I find cyclists passing me especially from behind quite disturbing, and I really do jump when one of them rings a bell right behind me. I've seen others post about this, so thought it might be appropriate to flag up recent developments that might affect people on the spectrum.
There's a lot of drive at the moment towards green (environmentally friendly) travel, one manifestation of which is the cycle-to-work campaign. Most local authorities have policies to make it easier to cycle to work.
The commonest solution is to make cycling on the pavements legal, either a shared surface, or segregated with a white line down the middle (or usually not quite middle - more space for cyclists than pedestrians). There are Dept for transport Guidelines (LTN 1/12) which say segregated pavements should not be less than 4 metres and shared pavements not less than 3 metres. In reality the widths implemented are well below that. Quite often now pavements less than 1.5 metres wide are shared walking and cycling, and segregated often less than 3 metres.
On segregated pavements this often means pedestrians walk in a 1 to 1.5 metre strip on the inside of the pavement, irrespective of street furniture (lamp posts, telecoms units, litter bins), overgrown hedges etc. This creates problems for wheelchair users and other disabled.
Cyclists and pedestrians are now in very close proximity, with the cyclists rights protected, and often expecting to cycle fast.
With so much of this policy of opening up pavements to cyclists going on, there must be some quite scary situations for people on the spectrum.
Has anyone had any adverse experiences?
