Cycleblog

Cycling on the prom is expensive: First published in the Argus on Friday 21 May 2004:

Letter: Cycling on the prom is expensive
The silly season is truly here early this year. In the past two years I have had two serious accidents while cycling on the seafront.

On the first occasion an Australian tourist ran across the road and straight into me and my bike. It took another passer-by to untangle her from the spokes and �65 for me to get my bike working again.

The second occasion a woman pushed her trendy pram straight at me, catching my chain and necessitating a new set of gears.

Where was I cycling? On the council-provided cycle lane between the piers, of course.

Ask any regular cyclist what experience they have of this dreaded lane and they will tell you it is safer to cycle on the broader stretch of seafront prom than risk the oblivious and often aggressive attitude of pedestrians who dominate the cycle lane.

Next time I'm approached when cycling 'illegally', I will not pay a fine but will present Brighton and Hove City Council with the accumulated costs incurred by me for cycling in designated cycle lanes where pedestrians are not warned of the existence of the cycle lane, nor challenged when they flout it in their thousands every day in the summer.

It is safer to cycle on the prom. There is room to predict and react to those around you.

-Dave Dugan, Kemp Town"