Bicycle accidents will increase

Call the newsdesk on 01323 414488 or email eastbourne.herald@jpress.co.uk SUS-180130-143238001 — Call the newsdesk on 01323 414488 or email [email protected] SUS-180130-143238001

Your report of the lady being knocked down by a cyclist in Langney Road was an accident waiting to happen, and the frequency of such incidents will inevitably increase.

It is an offence in law to cycle on a footway (pavement) as detailed under the Highways Act 1835 s.72 of the Local Government Act 1888, but a growing practice of not enforcing this law has led to a misunderstanding by many cyclist that they can without impunity cycle on the footway, indeed some police officers have said that they will not fine cyclists who ride on the footway.

Bicycles are, in law, carriages and should be on the road not footway, except where there are signed shared pedestrian/cyclist routes.

A continued failure to uphold the law can only lead to more accidents such as the one highlighted.