One thing that concerns me is that although the probability of getting caught is very low (assuming one rides sensibly and the bike doesn't look like a renegade from a race track), I think that it is increasing. A couple of years ago I could ride my regular route along a shared use cycle path/footpath and not encounter many others using it. Now it's becoming more and more popular, as the council increased the city centre parking charges and many now leave their cars in the free supermarket car park and walk or cycle into town (I do the same).
One problem with this increased usage is that pedestrians, particularly small children, are now far more likely to stray on to the cycle path side (there is a raised white line separating the footpath from the cycle path). Often they don't look first and there have been a few instances where I've seen near-misses between bikes and children. A few weeks ago I very nearly hit a pushchair, when the lady pushing it (who had her back to me) suddenly pushed it right across in front of me. On that occasion I almost went over the handlebars, but managed to stop (I was only riding slowly, but she did this maybe ten feet in front of me).
It would be dreadfully easy to hit a small child like this, even riding slowly, with a possibility of causing injury or worse. It's the sort of accident that is quite hard to avoid, too, unless you choose to not ride along that path altogether. I'm seriously thinking of risking the long way around on the road, rather than to use this path in future, but that's partly because I'm acutely aware that my ebike isn't approved. I wonder if someone who's riding along this path on a similar illegal ebike, but ignorant of the fact, would think the same way?
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