Strand Beachfront Cyclists Maintain That Pedestrians Are Entirely Optional
A cycling culture has established itself along the Strand beachfront promenade that is, by the assessment of those who walk it regularly, operating on a set of principles that do not align precisely with either the Road Traffic Act or the general social understanding that a shared public space implies some mutual acknowledgment between its users.
The cyclists in question — a mix of road cyclists in full kit using the promenade as a warm-up stretch, casual riders who appear to believe that a bell exempts them from any further responsibility and a small number of e-bike operators who combine the speed of motor transport with the accountability of a leaf — navigate the beachfront at speeds that pedestrians describe as “surprising,” “unnecessary” and, in one case from an elderly man who had to sidestep quickly near the parking area, “absolutely not what I came down here for.”
“They ring the bell,” said a woman who walks the promenade three mornings a week and who has developed a lateral shuffle that she did not previously need. “One ring, very close and then they go past and somehow that’s supposed to be the whole arrangement. The bell does the apology and the courtesy simultaneously and then they’re gone and you’re just standing there rearranging your nervous system.”
The cyclists, when asked, present a unified position. The promenade is shared. They announced themselves with the bell. Pedestrians who do not move are, technically, in a public space and must accept that public spaces contain multiple users. One cyclist in particular, a man in a jersey with a complex logo who stopped briefly before continuing his set, noted that “the promenade is underutilised as a cycling route” and suggested painted lanes would help, which the pedestrians within earshot found ambitious.
A dog that walks the promenade with its owner most mornings has developed a policy of not moving for cyclists regardless of bell frequency and has maintained this position without incident, which its owner attributes to “confidence” and which may simply be that the dog is old and cannot hear the bell anymore but which produces the same result either way.
The promenade continues to be shared. The arrangement continues to be imperfect. The sea, visible throughout, does not take sides.
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