Tolerance
Common sense
Professional judgement
All becoming less common, too much signage, legislation and rules help enforce the great opinionated.
So I have a 40 mph stretch of road which is very busy and not wide enough to overtake pedalbikes. There is pavement of sorts on one side which is in poor condition and overgrown, but it has been signposted as dual use for cycles and pedestrians.
Cars abuse all cycles who don’t use the path.
My take on the scenario is:-
If I’m on a family plod I’ll use the path but I always stop and allow pedestrians priority.
If I’m on my road bike & doing 25mph + I’ll use the road.
But in rush hour when I’m stuck behind a massive queue because a Lycra clad numpty is struggling to maintain 10mph on the road I think they should get off their “it’s my right” mindset & get on the path.
If on a path, on a bike represent well & give total priority to pedestrians, if on busy 30mph roads I tend to wave congested traffic past me, I don’t need 5 feet to pass my ass isn’t that wide yet.
I have full licence for trucks, cars, motorcycles and I walk if I have too, I always try to keep traffic flowing when driving & flash congested queues out to free up the road.
My biggest bug bear with cycles is light controlled crossings!!! The number of riders that press the button when the road is not busy in Bristol is insane! Sat at a red light for nothing when the bike is long gone does press my buttons.
There are crap drivers and crap cyclists, that won’t ever change, but the more rights & rules put in place, the more everybody feels they own their bit of space.
Pavement, road, grass or mud, I’ll ride on all of it, which ever makes sense, is most practical & im not detrimentally affecting others.
Live and let live brother