[Mad1580]

Hi and hello everyone.

First of all, I want everyone to understand I have no gripe against cyclists. 

However, locally there is a pedestrian/cycle path. The cyclists take delight in zooming past pedestrians as close and as fast as possible. So e weeks ago a cyclists ran into me, bruised my back, swore at me and accused me of ” being all over the place”. I asked why he did not warn me by using g his bell. Instead of replying g he rode off.

I have asked the local council to consider having demarcation lines one side for pedestrians, one side for cyclists. So far there has been no response.

What is youd view on this , I feel there will be more accidents, maybe even a fatality.

Car drivers have to give e cyclists a metre and a half passing room, how about the same for cyclists to give pedestrians?

Just out of interest, I was 69 last weekend, I have several health conditions including g a heart condition. I just want to have a short walk a couple of times a day without being scared of being the victim of an accident or being sworn at.

Topic

[ChrisB200SX]

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

Hook, line, sinker seems to be the attitude of someone who has posted under a fake account and then caught someone with it. 

I hope this isn’t the case even though the poster also seems to have keys stuck on their keyboard. 

Or, believes they have “caught someone with it”, which they actually have not.

The OP seems to generalise all cyclists as behaving this way on this particular path, which seems incredibly unlikely and inconsistent with “not having agripe with cyclists”… so not at all “ON YOUR SIDE”, whatever side of whatever that is, some imaginery conflict I would posit.

The 50-year-old crashing into an older person when it sounds entirely avoidable and preferable also doesn’t pass the sniff test. I can’t imagine deliberately cycling that close to someone, let alone in such circumstances.

mad1580 wrote:

”I don’t want cyclists to be castigated, but pedestrians have rights too. Why can’t that be respected. Now I drive to a different location ,walking around d a beautiful lake,where cyclists are not allowed!!”

The “Why can’t that be respected” also seems disingenuous, and then there are the double exclamation marks on “where cyclists are not allowed”. A very confused message saying they think cyclists are fine but then betraying that with all the hidden intentions in the remarks.

If the particular shared path is as bad as they claim it is, I would recommend staying away from it.

Paint isn’t infrastructure, and many pedestrians stray into the cyclist side of such divided paths, which just leaves less room for a cyclist to pass on (which is obviously worse), so I would say a dividing line could make things worse.

[hawkinspeter]

brooksby wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

Cyclists aren’t a collective, so there’s very little “we” can do to get along as there is no “we”. It’s similar to asking what you can do to stop other motorists from speeding/using phones etc.

We are all individuals!

I’m not!

[brooksby]

hawkinspeter wrote:

Cyclists aren’t a collective, so there’s very little “we” can do to get along as there is no “we”. It’s similar to asking what you can do to stop other motorists from speeding/using phones etc.

We are all individuals!

[Sriracha]

My view is that people don’t
My view is that people don’t change their spots all that much just because they are on a bicycle or in a car – selfish nobs will reveal themselves regardless of their mode of transport.

The less selfish will of course improve by experiencing the other’s perspective first hand, whereas the selfish will continue to put their needs first whichever way they travel.

[chrisonabike]

Sorry you’re feeling squeezed
Sorry you’re feeling squeezed out of a space. As others have said the issue is partly “people are selfish sometimes / a few are most of the time”. Another part is that we make space for drivers first, then cyclists and pedestrians are left fighting over the left-overs. Finally there aren’t many cyclists in some places so their presence can surprise.

Cycling and walking don’t have to be at odds – it’s a choice we’ve made over the decades in the UK. I would like my neighbourhood to look more like this – note the pedestrian paths and cycle paths are very obvious and there is a small kerb between:

[Hirsute]

Why don’t you just make a
Why don’t you just make a constructive reply to the OP?
Do you have any advice for the OP?

[Bungle_52]

Hi, thanks for posting. I am

Hi, thanks for posting. I am afraid the problem is down to a few individuals who either try to frighten pedestrians or who have too high an opinion of their own abilities on a bike. It’s the same for us cyclists on the roads. The only thing I can suggest is that you do what we are doing, arm yourself with a camera and report to police. I hope you get more satisfactory responses from the police than we do.

[AlsoSomniloquism]

Hook, line, sinker seems to

Hook, line, sinker seems to be the attitude of someone who has posted under a fake account and then caught someone with it. 

I hope this isn’t the case even though the poster also seems to have keys stuck on their keyboard. 

And in your rush to “be right”, you seem to have not noticed Andy replying with 

In any case, yes separation might help if the path is wide enough, and yes cyclists should ride relatively slowly around pedestrians and give them a wide berth, even if it means waiting to pass. The vast majority of us do so.

A map link to the path might help if you really want fruitful discussion.

 

[Mungecrundle]

Shared use paths can be a
Shared use paths can be a pain in the arse to both cyclists and pedestrians but as long as they get cyclists off the road then drivers are happy, and often enraged when some cyclists eschew using them. In theory, in a world without arseholes, they would work just fine but unfortunately there are enough arseholes who shouldn’t be allowed out in shoes without supervision and sometimes they get access to a bicycle, escooter, mini moto or other mode of transport which allows them to become even more irritating to everyone else.

As a pedestrian using shared use infrastructure and assuming you don’t habitually wander about in the road, it is likely that you will have many more close proximity interactions with cyclists than with cars. Yet a quick browse of your local newspaper website will show you just how much more risk you are at from the drivers of motorised vehicles.

[Flintshire Boy]

.

.

Hook.

.

Line.

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Sinker.

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Couldn’t resist trying to shoot down a very respectful attempt to have a constructive discussion, started by someone WHO IS BASICALLY ON YOUR SIDE!

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Gosh, is yours a fixed attitude by any chance? ‘We’re in the right, cos we’re cyclists’.

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How to grab defeat out of the jaws of victory.

.

[ktache]

It’s very difficult to tell

It’s very difficult to tell whether the pedestrian is the sort that appreciates a bell to be sounded or one that is deeply offended by it. It runs about 50:50.

On shared use paths I always try and stick to one side, mainly the left, wether a pedestrian or cyclist, and will try and check behind me if moving across.

Just like walking and cycling on a road.

[Anonymous]

Imo this is the biggest
Imo this is the biggest problem with shared use paths. And why I try to avoid them as much as possible. They seem to be a cheap way of local councils pretending they’ve put some infra in, bang up a couple of signs maybe a dividing line and a few markings on the floor and claim all that work cost thousands.
They’re never wide enough, are often full of groups of peds, taking up the entire width, walking allover the place with headphones in.

[AlsoSomniloquism]

This is very nice seperated

This is very nice seperated infra. Unfortunately, as shown in the picture, the really nice cycle path is smooth and the pavement is bumpy. So lots of peds decide to walk down the cycle path. Not really a problem for me as I will slow and ring the bell if on my hybrid, or use the road bus lane if on my road bike and want to go faster. The only ones that irk me are the ones who walk across the full width, or who walk on the travelling direction side rather then non travelling one.

[Mad1580]

It is a shame, the path I was

It is a shame, the path I was using is less than 4 mins walk from my home.

[Mad1580]

I totally agree, a.though

I totally agree, a.though bearing in mind I was walking alone at 7:00 . Just trying to grab a 30 minute walk before getting back to care for my invalided husband.   I will take your kind advice, and thank you for your u derstanding. I hope my experience will help other users of this website to give their fellow cyclists a good reputation.  Thanks again

[Author]

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