Pedestrians on shared/segregated cycle paths

[BenM]

see that little image of a bike on the ground? That means there may well be bikes on that section of the path. The other side of the line is a safer place to be.

Top tip - when you see a bike approaching your group of 5 people, at less than walking pace, do not all stand on the bike symbol and bleat like scared sheep - take a step to the right and get off the cycle path. I may just need to get past without running other peds over who are between me and you but who have actually very kindly got off the cycle path before you turned up.

Second tip - when walking along on a shared path and you drift off on to the footpath, please look behind you before drifting back on. I may be going at walking pace but the pedals will make a mess of your summer frocks and it is hard to disentangle buggy bits from the rear mech!

Having said that, I can now keep an eye on scalpees/motons! bar end mirror installed and tested.

Today was fun on the bike, mixing it with even more peds than usual. I even had a failure to clip out catastrophic wobble

B.

 

[dondare]

The little bike image tells the cyclist which side they have to use. Peds are free to use both. Cyclists using these paths are required to give way to peds, who will often be unhelpful if not actually obstructive. When they drift then as a cyclist the onus is on you not to tangle your bike bits with their frocks, buggies &c. And then, of course, there's the dog-walkers, with or without 100ft of invisible extending lead. Really, you're generally better off on the real roads.

 

[gaz]

If using the shared cycle path / pavement. you should be prepared to stop at any moment on your trip. Anything above 14mph in my opinion is too fast and you should be on the road.

 

[hackbike 666]

The little bike image tells the cyclist which side they have to use. Peds are free to use both. Cyclists using these paths are required to give way to peds, who will often be unhelpful if not actually obstructive. When they drift then as a cyclist the onus is on you not to tangle your bike bits with their frocks, buggies &c. And then, of course, there's the dog-walkers, with or without 100ft of invisible extending lead. Really, you're generally better off on the real roads.

+1

 

[Tinuts]

Cyclists using these paths are required to give way to peds, who will often be unhelpful if not actually obstructive.

Yes, how true. I generally shout a warning if I feel there is a likelihood that the ped hasn't seen or heard me approaching. However, there are some peds who are just deliberately obstructive. There's a path across Wormwood Scrubbs where I regularly encounter an old bloke who will only ever walk in the cycle part of the shared use path. Yes, some peds can be infuriating.

But then, not all cyclists are squeaky clean either:

I haven't been on the bike of late and my journey to work involves traversing Acton Park where there is what appears to be a shared use series of paths. I say appears to be because they are devoid of the usual signs indicating such. What is signposted is that there is a 5mph limit for all vehicles, including bikes, using the park. Pretty slow I know but a few of the paths are not that wide and there are no shared use lanes in place. Consequently peds can walk wherever they like. Unfortunately, almost no cyclists obey the speed limit (it's a fast walking pace, lets face it!) and some are definitely over the 14mph mentioned by Gaz above. Normally I wouldn't be too bothered by this except that quite a few cyclists pass peds way too closely and at a speed where an emergency stop would be impossible should the ped do a sudden change of direction. Few cyclists like being passed that close by a car so why mete out such treatment to pedestrians? Yes, some cyclists can be infuriating!

 

[summerdays]

You've got to give way to pedestrians and hope that once they realise that you are there that they don't step into your path trying to be helpful!!

I'm still feeling guilty that I almost knocked over a little kid (3 ish at a guess) at 18mph that ran out on the road from between parked cars - luckily my brakes work and the mum was trying to apologise too. But it was end of school so I should have known better right by the school gates.

 

[BSRU]

Most of the shared cycle paths in Swindon do not have a right or wrong side, hence pedestrians can be anywhere they feel like. So I keep my ride on the cycle paths to the barest minimum.

 

[BentMikey]

More brake and less bell is the solution, I think.

 

[hackbike 666]

They use the cycle lane at Waterloo of which i have no problem with and i have never used the horn there.

 

[dondare]

You've got to give way to pedestrians and hope that once they realise that you are there that they don't step into your path trying to be helpful!!

I'm still feeling guilty that I almost knocked over a little kid (3 ish at a guess) at 18mph that ran out on the road from between parked cars - luckily my brakes work and the mum was trying to apologise too. But it was end of school so I should have known better right by the school gates.

Fast-moving kid!

 

[dondare]

Another hazard on shared paths is other cyclists, who don't know which side they're supposed to be on.

 

[hackbike 666]

arghh!

 

[Matthames]

Another hazard on shared paths is other cyclists, who don't know which side they're supposed to be on.

What I sometimes do is when I have somebody coming towards me on the wrong side is to point to them which side I want them to pass me, 99% of the time it works.

 

[dondare]

When I've encountered other cyclists on cycle and shared paths nearly all of them ride on the right side and expect to pass left-to-left. I assume that this is because they don't use roads at all and therefore meet pedestrians more often than they meet vehicular traffic and pedestrians tend to walk on the right.
The other type of cyclist on these paths is the one that belts down the centre at time-trial speed and holds this line no matter what's coming the other way.

 

[Matthames]

The other type of cyclist on these paths is the one that belts down the centre at time-trial speed and holds this line no matter what's coming the other way.

There is another type that I find on these sorts of paths quite often that I find quite infuriating, they are the riders who think their BSO is a unicycle and ride it as thus. I find it infuriating as they are usually weaving all over the place at 5 mph and I want to get past.