Why do parents teach their kids to cycle on the pavement? (From The Argus)

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Why do parents teach their kids to cycle on the pavement?

6:09pm Friday 1st May 2009

By Colin Houlson - Life, Hove and everything »

I may be going out on a limb here, but I'd be prepared to bet that most parents reading this wouldn't dream of taking their kids to the local supermarket for a shoplifting spree.

And I'd also wager a tidy sum that the vast majority of responsible mums and dads would baulk at the idea of letting their offspring weigh in as they vandalise a bus shelter.

So I'm at a loss to understand what possesses those parents who let their children join them as they breezily break the law and ride their bikes through the No Cycling area on Brighton & Hove seafront.

I should make it clear here that I'm not a Clarksonesque petrolhead with stick-shift for brains who hates cyclists.

I am a cyclist. I don't own a car. What's more, I actually believe it would be a good thing if the council lifted the restrictions on cycling along the seafront. If everyone was fully aware that while strolling along that beautiful stretch of coastline they could expect bikes to be travelling in both directions, it wouldn't be difficult to avoid collisions.

In Japan, for example, cyclists are allowed to ride on the pavement. Everyone knows the rules, so there's a skilled dance between pedestrian and cyclist that seems to work very well.

Several other countries are looking into introducing the same system. But when, as I did on Hove seafront over the Easter weekend, you see an elderly woman suddenly and unexpectedly - and those are the key words - confronted by the sight of a man and his tweenie son bearing down on her at speed, that's a totally different matter.

Like some sort of anti-Batman and Robin, flaunting the law rather than upholding it, this hefty adult and his youthful sidekick showed no concern for her distress as they whizzed by with inches to spare on either side.

This wasn't an isolated incident. Over the same weekend I witnessed what I assume was a textbook nuclear unit of mum, dad, son and daughter come very close to upending a male OAP. Seconds later, the mother brayed at her kids: “Ring your bells and people will get out of the way.”

I just looked up the word 'arrogant' in my dictionary and, yep, there was her face staring out at me.

This is happening at a time when there have been a number of new initiatives for cyclists in the area.

It's now possible to follow a bike lane from the seafront to Devil's Dyke, while Shoreham-by-Sea's Downs Link offers miles of traffic-free pedalling. So it's no excuse to argue there's nowhere else you can take your kids if you want to introduce them to the joys and benefits of cycling.

But while I'm all for promoting harmony between man and machine (take a bow Kraftwerk, pioneeers in this field), my main point is that I can't grasp why someone would encourage their children to join them in ignoring the law and cycle in a banned area.

If you're one of the guilty parties, I'm sure you're already aware that your kids copy you during their formative years. You're the closest thing they have to a role model.

So next time you show them that it's OK to do something because Mum or Dad did it, maybe you should remember this. Sure, you probably won't get caught because the police presence on the seafront is minimal at the best of times and non-existent most of the time. But don't be too surprised when your children grow up without any respect for the law. Or other people... Or you.

Comments(35)

puddingandpi says...
7:12pm Fri 1 May 09

I feel exactly the same!
I thought I was the only person who was annoyed about this. It's not just on the seafront, it's all over the place & it's wrong.
And we wonder why older kids are going feral...