The Times reported that speed warning signs have been installed on Bournemouth beach promenade to reduce the number of near-misses cyclists have with pedestrians. The signs use radar technology to detect the speed of people cycling by and if they exceed the limit, the sign displays a warning message.

Three of the four devices were paid for by the council with the fourth funded by beach hut owners “fed up with cyclists flying past their cabins.” The seven-mile long stretch of pathway that lines the beach has seen regular collisions and near-misses with cyclists.

Maybe the money would be better spent addressing the few troublemakers, rather than vilifying all cyclists”

Cycling UK argues that the money should have been spent elsewhere, instead of on signs that “vilify” cyclists. Sam Jones, senior campaigns officer at Cycling UK comments: “We always encourage people to go carefully and considerately and people shouldn’t be using the promenade as a cycle motorway, it is a shared space.

“But £12,000 for four signs seems a bit excessive. Maybe the money would be better spent addressing the few troublemakers, rather than vilifying all cyclists.”

The newspaper reported that Ann Gerard, chairwoman of the Bournemouth Beach Hut Association, told how cyclists “absolutely fly by on some parts of the prom.”

She adds: “We have tried to stop people and tell them the speed limit, but we just get a lot of verbal abuse.”

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