Recently one morning, while walking along Manthorpe Road, I was overtaken by, and almost collided with, a soundless pavement cyclist who was pedalling fast.
I was about to turn right in order to use the crossing to Wyndham Park and had I done so a split second earlier, one or both of us would have ended up beneath the wheels of a passing vehicle.
I know that many cyclists have misgivings about using their bells, saying that it causes pedestrians to react ‘irrationally’ and some pedestrians consider being jingled at ‘rude’ and claim that it makes them jump - potentially in front of the hapless cyclist.
I know this issue has been raised before but if we don’t find a solution soon, someone is going to get killed. Perhaps if cyclists at least free-wheeled when approaching pedestrians (the trouble is we don’t walk in straight lines), that would reduce their speed a bit and make them more audible to us. The person likely to suffer the most injuries in a collision would be the cyclist. Is there an answer?
Sue Towers
By email