The child, the bike and the two dog walkers

We had a similar scenario the other day, we were walking unaware that a young girl (8) was behind us on her bike. We had to get out of the way sharpish as she overtook us, only for her to swerve in front of us into the drive of her house. Realised it was a neighbour.
We didn’t have a dog but her father (policeman) did, he was behind with the dog. Nothing was said, though he must have seen us having to leap out of her way. To our credit we didn’t kick the bike or the dog.

When I used to take my dog out for a walk I gave child bike riders a wide berth and tried to keep my dog away from them. The child's father lost a chance to teach the bike child good manners.

Walkers and their dogs are more vulnerable than hard metal bikes. Like 'steam give way to sail' so should bikers give way to walkers. It's elementary good manners.

I agree, Daisymae. If I were the father, my immediate response would've been to shout 'stop' and, also, as she obviously isn't an experienced cyclist, to run after the child and pull her to a halt before reaching the couple. If I were the couple, my immediate response would've been to bend down and pick up the child to make sure she wasn't hurt. As the father, I would also have apologized to the couple. Accidents happen. The father was wrong to blame the couple, and the guy shouldn't have kicked the bike.

In that situation, I would have kicked the bike ( or at least hit it with my walking stick). I would have been frightened at how near I’d come to falling and maybe injuring myself and ending up in hospital. The parents behaviour was beyond appalling and they are bringing up a little madam.

nansnet was it really an accident? It was completely avoidable.

The child was ringing their bell so that should have been a signal to the couple walking two a breast that someone on a bike was coming up behind them. They should have moved into single file. Saying that it would have been far better for the child to gain confidence on their bike in a park or somewhere with a bit more space. Also to those moaning about cyclist on footpaths please be aware that many footpaths are now for dual use which I regularly cycle on.

I don't know, cyclists often moan about motorists not giving them a wide enough berth and intimidating them with careless driving and then there are a minority, particularly of the lycra clad variety who do the same to pedestrians. I paths in parks, particularly in my area are a dual cyclist/pedestrians thoroughfare. This was a narrow path though and taking into account the factors of the child being less than proficient on the bike, the importance of social distancing those therefore are two reasons why the father should have told the child to get off the bike rather than forcing her way through the middle, no doubt due to the fact, as a novice she wasn't fully in control. Just looks such bad manners, she is being taught nothing about consideration for other people. I would have picked her up, but I'd have been damn annoyed with the parents if I'd been one of those two people.

I Meant also to add, I don't think riding up right behind a pedestrian and ringing a bell should be an automatic pre cursor for them to immediately jump out of the way, they may be deaf/hard of hearing, disabled, engrossed in something else

Hear hear Terri.

I wear hearing aids, and never hear bells on bikes when out walking.

Yes Terri agree with some of what you said. But my experience has been that I ring my bell constantly from a distance, slow down and wait for them to move to give me enough room to get by but often they don't move, even young couples and I then shout bike or if its safe ride up onto the grass verge. I have also found that during this time of lockdown kids have been excellent when out on scooters or bikes and stop and allow me to pass at a safe distance. I also wear a black mask and with my sunglasses on must look like a bank robber so people move away from me pretty quickly. This with the child was an accident but I do think the couple behaved badly especially kicking the bike.

Why should it be that way round Barmey ? Apart from the fact it was a narrow path, why shouldn’t a cyclist dismount instead of pedestrians move ?

I actually had a disagreement with my nephew (grown man) over this. On his fb page he and his pals were all moaning about the evil dog walkers ‘pushing’ a little girl off her bike and some were saying if that had been their daughter blah blah. They didn’t like it when I said the father should have stopped her riding into the couple.

Maybe it’s a generational thing and one’s little darlings should be allowed to do as they like. I certainly think the father was in the wrong and as for saying their daughter was traumatised!! I pointed out that children in war zones are traumatised. It didn’t go down very well. Hey ho!

Suzie, even if I did dismounted the walkers would still have to move to let me get pass them, walking while pushing my bike. What a stupid statement. It all about respect for others and I don't see much of it on GN for cyclists.

I haven’t seen this film but having been mown down by a cyclist in a railway station I’m likely to be on the side of the pedestrians. According to Rule 62 of the Highway Code cyclists should be always be prepared to slow down or stop if necessary.

www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-82#rule62

Well I don’t think the walker should have kicked her bike, she’s obviously not a used to putting her brakes on, I expect she was worried when trying to go through them, I thought her father should have been closer to her and I thought her bike was possibly too big for her, I blame the father, you can’t just barge through people

Yes thats right Sue, prepared is the right word and if the the people in front had any respect they would move aside just enough to allow the cyclist to go through. I have also had an accident with a dog walker on one of those blasted leads that allow the dog to move quite far away from the owner. The dog ran out in front of me and I would have missed it but instead I hit that blasted lead and wobbled from my bike. I wasn't going that fast as I can't do speed. I didn't shout or scream I realised it was an accident, they happened. We all apologises and that was that. Its respect for others.

Barmey ‘What a stupid statement’ made of course by a cyclist. It’s stupid to believe there isn’t a world of difference in stepping out of the way on a narrow path to allow a cyclist to WALK their bike past you and your having to scrabble out of the way of a moving cyclist. You clearly have no respect for pedestrians if you think you on your bike has right of way - maybe you think older/ less nimble/ less mobile people should just damn well stay at home - especially at the moment.

And how do you deal with people who can’t actually hear you Barmey oh yes, make them stay at home as well,

What’s respect got to do with it, Barmeyoldbat? It seems to me from your posts that you just think you’re more important than a pedestrian.

They were all wrong. The father was wrong for not telling the child to stop but the fella behaved disgracefully by kicking the bike. It wasn’t the child’s fault that the adults were all ready for battle. I wonder what that child’s life is like.

I can fully appreciate 50/50 situations, I think if pedestrians are aware of someone coming up behind or a potential close encounter in front and the path/pavement is wide enough, well single file of course, that doesn't always happen I know. Consideration for others has to start somewhere, surely that should be with the parents. I don't think the father behaved well, the child was clearly not competent enough to negotiate such a narrow opening and pass the dog walkers without damaging herself, or them. In any case, barging past people is just rude! and that's a lesson for life that should be learnt at her young age. There are a minority of people who don't think their children should be thwarted in any way, whether it be careering around supermarkets on scooters, and I have seen that on a couple of occasions, or taking them to restaurants/cinema when they aren't old enough to understand they can't run around and be noisy without spoiling the experience for others. Quite honestly he came across as an "entitled parent" well certainly in this instance. The kicking of the bike wasn't nice, but possibly a knee jerk reaction.

I think it was wrong of the man to kick the bike but, other than that, I am on his side.

The child should have been told to get off the bike and the father is in the wrong.

The father was obviously out to make a point. If you listen to the video, the child seems to slow down as she gets closer to the walkers and the father tells her to go on. How anyone can say she was kicked off her bike is beyond me. She clearly rides into the couple and falls off. Her father was obviously so concerned about her that she can be heard crying while he argues with the couple and makes no attempt to comfort her.

I blame the father. The Lane looks too narrow for a very young wobbly cyclist and I don’t think she could actually stop on her own. Father should have yelled to alert the walkers when he could see what was going to happen, that way they could have moved aside and not overreacted. There was no need to kick the bike. A horrible experience for a young child and appalling behaviour by both men.