Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

zero wrote:Pedestrians are going to walk side by side to have conversations on share paths. Its a far greater imposition on pedestrians to not walk side by side for their entire journey than it is for a cyclist to slow down and ask 2 or 3 pairs to make space during their journey.

i agree zero, but she's taking up more space than necessary to walk side-by-side. also she ignores my bell, which was rung with sufficient warning for her to comfortably make space. she had no intention of doing what you're suggesting.

i am happy to slow down for pedestrians and avoid squeezing them, whereas i regularly see cyclists fly between small gaps that would end in disaster if anyone moved slightly. i didn't extend her as much courtesy as i normally would in this instance, as she annoyed me, but that's an exception for me. i wouldn't an airzound on peds either, although it's tempting sometimes...

zero wrote:

crazyjose wrote:

jules21 wrote:this annoys me.

I used to get this when i took the long way along the riverpath along the Shoalhaven river with selfish old women not wanting to share the path with you (shared path) and they know your coming because
you see them turning their heads to see if your still coming. The Air Zounds horn fixes that though, and wayward riding mates...

Airzound totally inappropriate for share paths imo.

I use my AirZound on shared paths. It allows me to alert pedestrians from further away.

jules21 wrote:this annoys me.

I failed to see the bit where the peds were blocking the path?? I saw two peds walking on the left hand side of the path with the right hand side clear to overtake on. Is this a bike only path perhaps?

Ross wrote:I failed to see the bit where the peds were blocking the path?? I saw two peds walking on the left hand side of the path with the right hand side clear to overtake on. Is this a bike only path perhaps?

watch it again.. the RH side is not clear. there was room to pass, but if i was the ped, i'd appreciate a safer gap. upto her, though.

Just me but I'd hardly call that blocking the path. It might not have been ideal but was still plenty of room to slow down and pass safely on the right. If it was a cycle only path then that's another story.

bychosis wrote:You really have to wonder at some people. Went for a quick pedal before work today and saw a dumb jogger. Jogging on the road, on a roundabout, no shoulder lane, over the kerb from grassed park, 15 paces from a shared pathway along the foreshore. I didn't see where she ended up, but it looked like she was going to jog along the fogline past a row of parked cars. Also dressed in black, running with the traffic ie back to oncoming traffic.

So it wasn't a one off either, saw the same dumb, dressed in black jogger on the same route this morning. This morning watched her jogging along the fog line, between parked cars and traffic before the roundabout.

riders with helmet lights!!! I ride home on a shared path used by a lot of MTB'ers coming back from stromlo forrest park. One night this rider fixes me with his helmet light and I cannot see a thing. Car high beams have nothing on those MTB lights. There is no streetlighting so path is very dark. I figure I will slow down but aim for his light and them pass to the left of it when he gets close. Next thing I am on the ground after riding into a hole. He had seen me coming at him and gone bush to avoid me. Apologised but didn't dip his light. Hopefully his next victim won't ride into a fence.

bychosis wrote:

bychosis wrote:You really have to wonder at some people. Went for a quick pedal before work today and saw a dumb jogger. Jogging on the road, on a roundabout, no shoulder lane, over the kerb from grassed park, 15 paces from a shared pathway along the foreshore. I didn't see where she ended up, but it looked like she was going to jog along the fogline past a row of parked cars. Also dressed in black, running with the traffic ie back to oncoming traffic.

So it wasn't a one off either, saw the same dumb, dressed in black jogger on the same route this morning. This morning watched her jogging along the fog line, between parked cars and traffic before the roundabout.

time to stop in front of her. make her realise it's dangerous

jules21 wrote:

zero wrote:Pedestrians are going to walk side by side to have conversations on share paths. Its a far greater imposition on pedestrians to not walk side by side for their entire journey than it is for a cyclist to slow down and ask 2 or 3 pairs to make space during their journey.

i agree zero, but she's taking up more space than necessary to walk side-by-side. also she ignores my bell, which was rung with sufficient warning for her to comfortably make space. she had no intention of doing what you're suggesting.

i am happy to slow down for pedestrians and avoid squeezing them, whereas i regularly see cyclists fly between small gaps that would end in disaster if anyone moved slightly. i didn't extend her as much courtesy as i normally would in this instance, as she annoyed me, but that's an exception for me. i wouldn't an airzound on peds either, although it's tempting sometimes...

