Cycling vs walkers in country parks

esuhl

Altarf wrote: »

It is obviously the usual attitude of one cyclist when they say -

If you don't understand the difference between "the usual cyclist attitude" and "the usual attitude of one cyclist", then you're an idiot.

Retrogamer

Altarf wrote: »

The difference is you displayed the usual cyclist attitude of pedestrians should get out of the way on a footpath or cyclists will ride into them.

Footpath? I'm pretty sure i said shared path.
I don't know what other cyclists would do but what's worse. Me cycling at 1mph when they walk into me, or me jogging at 10mph into them without the bike?

When i'm a pedestrian i'll happily walk into people who can clearly see me coming but refuse to make space in their group on footways or footpaths as well.

If i stop before walking into them, they'll need to walk around me to avoid a collision. So if i'm walking the same thing applies...

Same concept but without the bike.

unforeseen

And no doubt the person walking towards you is thinking exactly the same thing.

Rosemary7391

esuhl wrote: »

I think part of the problem is that people aren't used to seeing cyclists. There aren't enough of them for people to anticipate their presence.

Whereas everyone owns a car. No one is surprised that some drivers behave badly. No one is shocked when a car passes a metre away at 50 mph, because they expect cars on the road to be moving fast. Ride a bike in the same way, and people are outraged!

The funny thing is that cyclists have much better visibility, travel at much lower speeds, have far less momentum, and serious injuries and deaths are almost unheard of... unless there's a motorist involved.

But if you drive in wet conditions at 134mph, and at 100mph through roadworks, you can get off with a slap on the wrist.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-40708660

That's much, much worse than "blatting along a canal path at 15 mph".

There's a huge bias against cyclists in this country. Yet motorists can behave as recklessly as they like and get away with it.

It's quite unusual to come across exactly the same situation. You'd expect to be walking on a footpath with a kerb alongside most roads. You don't share the same space as cars, and certainly not ones doing 50mph coming up behind you! (You walk facing oncoming traffic if there isn't a path). Whereas with a shared bike and pedestrian path, at best you have a painted line and often nothing at all. You're in the same lane so to speak - and often not much room for overtaking. How often can is there space to let the pedestrian put their arm out whilst being overtaken? Most paths I'm familiar with wouldn't be wide enough so it's essential for the overtaking bike to make the pedestrian aware of their presence.

esuhl

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

It's quite unusual to come across exactly the same situation. You'd expect to be walking on a footpath with a kerb alongside most roads. You don't share the same space as cars, and certainly not ones doing 50mph coming up behind you! (You walk facing oncoming traffic if there isn't a path). Whereas with a shared bike and pedestrian path, at best you have a painted line and often nothing at all. You're in the same lane so to speak - and often not much room for overtaking. How often can is there space to let the pedestrian put their arm out whilst being overtaken? Most paths I'm familiar with wouldn't be wide enough so it's essential for the overtaking bike to make the pedestrian aware of their presence.

That more-or-less illustrates how bad cycling infrastructure is in the UK.

And if you announce your presence with a bell, people will either block your path and telepathically growl "how dare you?!", or they'll jump out of the way and remain in the undergrowth until you pass.

Once again, I have to relate this to my experiences in Amsterdam where a "ding" means, "I am here. No need to turn around, get excited, or leap out of the way! Just be cool, and I'll pass you momentarily."

I make every effort to ride respectfully, especially around the elderly, children and pets. But some people are incredibly inconsiderate and seem to think that it's their duty to impede cyclists. I'd have no problem in brushing past them at 2 or 3 mph if they deliberately blocked my path, having glared at me for the past 20 seconds.

esuhl

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

It's quite unusual to come across exactly the same situation. You'd expect to be walking on a footpath with a kerb alongside most roads.

Not at all... I've been cycling on roads and people have literally run out in front of me without looking... and then seem outraged at the fact that I nearly ran them over. :-/

Maybe this is the answer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfyC6NJqt2o

[Deleted User]

Enterprise_1701C wrote: »

I was riding on the cycle side when a teenager decided to prove he was a big man to his girlfriend. He stood in the middle of the cycle side intentionally blocking it when there was a pack of college kids on the pedestrian side.

I had that when I was walking along a corridor at work. One of the directors was strutting down the corridor like a peacock, and the further I moved over the further he moved over. By the time he went past I was up against the wall like this.

silverwhistle

esuhl wrote: »

If you don't understand the difference between "the usual cyclist attitude" and "the usual attitude of one cyclist", then you're an idiot.

I'm not finding out anything new on this thread...

I found pedestrians in Italy were worse when in groups, so my technique was just to come to a dead stop in front of them and if they walked into me it was their fault. As I'm as tall as many Italian men and play centre forward I'm not worried by the odd collision.

Retrogamer

unforeseen wrote: »

And no doubt the person walking towards you is thinking exactly the same thing.

That seems silly when i'm walking as far to the side as possible on my own giving them the rest of the path and their group is taking up the whole path walking towards me.

ThemeOne

I find the worst scenario with cyclists is when they ride the pavement, you don't hear them coming from behind, then they pass you at great speed and very close. It's a frequent and sometimes frightening occurrence, and always leaves me thinking how if I'd happened to step to one side into their path at the last minute there'd have been a very nasty collision.

Obviously the cyclist can see you in front of them, and seems to overtake on the assumption you will continue walking in a dead straight line, but pedestrians don't always do that, especially when they don't know there's a need to.