What do I do if a pedestrian steps out in front of me and I'm in one of these new cycle lanes?

mark1959

I thought that was what a bell was for. I wonder what it is for then.....................

Norman_Castle

mark1959 said

I thought that was what a bell was for. I wonder what it is for then.....................

It is but if the pedestrian steps out very close to where you are they wont have time to react and the cyclist might have been able to avoid them. As many pedestrians behave bizarrely when hearing a cyclists bell such as turning 90 degrees to cross to the furthest side of the path ringing a bell is often just a starting point to avoiding them and cannot be relied on.

The bell also serves a secondary purpose of stopping sanctimonious people self indulgently blurting out "where's your bell?"

unforeseen

mark1959 said:

I thought that was what a bell was for. I wonder what it is for then.....................

It is, but when both the cyclist and pedestrian have their earbuds in listening to music then it won't be heard. 

[Deleted User]

mark1959 said:

I thought that was what a bell was for. I wonder what it is for then.....................

Advanced warning of intent to pass e.g. on a canal tow path or shared footpath when the pedestrian is say 10m ahead and you want to pass. I still shout as I don't have a bell

Dymphna60

Although a deviation from the original purpose of this thread . 

As a pedestrian , daily using shared spaces,  I can say that a shout of ‘ bike on your left / right 
is by far the most helpful . 

With so many new cyclists about some do appear to think that bell ringing makes a pedestrian disappear in a puff of smoke . 

[Deleted User]

Dymphna60 said:

Although a deviation from the original purpose of this thread . 

As a pedestrian , daily using shared spaces,  I can say that a shout of ‘ bike on your left / right 
is by far the most helpful . 

With so many new cyclists about some do appear to think that bell ringing makes a pedestrian disappear in a puff of smoke . 

I tend to do that but at the same time, any time I am shouting at someone, it'll be because they're in the wrong e.g. a runner in cycle lanes when there is a pavement 10m away. Do it on the canals too but going way slower then as always a worry of ending up in the water if you are going silly speed

sancahojo

I have cycled to work for years and never had to brake or swerve to avoid a pedestrian. If you are in any way aware of your surroundings you can see when a pedestrian is going to step out in front of you. I cycle roughly 30km/hour, which is pretty speedy in London and I have never faced this dilemma which you seem to be facing. Not sure what speed you are going at to not be able to have foresight to injure yourself or someone else but if you can't use common sense maybe you shouldn't be on a bike.

fred246

I cycle along a quiet urban road and have had a number of near misses. It's always the same way. The pedestrian just walks across the road because they can't hear an engine. You see them. You take power off but don't need to do an emergency stop. They are half way across so you can cycle behind them. The pedestrian then spots they have walked out in front of you and decides to go back to the pavement. So they suddenly change direction and walk in front of you. You slam the brakes on but it's hard to know which way to steer. Be interesting to know legal position in case of collision. Accident could only be caused by pedestrian walking across the road without looking. Can't see how pedestrian could blame cyclist unless cyclist didn't have brakes as in the famous case.

Chomeur

Dymphna60 said:

Although a deviation from the original purpose of this thread . 

As a pedestrian , daily using shared spaces,  I can say that a shout of ‘ bike on your left / right 
is by far the most helpful . 

With so many new cyclists about some do appear to think that bell ringing makes a pedestrian disappear in a puff of smoke . 

I agree. If I'm cycling along a canal towpath for instance and need to pass pedestrians going the same way, I will call out "On your left/right" to give them some forewarning. It seems to be appreciated.

Chomeur

Some more observations about the new bollarded cycle lanes:
The bollards are plastic and quite springy so you probably wouldn't get hurt if you hit one and possibly could go over one without coming off.
Roads get swept by road sweepers. These new cycle lanes can't be swept unless someone comes along with a broom, which naturally they don't. So the lanes fill up with leaves and broken glass. 
I still don't like the lanes.