In addition to the well known "The rider of a bicycle riding on a footpath or shared path must give way to any pedestrian on the footpath or shared path."...

Rule 236 (NSW) wrote:1 - A pedestrian must not cause a traffic hazard by moving into the path of a driver.
2 - A pedestrian must not unreasonably obstruct the path of any driver or another pedestrian.

(Note - in the legislation, driver includes rider)

My reading is that pedestrians are OK to stand side by side and talk (reasonable) but are obliged to provide a clear path for cyclists (unreasonable to stubbornly block the path). Cyclists need to approach carefully, politely announce their approach (bell, etc) and wait for the pedestrians to let them past. However, should the pedestrians refuse to allow the cyclist to pass then they are technically in the wrong, but the cyclist is still legally required to give way to them.

There's also nearly always a way to resolve these situations in a civil way (i.e. without abuse or using the AirZound in an aggressive way), even if it is a little slower getting past.

jules21 wrote:this annoys me.

Jules, if this is worth you noting and posting I reckon you must have the clearest run on the planet. Thin paths, peds side by side. Quite normal, perfectly acceptable. Never gonna change.

Yes, I suppose they could walk single file everywhere they go. But that imposition is far greater on them than the imposition that walking as they do is on you.

imo.

I have a similar regular occurrence while tootling around the lake. I regularly have to go bush to avoid a particular group of 3 mothers (walking 3 abreast, totally occupying a path that's probably over 2mt wide) pushing strollers who blatantly ignore me, regardless of bell, or verbal requests. There is no danger, as I rarely go faster than 10-15 kph on the path, but it is bloody rude. l often feel like be parking my trike across their path, and making them go bush. I bet they'd acknowledge me then. However, while it annoys me briefly, the aggro actually doing so would cause has not yet been worth killing the good mood the rest of the ride gives me.

Dent.

I swear that I had not read Zero's following post before mine. I think we must be siamese twins Zero joined at the brain stem in a parallel universe.

Silly cyclist today is me!

Stupid woman decided that she would overtake me despite the fact I was doing the posted speed limit (40kmph). So I got down into the drops and sped up as she tried to overtake, pretty stupid of me but it felt good when she had to slow down and pull back in behind me . I was hoping she'd follow me to the next set of lights so I could give her a earful if they were red.

the road rules actually prohibit speeding up when being overtaken

jules21 wrote:the road rules actually prohibit speeding up when being overtaken

well he did dob himself in as the dumb cyclist...

It was dumb of me. I get angry at car drivers who feel the need to over take when I'm travelling at the speed limit .

wizardhat wrote:It was dumb of me. I get angry at car drivers who feel the need to over take when I'm travelling at the speed limit .

Take comfort in the fact that you're not the only cyclist who finds it annoying: I do, too. For some stupid reason, a lot of motorists see a cyclist in front of them, and their instant reaction is to overtake the cyclist as soon as possible, regardless of the consequences and whether or not it's safe to overtake. But I guess that belongs in the 'Idiot motorists' threads, doesn't it?

Guys - it's not just cyclists.

And while some of it may be because they anticipate a slower vehicle, it can also be that they prefer to take out what is not such a common vehicle that acts and reacts a little differently.

But in general we ALL ge passed on a regular basis even when we are at the speed limit when we are in cars. It is not all about cyclists.

London to a brick that you have all done it to a bus or a truck or an L-plater. Indeed I used to try and do the same with buses on the way home along Canning Highway. And I was RIDING! Just so we didn't both play leap frog all the way home.

Get over it guys. Don't take it personally. Most times it is not all about you being a cyclist.

I do however see much to complain of when drivers pass you then turn left across you to exit the road.

