I was on the receiving end of the good old pavement cyclists rant the other day as my neighbour began to let me know of recent events. For once I didn't interrupt with immediate rebuttals because, for one thing, I have no desire to fall out with a neighbour, and secondly he's a rather distinguished old gent that I have a lot of time for and who generally speaks a lot of sense. And so it was here.

There was an instant acknowledgement of my personal lack of pavement cycling history, and the 'three near misses' were spead over a non-exaggerated period of two and a half years.

What followed was annoyance at pavement cycling in the city centre and at bikes weaving between pedestrians in pedestrianised areas. But with the delivery lacking the vitriol of the usual anti-cyclist diatribe I listened and started to look at thinks differently.

I should confirm here that I've never been an apologist for the activity, but as with most arguments of this sort against cycling I always try to inject a sense of proportion into proceedings. This means pointing out that while illegal and annoyign it's not the threat to life and limb that most people assume.

But as I listened to this particular treatise I found myself realising that the 'actual' risk isn't really that important. Nor is it that unreasonable for pedestrians to feel in more danger. Cyclists are moving quicker than they are and provide a bigger (and harder) area in a collision. The simple fact of the matter is that if cyclistsare riding on pavements with reasonable frequency it is then going to be seen as a regular danger.

Yes that perception is still wrong, and in reality we pose less of a threat than your average motorist to a pedestrian on the pavement (the figures make interesting counter-intuitive reading), but the only way we are going to change that perception is by stopping doing that which is illegal and which we all know we're hated for.

What do you think? Do you ride on the pavement? Or have trouble with pavement cyclists?
Send your thoughts to pavementcycling@citycycling.co.uk