Get off the footpath or get off your bike.
If you're over 15, you're probably breaking the law if you and your bicycle don't keep to the road.
You can't ride across roads on pedestrian crossings, either. Dismount.
There's a plague of this lawbreaking in NSW, because the police are hardly enforcing the rules.
What is legal, but shouldn't be, is children riding electric bikes, which, as anyone can see, are motorcycles. If the kids are 15 or under, they can also charge along footpaths on any kind of bike - with all the prudence and care for other people that we expect from children.
We have this ridiculous state of affairs thanks to the weakness of a succession of state ministers in the face of the cycling lobby, which unofficially includes a strong anti-car element in the planning and transport departments.
The implied state government message is this: cycling is a profoundly virtuous activity, and doing it anywhere by anyone can never be wrong. Never mind how much danger or inconvenience it imposes on other people.
On footpaths, the danger is high. Even those of us who are fairly robust could suffer a painful and prolonged back injury by being knocked to the ground by a careless rider.
Now consider an old person, one who isn't nimble, perhaps isn't as alert as they used to be, and may indeed have osteoporosis. Are they supposed to walk on a footpath with fear? In fact, many frail people are fearful as someone on a bike approaches.
And I don't want to imagine the injuries to a toddler who, when Mum or Dad isn't looking, suddenly toddles onto a footpath and is run down by a 40-100 kilogram lump of humanity moving much faster than running speed.
The former Liberal-National government contributed to footpaths becoming danger zones, but right now the situation is the responsibility of the Labor government of Premier Chris Minns. The Police Minister is Yasmin Catley, the Transport Minister is Jo Haylen.
If you like to ride on footpaths and don't care about endangering other people, you may still want to consider your criminal and civil liability. Yes, you can probably assume that the cops normally won't bother you. You're not likely to get the $114 fine.
But if you hurt someone seriously enough, say hello to section 54 of the Crimes Act. Your unlawful action has caused grievous bodily harm, and the maximum penalty is two years in jail.
Plus, your victim can sue.
You could be up for damages for pain and suffering, lost income and medical expenses, maybe including months or years of rehab. That can easily run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, and no insurance will cover you.
Often in a negligence case, the defendant can argue that the injured person also was careless - for example, by not looking before taking a step backwards. Well, good luck trying to argue in court that the victim should have been on the lookout for your law-breaking.
I asked NSW Police whether preventing cycling on footpaths was not a priority and, if so, why it wasn't. Those questions weren't answered.
A spokesperson said Newcastle and Hunter police worked to improve safety and reduce road-related trauma. "Cyclists are reminded that if you're 16 years or older and not supervising a child under 16 years riding a bike, you can't ride on the footpath," he said.
Well, it's a shame that hardly any of them are being reminded with fines.
Often, people ride on footpaths because they don't feel safe riding on roads. So they're transferring danger from themselves to other people. Charming, eh?
There's another solution: if cycling is unsafe, don't cycle.
Well, that would be a shocking idea to the cycling lobby and the state government. In fact, the lobby wants more of this danger-shifting.
Bicycle NSW says riding on footpaths should be legal for all ages.
Cycling is already legal on shared paths, and many riders take full advantage of it by racing along at motor-vehicle speeds. There's an arrogant expression of entitlement in this: "I'm allowed to ride here, so get out of my way."
You take your life in your hands by walking on the shared path between Speers Point and Glendale, or on the harbour-front one in the city. There have been calls for setting a 10kmh limit on such paths. It would be a good idea, but the police would have to enforce the limit. Do you think they would?
Then there's the problem of electric bikes. There was a time when any kind of motor vehicle, including a motorcycle, could be used only on a road by a licensed person who had undergone training and was in adulthood or close to it. Now any kid who has long-enough legs and generous parents can legally ride a bike with an electric motor. The kid might weigh 40kg and the bike another 30kg.
Impact energy rises with mass and the square of velocity - and the velocity can easily go higher if the kid has worked out how to disable the governor mechanism that's supposed to cut off the bike's power at 25kmh.
Many of the little rascals have done so.
Electric bikes should be regulated as motorbikes. And they should never be allowed on footpaths. Electric skateboards and privately owned electric scooters are illegal in NSW. We still see them, though.
A man on an electric scooter hit a five-year-old in a Cardiff shopping centre in November and broke her leg. He was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm by negligent act, but did no police officer previously notice him riding around on the thing?
Pedestrian spaces shouldn't be danger spaces. We have roads for things with wheels, and that's where they should stay. If you don't feel safe riding a bike on a road, find another way of getting around.
