We don’t have paths designed for walking and bikes around here (outside college towns NH is not remotely pedestrian friendly), and I’d be confused if someone came up behind me and said “on your left” since I’d already be on the right, and would likely think they wanted me to do something else rather than to continue what I was doing. Adding the word “passing” would make it much clearer, though. Hell, just saying the word “passing” would be clearer than on your left.
These posts are the reason I hate using MUPs, but my latest commute has me using one that is very popular.
I have to confess I don’t bother much with ‘On Your Left’ anymore. If the walkers aren’t engrossed in conversation, they’re wearing headphones. Even if they do hear me they don’t ‘get it’ and move left or turn to look over their shoulder (which makes them move left). Its a waste of energy so I don’t use it unless I am passing a pack of some kind, where it becomes necessary.
For fun we do have ‘rights woman’, a regular on the path who thinks that since the bikes are supposed to yield to pedestrians that she can walk with her friend blocking the whole path - and screams at any cyclist or rollerblader (and I think joggers) that approaches her from the front or from behind that they are supposed to ‘yield’. I guess the only way to placate her is to get off the bike, move it off the side of the road, bowing your head until her majesty passes. Those of us coming up from behind are just supposed to wait and bike at her slow biking pace until the path ends.
Also fun are the guys who think it is great recreation to feed the geese on the fucking path, never mind there is a horde of unpaved area to do this - nah, I’ll just parking the picnic parking lot, lean on my hood and toss bread in the narrowest part of the pathway.
I really dislike MUPs.
No, keep doing what you’re doing, but you’d be amazed at home many people don’t. Someone linked to an article about a jogger who abruptly turned around and ran into a bicycle. I’ve had people stop, step across the path, or just decide to run on the grass for a little while. Ringing a bell or saying “on your left” is just a reminder that you’re not the only one using the path, so please don’t do anything sudden or stupid.
(The only problem is that sometimes there are people who are keeping to the right, and then when I ring my bell they jump off the path like I’m a grenade about to go off. Don’t panic.)
I understood each word just fine the one and only time a bicyclist coming up behind me announced “on your left”; I promptly jumped to my left, just like he’d said; if I’d realized what he’d meant, I would’ve moved over to the part of the sidewalk on my right; if he’d kept his mouth shut, I would’ve kept walking in a straight line and he would’ve had plenty of room to pass me; instead, we collided.
I always yell “on your left!” and see people jump, scramble, and scream. They do that too if I don’t yell, but this way it causes them to do it before I’m close enough for them to run into me.
A couple of months ago a friend and I had a paceline going and saw a couple of wobblers riding side by side and talking. We eased up a bit and as we got near, the one on the left turned around, made eye contact with me, and started easing to the right. As we started to overtake, he came back to the left and I yelled “ON YOUR LEFT!!” He kept on coming until we ran off the path and crashed in the grass. Well, I went over the bars, but he didn’t. I prefer to use the road. Multi-Use Trails are the devil.
Would it perhaps help to yell, “I’m passing on your left!”?
I started doing that, and yes, it does work a bit better. Though without the “I’m”. I think leading with a hard consonant (“Passing…”) is more clear and attention-getting than a soft vowel (“I’m” or “On”).
If I want to be really clear, I yell, “Bike on your left!”
There’s really only so many words you can get out before you reach the people you are passing and there is no assurance that they will understand any of it besides “left!”
::hijack:: that reminds me of when I order a hamburger with Only Pickles. Too often I get a hamburger with No Pickles, I think it’s cause Only sounds so close to No. So I have been starting to say “Hamburger, JUST pickles”. Then they repeat my order back to me: “Hamburger, ONLY Pickles” :smack: I understand that the little buttons have their names on the register, but the designers could have used words that were more different from each other so the workers would be slightly less easily confused than they currently are.
Well, I think we can agree on one thing–anybody wearing headphones on a crowded multi-use path (whether walking, jogging, or biking) should be hung upside down and beaten with truncheons until they beg for mercy.
It might be more fun to beat them with ear buds.
Well, I’ll wear them if I’m walking - otherwise I get bored out of my skull. But, being a bicyclist, when I walk the path I stick religiously to the right edge of the path (not just the right half, but the edge), I make frequent checks over my shoulder to look into the distance so I can spot approaching bicyclists, and when I’m ready to reverse direction I first step completely off the path, turn my whole body, and look for oncoming “traffic” before proceeding back the way I came.
Really, it’s all about being consciously aware of your surroundings. I suppose I have an advantage in that I went nearly 15 years without a driver’s license and got around on foot or on a bike. I learned to pay attention to everything was going on around me. I think the problem happens with path-walkers who have always traveled everywhere by car. Sure, you have to pay attention whey you’re driving, too, but it’s a different kind of awareness. On foot, you also have to be aware all the time that you aren’t surrounded by protective steel and that almost everything is moving much faster than you are.
The MUP near work is the only place for pedestrians on that side of the street, same with the MUP on the other side of the run. I’ve been known to yell “thanks” to the cyclists who warn me of their approach on the MUP.
I use a bell, and I swear, people instantly flinch to the right. I never have any problems, and rarely even have to say anything. Maybe we just don’t have as many dumb pedestrians here?
As one of those dim witted pedestrians AND abundantly enlightened bicyclists, I’ll add the following: However wise and anointed they may be, there’s no excuse to ever ride a bicycle on the sidewalk, nor should pedestrians stroll blithely along on bike paths.
This whole, “On your left,” “On your right,” business should only ever be encountered in the exceedingly rare instance where a path is clearly designated dual use.
Normally I agree with you, but…
On one of my routes, the best way from Point A to Point B heads almost directly west. Normally, this isn’t a problem. But around the solstice, the sun was DIRECTLY in the eyes of drivers along that route.
I’m a moderately experienced and moderately bold cyclist, but there is NO WAY I’m going to ride in the road with cars who wouldn’t be able to see me because of sun glare for a portion of this route. There is a sidewalk along there, but it’s hardly used at all. So when I had to ride that route with the sun in that position, I rode on the sidewalk.
(N.B. - AFAIK there is no law against riding on the sidewalk in my municipality.)
All of the bike paths in the greater Boston area are multi-use.
I have a bell on my bike and when I ring it, I expect it to mean keep moving in the direction your walking.
If I don’t have a bell, I shout out PASSING LEFT.
The simple rule is that if you are overtaking from behind then it is your responsibility to avoid the people in front of you.
No, pedestrians are not obliged to walk in a straight line (they might want to turn in to a shop, they might have dropped their glasses, etc).
Skiers understand this rule, I don’t know why bicyclists don’t.