You have to take into account (with cars, anyway) the perceived speed and actual speed. I know that my car speedo is about 4km/h shy of my actual speed, so I often drive where it sits at 64 because I know I won't get booked for it as I'm still doing the legal limit. But I might pass someone on the way who sees 59 on their speedo and is actually doing something like 54-55. Two people supposedly doing the limit but one will pass the other. Just happens.

DentedHead wrote:I have a similar regular occurrence while tootling around the lake. I regularly have to go bush to avoid a particular group of 3 mothers (walking 3 abreast, totally occupying a path that's probably over 2mt wide) pushing strollers who blatantly ignore me, regardless of bell, or verbal requests. There is no danger, as I rarely go faster than 10-15 kph on the path, but it is bloody rude. l often feel like be parking my trike across their path, and making them go bush. I bet they'd acknowledge me then. However, while it annoys me briefly, the aggro actually doing so would cause has not yet been worth killing the good mood the rest of the ride gives me.

Dent.

Ah yes, I've had the pram-pushers going very boldly side-by-side, even when they could see others coming towards them. They'll make others go off the path (even other pedestrians), rather than going single-file for a short period of time. They look, roll the eyes and don't care.

It happens, nothing much you can do about it - just stay upright and keep on going. It's only a momentary interruption.

g-boaf wrote:Ah yes, I've had the pram-pushers going very boldly side-by-side, even when they could see others coming towards them. They'll make others go off the path (even other pedestrians), rather than going single-file for a short period of time. They look, roll the eyes and don't care.

It happens, nothing much you can do about it - just stay upright and keep on going. It's only a momentary interruption.

make lots of noise and wake their kids up

jules21 wrote:

g-boaf wrote:Ah yes, I've had the pram-pushers going very boldly side-by-side, even when they could see others coming towards them. They'll make others go off the path (even other pedestrians), rather than going single-file for a short period of time. They look, roll the eyes and don't care.

It happens, nothing much you can do about it - just stay upright and keep on going. It's only a momentary interruption.

make lots of noise and wake their kids up

Air Zound them at 20 paces? Ooh, that'd be mean.

g-boaf wrote:

DentedHead wrote:I have a similar regular occurrence while tootling around the lake. I regularly have to go bush to avoid a particular group of 3 mothers (walking 3 abreast, totally occupying a path that's probably over 2mt wide) pushing strollers who blatantly ignore me, regardless of bell, or verbal requests. There is no danger, as I rarely go faster than 10-15 kph on the path, but it is bloody rude. l often feel like be parking my trike across their path, and making them go bush. I bet they'd acknowledge me then. However, while it annoys me briefly, the aggro actually doing so would cause has not yet been worth killing the good mood the rest of the ride gives me.

Dent.

Ah yes, I've had the pram-pushers going very boldly side-by-side, even when they could see others coming towards them. They'll make others go off the path (even other pedestrians), rather than going single-file for a short period of time. They look, roll the eyes and don't care.

It happens, nothing much you can do about it - just stay upright and keep on going. It's only a momentary interruption.

If that happened to me in my trike. On go brakes sit in their path and if they start to go off at me, I would just simply grab a muesli bar and start eating it. Still there, well unclip and just settle back and wait haha. I've got a lounge chair and I'm going to use it

Had to drop my daughter off somewhere today, so was in my neighbourhood around 2pm.

There's a guy riding on the road with a baby seat on the back (unoccupied), but towing a trailer complete with a baby. No helmets, no flags, no flashing lights. The baby also had no sunnies or hat or covering, and UV was rated "extreme" today. The road he is on is a two-lanes-each way, 70kph on a long sweeping left-hand corner, so he's not visible until a car (and quite often semi-trailer) is quite close. I myself won't ride on this sucker, it's suicidal in my opinion. Not 50 metres from where this guy was riding... last year, the neighbours 18yr old daughter wrote off their car by putting it under another car which had slowed to take a side road.

I know the probability of something bad happening is actually quite low, but why the hell would you take the chance with your child? Why would you trust that all other road users are being observant on the day?

I was the dumb cyclist today. Took the old mountain bike over my shiny new commuter for nostalgic reasons. Why would I do that?