Now that summer seems to be upon us once more, there are lots of children out and about on their bikes and it's good to see them enjoying themselves again, I have just a couple of questions.
Is the cycling proficiency test no longer done in schools these days? I ask this question because quite a large number of them (the children), don't seem to have much road sense and the maintenance of their cycles does appear to be varying from poor to non-existent! I was never allowed out on a bike unfit or unsafe for the roads and nor were my children.
So far as courtesy is concerned, I just wonder, while I will admit that the roads are far busier than they were when I used to enjoy pedalling from here to there then back again and I would rather have a
child ride on the pavement than get killed or injured on the roads, can they not be taught to dismount and walk their charges when they are sharing the footpath with other users?
The reason I ask this question is that over the weekend while walking along the pavement on Blackburn Rd with Mick, heading in the opposite direction was a group of children, with one adult supervisor all kitted out with safety helmets etc, their bikes in good condition and yet both Mick, myself a little old lady and a young woman with a pushchair were forced to move out of their way as they rode along in pairs. This is a very busy road and I repeat that I wouldn't want them to get hurt, but the woman with the pushchair had to divert off the pavement into the gutter, (not safe for her or the child!). Therefore under such circumstances could these children not have even for just a short distance, dismounted and ensured the safety of other users of the pavement that should after all have priority over them?
