‘Get off the pavement’ Woluwe-Saint-Lambert tells cyclists

One need only read Facebook comments to know that pedestrians take umbrage with some asocial behaviour associated with cyclists and scooter-users in Brussels. One municipality – Woluwe-Saint-Lambert – has launched a campaign to get our two-wheeled commuting comrades off the pavements.

This week and until the end of the weekend, police in the Montgomery zone will be on the lookout for bicycles and scooters on the pavement rather than on the street, where wheeled transport belongs. They will leap into action to remind riders that the pavement is for pedestrians only.

“We have received a number of complaints from people that they no longer feel safe on the pavement,” mobility city councillor Grégory Matgen (Défi) told Bruzz. As the police interventions are part of an overall awareness campaign, fines will not be handed out – for now.

Matgen admits, however, that the municipality does not have enough cycle paths. “We understand that cyclists ride on the pavement because they feel safer there than in traffic,” he said. “Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, like many other municipalities in Brussels, is not really equipped with cycle paths, but we are doing our best to create them.”

Photo: Szepy/Getty Images