Bristol cyclist warned by police after hitting child on pavement, but girl's mother not satisfied

I pulled an old lady out of the way of a crazy adult cyclist bombing along the pavement - no consideration!

Accidents do happen and don't say none of you above have not made a mistake.

I think the mother should claim compensation for the childs injury - to pay for any plastic surgery needed for the scar at least and mental brain injury -hopefully she is fine.

It would wake cyclists to get 3rd party cover min and also to cycle safely in pedestrian areas.

(Ride on the road myself and consider others but I've still been knocked off by cars or pedestrians)

3rd party insurance - CTC -its worth it and stop cycling on the pavement.

@ IPFreely if you haven't already have a wee look at the thisisbristol site It will give a bit more insight on the incident. Ignore the thread - its not worth reading!! I would hope that if an incident happened further down the road as you mentioned that the police would throw the book at that cylist!! It really winds me up when I see unlit, 'invisable' bike riders (theyare NOT cyclists!) careering along pavements with no concern for pedestrians and tarring cyclists with the same brush! meanwhile I keep to the roads, stay visible and have to deal with apathetic police officers who will not move vehicles parked in cycle lanes or follow through reports of dangerous driving with 'we can't do anything about this' Yet they are quite prepared to slap afine on me if I have broken any aspect of Highways Act!! (And yes I will hold up my hands IF I have broken the law and pay my fine!!)

Its wrong the person on the bike received nothing more than warning but giff77 highlights two examples where individuals were fined for breaking the law. If they had caused a collision or knocked a pedestrian over further down the because the authorities had done nothing you would all be on the 'Police do nothin as usual' band wagon. You can't have your cake and eat people. If the person on bike had just ridden on the pavement you would have expected some discretion, so if you ride on the pavement don't moan if you get fined. There is lack of consistency, the law is an ass and it comes down to opinions. What one person deems appropriate another person doesn't.

The idiot shouldn't have been riding on the pavement in the first place. Gives us a bad name.

Sounds like the kind of thing strict liability would have easily dealt with: as the cyclist, it's his responsibility to be in control of his bike, especially around children ...

She needed stitches??? My God, how can he not apologise?????? What a bastard!!!!

That girl is going to grow up hating cylists!

Agree with the mother, more should have been done. A child has been injured by a 'cyclist' acting recklessly and showing no regard for others. Maybe its as well he wasn't on the road as he would have most likely become one of those statistics that the Mail loves for proving cycling is a dangerous activity on the roads!!

Meanwhile in Cambridge we had cyclists being fined for cycling up a one way street and in Oxford for not having lights in my eyes lesser offences! tyhe whole thing is an a**e

There are hundreds of ways we would prefer the police to be opperating. Sadly the synic in me suggests the cuts are not going to refocus the police (as they should) but serve as even more excuses as to why they cant actually enforce the law of the land.

The idiot should have been given a fine.
I hate the amount of abuse I cop on my bike because of morons like him.

But had the little girl been hit by a car driving illegally, it would probably resulted in a similar amount of inaction from the police (and less chance of being reported in the paper).

An HGV driver in Sheen (SW London) ran down an 85 year-old woman and then drove off, a couple of days ago. Police arrested someone later, and he's now on police bail. The woman has since died.

Surely that matches completely with the apparent police attitude to this? Bleeding all over the pavement? Never mind, it'll fix!

We all have to hop pavements at times. However, appropriate speed is crucial. This guy clearly wasn't going at an appropriate speed and this sort of incident just adds fuel to the fire for cyclist hating Daily Mail readers. Stronger measures should've been taken by the cops.

Maybe it is pragmatic to sometimes cycle on some pavements, however you know you are in the wrong so should take even *more* caution to avoid an accident.

Having said that I would rather be hit by boyracer-on-a-bike than boyracer-in-a-car

Thats the standard 'more hassle than its worth' letter from the police, i got one when a car completely failed to look when joining a roundabout at speed, leaving me on the pavement. Infact, unless someone is seriously injured (ie. hospital stay/death) then thats all you ever get from the police.

The cyclist did wrong, but then so does every car driver in any addicent, but rarely are they punished.

Punishment should fit the crime, not the outcome of the crime, which in this case is cycling on the path at a dangerous speed. Not sure what that should be but a telling off is maybe a little lenient.

Agree with all above, there should be retribution but the comments on the thisisbristol site are just scary, typical mail reading hysteria.

I know that cycling on the footway is illegal but we all do it from time to time. Particularly where roads join in a car friendly way that is insanity for a cyclist, ie a big traffic light controlled junction...or where a cycle path on the pavement disappears

But in these circumstances the correct behaviour is to go no faster than a pedestrian. Then any impact will be mitigated and collisions are easier to avoid

If I have a section of footway I have to go on for an extended distance I get off and push. I know it's a PitA for a usually empty bit of pavement but I don't see why I should ignore perfectly sensible rules just to save 30 seconds of journey time. I leave that sort of crap to car drivers

+1 ... what a complete little sh1te .... wonder how he'd
feel if it was his child he'd just knocked down ... grrr
the police would be talking to me about a slightly more
serious crime had the toe rag knocked down my girl or
disabled wife that would have been walking with her ....

Agree with the mother.

Idiot should have the maximum fine thrown at him possible.

Also how he hasn't apologised is beyond me.