In my youth I rode bicycles a great deal. I went on long trips, both hosteling and camping as well as used my bike for commuting. This was mostly prior to 1985. At that time if you were an adult, you rode in the street. If you found yourself on the sidewalk for any reason, it was your responsibility to stay out of the way of pedestrians. I really don’t recall ‘bike trails’ being a thing, although I am sure there were a few around. My bicycle experiences since '85 have been few.
This past weekend a friend invited me on a bike ride on what he characterized as ‘bike trails’. They were the asphalt ribbons that developers lace around housing projects. While they don’t look like what most of us know as sidewalks (they aren’t made of concrete, they don’t follow the street), they seem far more like sidewalks than bike trails. They are no wider than sidewalks. They are certainly not wide enough to accommodate two way bike traffic. My friend is in the habit of ringing his bell when approaching pedestrians (or a blind curve) and basically expecting them to get out of the way. He complains that they often ‘don’t hear’ his bell and he has to squeal his brakes to get their attention. He is not reckless in his bicycling (we are both about 65), but he seems to believe that the pedestrian should step off the path. Now I spend most of my life as a pedestrian. I do a lot of walking, on sidewalks, on streets and on designated bike trails (bike trails where I am have signs announcing them, they have images of bicycles stenciled on the path and they are wide enough for two way traffic). When I am on a sidewalk, an adult on a bike will always avoid me, often by going into the street, sometimes by simply riding around me. I can’t recall the last time an adult has rung a bell and expected me to step off the sidewalk to allow him to pass. Children will occasionally do this and I accommodate them. On the bike trails I will avoid the bikes although there is usually enough room on the trail to simply go around. It is only when you are with a group of people that it becomes an issue. On a bike trail it is clear that the bikes generally have right of way.
After writing this, I find I really have no questions although I would like to see other folks take on this problem. I think my friend’s approach is only tolerated because of the relatively small amount of either pedestrian or bicycle traffic where he his located (he is in South Jersey, I am in North Jersey).
IMHO - if the path is clearly marked as a bike path (signage, pavement stencils) then I would say walkers should give bikes right of way**. If, however, the path is not designated clearly as a bike path, then I would categorize it as shared, for both bikes and walkers. In that case, I would expect the bikers to be a less forceful and would not expect walkers to have to be constantly jumping out of the way.
That said, in real life, I would say that what your friend is doing, as you describe it, is probably within bounds of civility.
**Where I live the beach paths have separate lanes clearly marked for bikes and walkers. So, one must look both ways for fast moving bikes when walking across the bike path. Often tourists don’t pick up on this immediately, much to the frustration of bikers.
This will vary from path to path, but the general etiquette (and signage) I have encountered is:
all users keep right except to pass, and this means everyone
you ring your bell to alert someone you are overtaking, but the slower traffic does not need to move aside for you to pass - you pass when and where it is safe to do so without impeding oncoming traffic or forcing slower traffic off the path
In my area we have the American River Bike Trail (ARBT) - 32 car-free miles of asphalt. It is used heavily by both walkers/joggers and bicyclists (as well as a few horses, and recently, skaters).
The rule on the trail is peds stay to the side, facing oncoming bicycle traffic. Anyone not doing that usually gets shouted-at. Mainly because it can be dangerous. There are signs stenciled on the trail so it should be no suprize for anyone. There is not so much of a “right of way” as much as an agreement that peds stay to the side, and face oncoming bikes. Bike should be staying on their side of the trail as well (on the right - same as street traffic).
However, there are always conflicts one hears about. Usually between douchebag cyclist in his racing kit, and stubborn pedestrian not willing to budge from the middle of the trail. Can’t we all just get along?
Pedestrians always have priority.
That’s not saying they should walk four or six abreast blocking all other traffic. Healthy walkers might give way to people in mobility scooters or electric wheel chairs, but for the most part priority goes to the pedestrian.
I also think if you want to be considerate a bicyclist should slowdown whenever passing a pedestrian. If they are elderly with walkers, have little kids or dogs that may go astray, go slower. Sometimes I pass runners that are almost going as fast as I am so I hardly slow down at all.
Your friend sounds like the drivers I run into that drive like bicyclist should get the hell out of the road where you can’t get far enough to the right for them no matter how empty the road is.
As an example, here are the rules of the road for the Minuteman Bikeway, which I walk on everyday to get to work and bike on for errands on the weekends.
I don’t think bikes ever have the right of way. On shared trails, bikes are supposd to give way for pedestrians (and horses). On the side of the road type trails there are situtations where cars can use the lane and everyone has to yield to pedestrians.
