Runners on country lanes

[Flying Dodo]

Yes but does pedestrians wearing flashing lights at night time really make them safer from this?

Probably not!

 

[PhilDawson8270]

I was always taught to move to the outside of tight bends when walking or running on roads.

I was always taught to slow down going around corners when you cannot see what is around it.

 

[mjr]

I've never heard that one, and would normally only cross the road when the verge width was insufficiently wide to give me a safe refuge in an emergency.

Walking on the outside of sharp bends is a "may be" in http://highwaycode.info/rule/2 so anyone who drives should have heard of it.

 

[mjr]

The Highway Code appears to favour reflectives for walkers and doesn't mention lights, or runners!.

Rule 5 mentions lights for groups, but I think you're right about runners.

 

[User16625]

What I fail to understand that I sometimes see joggers running on the road even tho there is a pavement. What possible benefit is there for a jogger to run along the road rather than on an empty pavement. Just screams stupidity.

 

[MontyVeda]

What I fail to understand that I sometimes see joggers running on the road even tho there is a pavement. What possible benefit is there for a jogger to run along the road rather than on an empty pavement. Just screams stupidity.

 

[screenman]

The obvious thing for me is to keep left of white lights coming towards you when driving, some people around these parts will park on the wrong side of a dark country lane with the lights on full beam, that takes some working out.

As for running on the road rather than the pavement, try even walking on some of the pavements around these parts and you will find out why.

 

[Dan B]

I don't have issues with runners because they have a common law right of passage and repassage on the public highway and it's my responsibility as the party with greater momentum and more hard sticky-out spikey bits to avoid colliding with them, not vice versa

 

[PhilDawson8270]

What I fail to understand that I sometimes see joggers running on the road even tho there is a pavement. What possible benefit is there for a jogger to run along the road rather than on an empty pavement. Just screams stupidity.

What I fail to to understand is that I sometimes see cyclists using the road even though there is a cycle path.
What possible benefit is there for a cyclist to cycle on the road rather than an empty cycle lane. Just screams stupidity.

 

[Drago]

What I fail to understand that I sometimes see joggers running on the road even tho there is a pavement. What possible benefit is there for a jogger to run along the road rather than on an empty pavement. Just screams stupidity.

What fail to understand is car drivers using their vehicles for short journeys rather than use their feet.

 

[mjr]

As for running on the road rather than the pavement, try even walking on some of the pavements around these parts and you will find out why.

But dealing with the trip hazards of a pavement will build their agility so they can cope with being tripped in races like Mo Farah

Seriously, if anyone doubts why, look at your local council Transport Asset Management Plan. Apart from the most dangerous faults which get fixed pronto, often anything over a few mm on the carriageway gets repaired in a few days (or should, once they're notified), whereas over 30% of the pavement has to be missing before they resurface! That's simply because motor vehicles are heavier and more damaging and most motorists keep thudding into minor flaws until they wear away into dangerous holes, instead of avoiding them like walkers and runners do.

 

[mjr]

What fail to understand is car drivers using their vehicles for short journeys rather than use their feet.

Because they feel it's dangerous because of all the motorists, plus the lion's share of transport budgets are spent on motoring so walking infrastructure is neglected, so people drive, adding to motorist numbers and causing more to be spent on motoring, perpetuating both problems!

It's understandable but self-defeating. We need politicians and advocates with backbones to break the spiral.

 

[snorri]

Showing a high degree of restraint there MontyVeda

 

[Drago]

We need people to stop being so bone idle lazy to break the cycle. A fat, idle, lazy, unfit car driver has no moral right to question the behaviour of someone doing something they don't, making efforts to stay fit and not become a lardy diabetic strain on society.

 

[John the Monkey]

What I fail to understand that I sometimes see joggers running on the road even tho there is a pavement. What possible benefit is there for a jogger to run along the road rather than on an empty pavement. Just screams stupidity.

Same as bikes really. I've run in the road to go around the slippy leaf litter left on the pavement in Autumn, and to take advantage of a surface that's been treated during times of snow and ice. Also to get around inconsiderate dog walkers, who like to create a tripwire out of fido's lead.

... some people around these parts will park on the wrong side of a dark country lane with the lights on full beam, that takes some working out.

We get a lot of that when the local cricket club holds its Guy Fawkes night. All the geniuses too tightarsed to pay for a ticket park up on the local lanes to sit in their cars and watch the display, one or two leaving their lights on.