Re: Advice to parents

1) This was your experience aged ten, when Tom's advice says ("while
this law is highly unlikely to be applied to children showing
consideration to other pavement users, they should be
discouraged from cycling on the pavement."). Four years between 6 and
ten is very nearly half a lifetime. Children are quite used to being
allowed to do different things at different ages.

But the adults, not the kids, will want to ride on the pavement
claiming if kids can they should be able to as well, and really they
have a point.

2) Perhaps if you'd had some good cycle training aged ten you'd have had
better cycle control skills ;-)

No, im afraid at that age your speed and distance judgement abilities
are still questionable, not a skill as such - its a physical
phenomenon much akin to the effect when adults drink alcohol. Its
fairly well documented online and in journals. Their hazard perception
is also poor but with good tutoring it obviously improves, though I
dont know any kid that would maintain that active hazard perception
longer than the time they had their certificate in their hand! Lack of
speed perception also influences distance/gap judgement, part of the
reason young kids often bounce off things on bikes and try to fit
through gaps they cannot.

There's no intrinsic reason that a
child cyclist should be unable to stop adequately at any age after
they've developed the necessary hand strength, provided their bike has
working brakes (and for preference, isn't some kind of megaton
steel-rimmed behemoth).

See above.

Injury to _and intimidation of_, and as a pedestrian I for one am less
worried about the prospect of being hit by a six year old on a pink bike
than a teenager on a bmx.

Sure, the heavier person would make more of a mess, but they are also
more capable of controlling the vehicle, hence I'd be less worried and
intimidated by the hoody :) But then I struggle to be intimidated by
people on bikes in the first place!

.

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