There is a bike only trail along the boardwalk at Virginia Beach. In that case the bike should have the right of way, except that nobody enforces it and bikes still have to yield to any pedestrians crossing without looking.
Personally, if there were not much room, I would move out of the way of cyclists (if they weren’t rude) simply because it’s easier for me to do so than it is for them to slow down or squeeze through a small gap.
If I were a cyclist in that position, though, I would have no expectations that people jump out of my way as I speed past, but I wouldn’t be too happy if they could easily give me the room to get past and chose not to.
If the path requires pedestrians to actually step off it when a bicycle comes past and isn’t marked, I’d guess it’s not actually intended for cycling and you should be on the road.
On shared paths as you have described, I have normally seen bikers (and done this myself) announce verbally that they are approaching, such as “Passing on the left”. To notify the walkers that they are about to be passed and on which side. Walkers also should be aware and not be walking side by side and taking up the entire pathway, to permit cyclist to pass as well.
The ringing of the bell, just seem juvenile to me for some reason.
Wow. I ring my bike bell all the time rather than continually shouting ‘On your left.’ What could be cheerier than a bike bell? In fact, Bicycling magazine this month says a bell is better than ‘on your left’ because the latter can startle people into jumping left, which I’ve seen it a few times.
These two ideas pretty much sum it up for me. I’m a hiker, and, while I may have the formal right of way, I’m happy to step aside and make room for a biker, because it’s so much easier for me to do so.
I’m also very thankful to those bikers who have sleigh-bells attached, making a happy jingling sound, that gives me lots of warning to get out of the way. Thank you, guys, for the bells!
(I’m one of those people who has trouble telling my right from my left. When a biker calls ahead, “On your right,” I never can remember which way I’m supposed to jump!)
I do have a little problem with guys who take their mountain bikes up trails that are specifically marked, “No Bicycles.” I’m impressed at how agile they can be. They can go up over rocks and tiny little switchbacks that are challenging for a man on foot; doing it on wheels is one hell of an accomplishment. But…the sign says no, and I wish they wouldn’t. On some of those trails, there isn’t anywhere for me to step to be out of the way! I’m not throwing myself off a cliff for you!
Not so. When the peds have their back to the bikes, they cannot see what’s coming, and not know when to move over. They would always be startled by a bike wizzing by. Their dogs would also be startled - that is not good. Things work much better when both peds and cyclists can see and react to one another. Every trail around here works the same way.
Yes, I think the bells are better than “ON YOUR LEFT!!”. I, too, have seen people on bikes and on foot look over their left shoulder when hearing that and promptly veer left. If no bell, I just say “Good morning” or Good afternoon" or “Hello” in a normal voice and that seems to be enough to indicate the person is about to be overtaken, and seems more polite than “ON YOUR LEFT!!”.
The same “rule” applies here when walking on small country roads where there is no path for pedestrians. The idea is that you can see the traffic that’s most likely to hit you and move out of the way as necessary. It seems even more sensible with bicycles because there’s more opportunity for potentially useful communication between cyclist and pedestrian. Even without speaking, you can acknowledge one another so you’re both aware the other is aware of the situation.
ETA: This is post is somewhat redundant now, thx to snowthx.
Around here, there’s a street that has a bike path right next to the sidewalk, and many pedestrians choose to walk on the bike path instead of the sidewalk. I don’t think I’ll ever understand that.
How is this even practical? In what world do you live in? Are pedestrians only allowed to walk in one direction, while cyclist are only permitted to ride in the other? :dubious:
Boulder has many miles of multi-use paths. All traffic keeps right, and bikes are required to announce themselves when they overtake anyone (bike or pedestrian). A lot of people have bells and a lot just call out “on your left!”. Pedestrians walking abreast should move to be single-file when bikes pass, but a lone pedestrian has zero obligation to step off the path or move over if they are already close to the right side of the path.
If the cyclist can’t move far enough left to allow at least a couple of feet on the left of the pedestrian, he/she should slow the fuck down. It’s pretty damn painful to be whacked on the left hand by a bike handlebar at 15MPH (the speed limit on the Boulder paths).
If you want to ride full speed to get intense exercise, ride on the road.
What I am referring to is a paved bike trail that runs along a river in a natural setting. I am not talking about a sidewalk on an urban street. The ribbon of asphalt is all there is for most of the 32 miles, and there is a substantial decomposed granite shoulder on both sides of the trail on most of that for people to walk. Each direction has about 4 feet of pavement, separated by a solid or dashed yellow line, like a road (only smaller). ARBT
Peds are allowed to walk and jog wherever they want, only they will get yelled-at by cyclists for not following the rules. Yes, there is a posted speed limit, too (15 MPH), which is enforced by rangers with radar guns.
