[SystemSafety] Safety of vulnerable road users: UK

[Peter Bernard Ladkin]

On 2014-11-17 10:44 , Mike Ellims wrote:
> ... from experience the numbers 2 out of 5 nearly hit don’t seem at all unreasonable.

In Germany, kids under the age of 8 *must* ride their bikes on the sidewalk. From 8-11 it is
optional. After 11, it is forbidden (except on designated bike paths which often share the sidewalk
in towns). At about the age of 10, kids get significant instruction in bike safety at school, given
by police specialists over a number of weeks.

Young kids riding bikes on sidewalks has its problems. Cars come out of driveways, and while drivers
are used to registering adult-height entities (pedestrians or even cyclists), things only a meter or
so in height are often overlooked - that is a major reason why I quit riding my recliner around
town. For prophylaxis, I rode ahead of him ........ on the sidewalk, which is strictly illegal for
adults if there is no bikepath there.

Occasionally I'd have him on the road, with me riding outside of him in echelon. That is also
strictly illegal, for two reasons. First, he was not on the sidewalk and, second, it likely fulfils
the conditions of riding double-file, which is illegal when there is other traffic.

I don't know of a passable solution in this context which does not involve someone doing something
which contravenes the regulations. That seems to me clearly to be a system safety problem.

The way it is actually handled is through the police never making a fuss about anyone trying to
teach hisher kid appropriate road behavior while protecting them. However, tolerating a problem is
not solving it.

PBL

Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Faculty of Technology, University of Bielefeld, 33594 Bielefeld, Germany
Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de