Wow. That’s sad. I didn’t think someone could die from a collision.
I had a collision when I was maybe five or six. I was running one way and a girl was riding the other way. I wasn;t very short but somehow my face slammed into her front tire. I lost a tooth over that. I’m not sure whose fault it was, but I take at least 50% of the responsibility. The girl felt terrible about it.
I was riding my bike on a path one day this summer and had a bit of an issue. I was staying to the right like a good cyclist, and passing on the left the few times I encountered pedestrians or other cyclists. There was no problem with this. A woman on rollerblades approached from the other direction, and she went to the right, as did I, and again, there was no problem.
Later, I’d reached my turnaround point, and was riding hard to get home before dark. I caught up to this woman on rollerblades, and she had headphones on and was swishing back and forth, left to right, and primarily in the middle of the 10’ (?) wide path. As I got closer, she had wandered to the left, leaving me with the right side to pass. I approached, gave warning, and heard her ramble about passing on the left. Yes! That’s great! I will…so long as you aren’t dancing to music all across the path, in a zone to oneself.
It would be so much easier if everyone just defaulted to the right side in the first place…
I read the article and saw that it was summed up as a tragedy, no more and no less.
But the folks in the comments are going nuts about how fast the bicyclist was going and whether the cyclist was in control, saying that the accident was evidence enough that he was going too fast.
Why do folks insist that the blame game is a zero-sum game, and all accidents must have 100% of the blame doled out to the guilty parties? Sometimes it is simply a tragic accident.
Well, minor7, to be fair, from everything I’ve heard, the blame is 100% squarely the dead girl’s. She was jogging; the bicyclist was on one side of her. She very abruptly decided “That’s it! That’s as far as I’m going!” and made a U-turn. Without glancing over her shoulder or anything.
It doesn’t even matter if the bicyclist yelled out “On your left!” or “Incoming!” or anything, since she had headphones + music and wouldn’t have heard anyway.
I’ve been on the trail in question, though (I think) not the exact spot of the accident. The trail actually passes directly behind my office - I frequently play hooky for ten minutes or so to get myself outside.
I’m not sure if this affects anyone else, but when I’m walking and thinking the first thing I think of when someone calls out, “on your left” is “which way is left?” I usually just freeze and let the cyclist sort it out. I’d be happier with “Passing!” It would get the same reaction from me, but I’d be less momentarily confused.
Another pedestrian-cyclist conflict that’s come up recently is bicyclists “walking” their dogs on multiuse trails. Nothing like getting caught up with a leash that’s strung all the way across the path, with a dog on one end and a bike on the other. A woman in San Jose died last year when she got tangled up and fell and hit her head.
We’re in north central Calgary - Alice in Wonderland has said that she hasn’t noticed this either, so I think it might be our type of neighbourhood - halfway between inner city and suburb - that attracts this kind of cyclist behaviour. I was paying attention this summer, and I think I saw about five bikes on the sidewalk for every cyclist I saw on the road around here.
I disagree that the speed limits should be increased; they’re low in the high-congestion areas for many reasons - multiple people walking, people walking dogs on long leashes, pedestrians crossing the paths to go onto other paths frequently, etc. The bike speeds in those areas (I assume you’re talking about downtown areas) really shouldn’t be above walking speeds because of all the potential problems. On dedicated bike paths, I can agree with somewhat higher speeds, but not on multi-use paths.
There was a death here this summer where a pedestrian was killed by a roller-blader.
Why is a bicyclist on the sidewalk in the first place? You’d do better to rant that they’re not on the road as they should be.
When I walked to classes in college, I non-seriously contemplated (meaning fantasized) about carrying a large walking stick and using it to trip up inconsiderate bicyclists, consequences be damned.
Unrelated story about asshole bicyclists: One time I was on a bicycle, on a bicycle path, waiting to cross the road at a traffic crossing. Just sitting there stopped, looking both ways, waiting for traffic to clear. Another bicyclist came up from behind me and his front tire rammed into my leg! What the fuck, jizzbot!? Fuck you with a wine bottle!!
I agree with all this: bells which sound unmistakeably like bike bells are the best way to say, “Look out! A bike is approaching!” Plus, a bicycle bell has a gay and joyful tune which brings fond nostalgia to a listener’s ear. Use it often!
And, I know this is sort of a crazy idea but I’m going to just float this out there: bike lamps. Every near-collision I’ve ever had with a biker - even the one that was almost my fault - involved dark streets and black clothes.
Cyclists! If you want people to stay out of your way - you need to tell them where you’re at. Bike ninjas are the bane of civilized cycling.
And there is the best answer. Just walk in a straight line and us cyclists will get past you just fine. No warning needed because 1) you can’t hear us; 2) you don’t understand what ‘on your left’ means; 3) you have your goddamned headphones on; or 4) , eh, this isn’t the pit.
You walkers are so damn slow that we can pass 10 - 20 of you a minute. Even if 95% are as perfect as tdn, that means we still encounter an idiot every 5 minutes or so. Seriously, if you are on a multi use path, having a cyclist pass unannounced should not be a surprise.
A few years ago the real ire was reserved for rollerbladers, who took up the entire path. Thankfully, no one rollerblades any more.
The reason for the warnings is that walkers are surprised and complained they wanted verbal warnings of an approaching bike.
Surprised as in jump violently and scream and flail about in their shock.
I was driving around last night, and I counted three cyclists, and every one of them was on the sidewalk.
