selfish pedestrians on shared use paths

OP: Just juggle some fire clubs or knives – people will move.

Pedestrians aren’t traffic, so we as cyclists shouldn’t expect them to behave as such.

In ten years of a daily commute down a shared path, I can’t remember a single confrontation with a pedestrian. Maybe because I slow down, use my bell, and say “excuse me”.

I suspect it’s actually because you’ve never met any selfish idiots, given I’m struggling to see how any of that would have helped in this case.

I suspect it’s actually because you’ve never met any selfish idiots, given I’m struggling to see how any of that would have helped in this case.

Ten years of daily commuting is getting on for 5,000 journeys. The law of averages suggests that your suspicion is almost certainly incorrect.

That’s not really the way the “law of averages” works*, though if you’re so sure how about you explain how any of that would have helped when they could clearly see me from far further away than they could hear a bell and your “slowed down” speed is probably no slower than I was cruising at before I slowed to about half that to pass them?

*if it does work the way you imply then presumably you’ve also met a group of 6 people, one on an invalid scooter with 2 small yappy dogs filling the whole path on your commute, oh and a unicycle.

Highway Code, Rule 56

Keep dogs on a short lead when walking on the pavement, road or path shared with cyclists or horse riders.

https://www.gov.uk/rules-about-animals-47-to-58/other-animals-56-to-58

Largely ignored by most dog owners.

Interesting, but sadly it doesn’t seem there is a law behind it.

How many dog walkers would consult the Highway Code for best practice?

Mobility scooters seem to be immune to any kind of rules. A woman knocked me down with her mobility scooter when I was standing on a pavement holding my 18 month old son and then ran over my leg! I saw a bloke today who launched his mobility scooter through a set of red lights across a busy junction.

I’ve got to be fair here vicky and point out that the mobility scooter rider/driver did nothing wrong at all.

I don’t tend to get wound up so much these days, as it’s not on my commute, but there are a lot of silly people.

My favourite type was encountered yesterday “Mind out, the dog he might chase you”. Oh OK. And you thought bringing him out off the lead in public was a good idea did you???

One day I’ll just ride home at a dog friendly pace and put an ad on Gumtree or tell my daughter I’ve got her a present.

I think there’s simply a small minority of people who are unreasonable, regardless of their mode of transport.

That’s not really the way the “law of averages” works*, though if you’re so sure how about you explain how any of that would have helped when they could clearly see me from far further away than they could hear a bell and your “slowed down” speed is probably no slower than I was cruising at before I slowed to about half that to pass them?

Project gave you the solution in post number 5, but it seems you’d rather look for things to get annoyed about.

You appear to be interpreting me pointing out the flaws in your argument as getting annoyed. Meanwhile project’s solution isn’t all that optimal when I’m just trying to go for a ride – is it the solution you use on your commute, and if so how long does it take you?

You appear to be interpreting me pointing out the flaws in your argument as getting annoyed. Meanwhile project’s solution isn’t all that optimal when I’m just trying to go for a ride – is it the solution you use on your commute, and if so how long does it take you?

No, I’m interpreting your OP as you getting annoyed. Because you sounded annoyed.

On the very rare occasion the path has been blocked by pedestrians, I’m quite happy to slow down or stop and let them past.

If you can’t spare an extra 10 seconds then I think you should call the fire brigade as your house must be on fire.

I find that being smiley, courteous and riding appropriately for the conditions has resulted in zero conflict all summer on the busy 3 mile shared path along the promenade in the town where I live..

However, along with the cooler weather, a prevailing air of cuntyness has descended upon the good pedestrians of the shire, causing many to believe on a daily basis, that their opinion overides the signs and clear markings on the ground..

Which is it? Slow down or stop? You suggest above that you’ve never had any confrontation with a pedestrian, so do you not count being forced to stop by them being selfish as confrontation, or has it not happened?

Well spotted that I was annoyed. I’m not sure it’s that unreasonable to be a bit annoyed at being forced to stop by somebody who not only could have avoided that with a little consideration, but also that the thing which ultimately caused me to have to stop was them breaking the HC according to that link above. Was I “looking for things to get annoyed about” as you suggest above? As I mentioned before I just wanted to go for a ride, which is why I’ve managed to avoid confrontation with the hundreds or thousands of other considerate people I’ve met. I mean gosh, riding a unicycle you can’t help but smile at pretty much everybody you meet and IME almost everybody you ask to let you past (when you’re coming up from behind and they can’t see you) seem extremely happy to see you out riding and to make space for you. Maybe this is why such a conflict was so unexpected, when if I was just another “Strava” bike rider it might not have been so much.

I do find this “looking for trouble” accusation interesting. It seems some people like to bandy it about when people encounter situations they weren’t wanting at all, simply because they failed to do something which might have avoided it (but which they shouldn’t have needed to do and didn’t foresee needing to do).

