Seeing red over cyclists

They may have a tough time on the roads, but is that any reason to force pedestrians off the pavement?
cycling katharine whitehorn
A lane of their own: cyclists should stay off the pavement. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

I had better start by saying I am not actually keen to see cyclists knocked over and crushed by wicked lorries and cars. But what about the poor foot plodders on the pavement being flattened by cyclists? I'm always having to leap out of the way of a grown cyclist who simply prefers the pavement to the road, and I had a friend who was actually knocked over by one who didn't even stop. I've given up jeering: "Doesn't Mummy let you ride in the road?" because the cyclist's always going too fast to hear it. I'm all for them having special privileges at traffic lights – it might stop them ignoring the red ones. I couldn't count the number of narrow scrapes I've had even while crossing with a green pedestrian light.

Of course there are far worse road dangers; why pick on cyclists? I suppose what really gets my goat is their feeling of piety, however alarming they're being. They're going in for healthy exercise, they're green; it's their assumption that they are good because they're not polluting the atmosphere that makes me tend to pollute it with bad language.

So the sooner they get cycling lanes to keep us apart, and all the special arrangements at traffic lights that will keep them safely on the road, the better. So as you see, I am actually on their side. I just wish they'd get off mine.