Well, for me it’s because every bike bell I’ve ever seen has colorful streamers and a picture of Mickey Mouse or My Little Pony on it 
Yup, if you’re a pedestrian on a multi-use path, you should be aware that there are also bicycles there, and expect them to be coming up behind you and passing you. Even if you don’t clearly understand the words, the simple sound of a loud voice behind you ought to be enough to make you think, “Oh, a bike”, and move to the right. Heck, if the non-English-speaking Mexicans I pass can understand this, why can’t the English-speaking Americans?
Rollerbladers … grrr! And they always have headphones on! Also, because I live near a popular ski area, I get to deal with cross-country skiers who train during the offseason with these odd vehicle thingies that consist of two rails on wheels, joined together in a V shape, with an upright with handlebars at the front point. They put a foot on each rail, grab the handlebars, and propel the thing by rocking back and forth, which of course makes the thing slalom back and forth the full width of the trail…
Been keeping an eye out since yesterday - the totals are now eight cyclists on the sidewalk, and two on the road. Both of the guys on the road were helmet-wearing, serious-looking cyclists.
Last Saturday, on a five mile drive to the grocery store through a major Canadian city, it was a full 100% on the sidewalk ,and I’m not even counting the guys who are towing all their possessions and/or dumpster diving booty.I had hope for the one dude who rode in the traffic lane through the park as required by law , but after he crossed out of the park he went on the sidewalk. These were ‘serious looking’ cyclists -specialty bike attire, bikes that look like they cost a weeks wage, yuppies in their 50’s, college kids, every age in between.
And on my walk to work every day, they’re deking though wheelchairs, walkers and old farts towing IV poles in front of the hospital and pedestrian commuters like me. The proprietor of a fucking bike shop on my route to work, sidewalk riding up to the door and unlocking it at 830am. If actual cycling professionals won’t model appropriate behaviour, no wonder the dilettantes can’t figure it out.
The city is spending millions of dollars on divided bike paths downtown, which just means that half the fuckwads using it just ride on the sidewalk until they get to it. Then when they turn off the divided path, it’s back on the sidewalk until they get to their office or bikeshop. And the city, for reasons I cannot fathom, are building these lanes flush to the sidewalk, just so it’s even easier for them to tip over onto us pedestrians. Sure, they get a physical barrier between them and cars, but us peds can apparently go get fucked. Or knocked over.
And if they’re actually riding in the street like they’re suppose to, they don’t stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. Zipping around pedestrians crossing the street does not meet anyone’s definition of ‘yield’. Stop that shit.
Now, before all you bikies get your spandex up your crack, sidewalk riding is not legal in my city, nor is riding in crosswalks, unless designated as shared (and the few shared bits are well signed and identified). No, not even if you’re just going a block. No, not if you aren’t a ‘real’ cyclist and have a pretty wicker basket on your handlebars to denote your recreational status. No, not even if the cars make you scared. Unless there’s signs saying it’s shared space, it’s not. I don’t care what your town’s laws are, in mine it’s a vehicle violation. Not that the city gives enough of a shit to enforce it, but still.
Can you tell this is beyond a peeve for me? 
Well, they make air horns for bicycles. That’s probably not going to win you a lot of friends either, though.
Because the vast majority of bicycles in the US do not have bells. By ‘vast majority’, I mean upwards of 99%.
Personally, I avoid mixed use lanes when I cycle. There’s only a couple around here (which is two more than in most similar places in the US). One is along an arterial, but it’s separated from that by a raised curb. Motorists sometimes yell at me for not using it, but I have good reasons for not doing so. One is that because of the curb, streetsweepers do not clean it off, so it’s full of various debris. The other is that it’s sometimes inhabited by stationary and near-stationary objects such as garbage cans, pedestrians, and mountain bikes. When I ride along that particular road, I’m always on a serious ride where I want to go fast. I do not want to slow down or risk hitting someone. So I ride in the car lane and cars can go around me.
You and me both. Being a cyclist here is an excuse to do whatever you want, on the road and on the sidewalk. The biggest problem I have with this is that cyclists don’t seem to understand some of the risks they’re taking - a cyclist cycling across a crosswalk isn’t giving cars a chance to stop for them because they come out far too fast. I don’t want to hit a cyclist with my car.
Huh, maybe that explains why a LOT of the pedestrians I meet on multi-use paths tend to go to the far right of the path, rather than staying on their side. I never thought of that.
I don’t currently have a bell on my bike, but when I come up BEHIND someone on a path, I slow way down until I’m past them. I’ll usually cough (not a difficult stretch for me) or something too, but if they’ve got headphones on, they won’t hear me. So I just assume that they are going to wobble in front of me and proceed accordingly.
Of course, I ride really slowly anyway, so slowing down isn’t a big deal for me.
We don’t have many multi-use paths, so I don’t worry about it much.
I won’t ride anywhere but the local recreational trail any more. My city’s street system was designed when the town was much smaller than it is now, and growth in the last 20+ years has really overloaded the system. And, unfortunately, improvements are limited by the geography. The city is in a valley, stuck between the Columbia River on the East edge and rugged hills on the West edge, so the only room for expansion is to the North and South, and that just means making the existing roads longer, not adding more streets to reroute traffic onto to reduce congestion.
Even residential areas aren’t safe. I live in one of the town’s original residential areas (the house I live in is about 100 years old), and these residential streets were built when your typical household had one car, if they had any at all. Now, with almost every family owning at least 2 cars, plus a lot of these big old houses getting divided up into apartments, you’re looking a 2, 3, even 4 cars per house, all parked on the street. My street is lined with cars on both sides, which doesn’t even leave enough room for two cars to pass each other going opposite directions. Most of the residential streets in my area are the same way.
I simply don’t feel safe riding on the street any more, and I won’t ride on the sidewalk, so it’s pretty much the recreational trail or nothing for me.