Well spotted that I was annoyed. I’m not sure it’s that unreasonable to be a bit annoyed at being forced to stop by somebody who not only could have avoided that with a little consideration, but also that the thing which ultimately caused me to have to stop was them breaking the HC according to that link above. Was I “looking for things to get annoyed about” as you suggest above? As I mentioned before I just wanted to go for a ride, which is why I’ve managed to avoid confrontation with the hundreds or thousands of other considerate people I’ve met. I mean gosh, riding a unicycle you can’t help but smile at pretty much everybody you meet and IME almost everybody you ask to let you past (when you’re coming up from behind and they can’t see you) seem extremely happy to see you out riding and to make space for you. Maybe this is why such a conflict was so unexpected, when if I was just another “Strava” bike rider it might not have been so much.

I do find this “looking for trouble” accusation interesting.

Can’t help but spot 3 separate threads started in the last 3 months complaining about stuff:

It’s a shared use path, some pedestrians got it a bit wrong, just slow down or wait, save your blood pressure. There is very little in life worth getting angry/annoyed about, and a few walkers on a shared path is definitely not one of them.

Which is it? Slow down or stop? You suggest above that you’ve never had any confrontation with a pedestrian, so do you not count being forced to stop by them being selfish as confrontation, or has it not happened?

If you think slowing down or stopping to let pedestrians past is “confrontation” then I think that, in combination with the rest of your tedious rant, and recent form on these pages for moaning, tells us all we need to know about your attitude.

There was no point arguing with those people, you had no chance of changing their minds.

Your point about the dog is fair to my mind though, cyclists are required to yield to pedestrians and horses, fair enough, but not dogs. Owners need to take responsibility for keeping their dogs under control, many don’t.

Which is evidence that I go looking for trouble? Apart from this, one was a fairly standard complaint about poor driving, the sort of thing plenty on here have done, I didn’t complain at all in the thread on here and most on the thread seemed to think I was being too happy with the result, the other didn’t happen to me. Though I note that you seem to have gone looking for me complaining and also started to highlight a satirical thread where I wasn’t complaining about anything.

FWIW I agree with mattig, no point arguing.

As you’ve presumably ignored most of my tedious rant ransos, you’ll have missed that it appears to have been deliberate, hence “forced to stop”. Though you still don’t seem to have answered the question of whether you’ve actually had to stop due to selfish peds. I slow down (from already much slower than you) all the time around other people.

Which is evidence that I go looking for trouble?

I never said anything about looking for trouble. I said about moaning.

Like I say, not something worth even a second thought. Someone got in the way. You stopped. They didn’t get run over. Everyone was fine. I’m surprised you can even remember such an insignificant event.

As you’ve presumably ignored most of my tedious rant ransos, you’ll have missed that it appears to have been deliberate, hence “forced to stop”. Though you still don’t seem to have answered the question of whether you’ve actually had to stop due to selfish peds. I slow down (from already much slower than you) all the time around other people.

I had to stop today – a large group of pedestrians was taking up all of the path. I reckon I lost a good 5 seconds on my journey, and I’m now so full of frothing indignation, I could crush a grape.

It’s a pretty anti-bike approach from these kind of pedestrians. If it was someone walking or jogging towards them, then they would accomodate them (as would the walker or jogger) , but the fact that it’s a cyclist seems to create spectacular beligerence.

I was out on Saturday afternoon and a cheery “hi, just passing on your right” from a good distance away worked in every case apart from one where “hi, just passing on your right” translated as “I’ve just lobbed a grenade at you” judging by the blind panic and sudden random leaping around…

“on this?” pointing to my unicycle!

Im with them on this one im afraid. 😉

The thing is, if I ‘stop to let pedestrians past’ (which I always do when there there’s a need) the kind of situation described by the OP means that the pedestrians still have to go round a stationary cyclist, in the same way that they would have to go around a moving one – the cyclist is no narrower when stationary.
I’ve had the same thing whilst walking along a narrow pavement – wide enough for two – with two people approaching from the opposite direction, they make no attempt to adopt single file, and expecting me to step into the road.
The only difference is the mode of transport – the inconsiderate people coming the other way are just the same.

Even people fully in control of a unicycle look like they’re about to crash.

We always are, Euro, though you’d think they’d be more keen to get out of my way in that case 😉

In reality I don’t think a lot of people compute that I’m on a unicycle until I go past them, as it’s not what they’re expecting and I don’t have that much wobble on the 29″ wheel I normally ride, so apart from being higher up look pretty much like a bike from head on. I certainly get plenty of surprised reactions from people as I pass them even when they’ve clearly seen me from a.distance.

This is a situation where the death scream of a damp BB7 works wonders…

I believe Ghandi said something like ‘be the change you want to see in the world’

If you want people to be considerate, be proactive about your friendliness and courtesy rather than waiting for other people to do it…

Honestly, it can work. Few people are moronic enough to return a friendly ‘after you’ with ‘sod off you git’

It works well when you’re riding towards oncoming traffic where you’re in a narrow part of the road and they look like they’re just going to carry on driving towards you regardless of the fact you have priority and there’s clearly not room for you both to pass – a proactive ‘thank you’ wave and a smile tends to get them to stop…

You can do the same with pedestrians dithering around shared use paths – an early and ultra-polite ‘excuse me’ given with plenty of time tends to do the trick. Even if their response is miserable, you can choose to ignore it or just give them a friendly ‘thank you’ to offset it…

You can do the same with pedestrians dithering around shared use paths

I think if you start from the premise that pedestrians have every right to dither, then you find much less to be pointlessly angry about…