in town. It’s Switzerland, there’s even tunnels under the busiest streets. Not that hard to pedal around town with minimal stress and not riding on the pavement/sidewalk.
What about us small car drivers? These days, with all the big monster SUVs on the way, we too are also quite vulnerable and intimidated, not to mention a dying breed.
That’s mainly the US, Germany, and here of course.
(Within Western Europe and EFTA nations, Switzerland holds the highest percentage of SUV ownership, standing at 19%.)
The attitude strikes me as somewhat selfish - “I’ll be alright so stuff the others”.
(People gave actually said this in so many words).
It’s either that or some sort of inadequacy they are suffering from.
Italians and French generally drive about in tiny cars.
If one looks at the model list, the top sellers are mostly compact SUVs and cross overs. Wonder how many are all wheel drives. There’s a lot of fake off roaders these days.
