10. Will the First Minister make a statement on the use of shared cycle routes in Wales? OAQ(5)0142(FM)

The active travel design guidance sets out the parameters and standards for their use.

Thank you for that response. The First Minister might be interested to know that when I was out running in Neath recently I was almost pushed into a canal by a cyclist who was travelling too fast on the same path that I was using. My question, therefore, is: given that there is this separation between cyclists and pedestrians, I’ve had people in the Mumbles area, who go there often, where there are cyclists who don’t take account of those people who are walking—you know, on a Sunday, there are many people there—. How, then, can they be sensitive to what’s happening around them, rather than just trying to cycle as fast as they would on a mountain, for example? So, what can you do in terms of education to ensure that everyone can share the same environment comfortably?

Well, cyclists are duty-bound to ensure that they don’t speed so that they would hit someone, because, of course, that would be their fault. What does happen in the Mumbles—and I know the path very well, as I’ve cycled on it myself a number of times—is that walkers walk along the cycle path and on the route of the cyclists. Now, they don’t realise that, so one of the things that will have to be done ultimately, I think, will be to ensure that, where there is a path for cyclists and a path for walkers, perhaps they are different colours, so that people know where they should walk and where they should cycle. But that doesn’t take away the responsibility from the cyclist to ensure that they are riding their bike in a responsible manner that doesn’t endanger other people.

Thank you, First Minister.