I use a MUP to work everyday. I always ring my bell to alert them once I'm within 20-15 feet or so. And if they don't acknowledge by moving to the side, then they probably have headphones in and didn't hear me, and I'll ring again once I'm within 7 feet and slow down. Then I'll usually say "How's going?" or "Thank you" as I'm within ear shot.
I've used the same MUP as a runner on the weekend and felt some sort of way when a bike sped past me without warning. You don't really state how fast your ride, or how slow you slow down. Most bikers on the MUP ride around 15-20 mph, which is 3-4 times faster than a runner, and 5-10 times faster than a walker. Even if you slowed down to 10 mph, it's still pretty fast compared to someone who is walking. 3-5 feet when someone is going by that fast without warning can be pretty unnerving. Of course passing without warning is fine if there are no accidents, but it mostly benefits you as a rider and not the pedestrian. So that doesn't really acknowledge pedestrians having the right-of-way. You're right, it can be incredibly frustrating when pedestrians don't hear you or yell at you when you're trying to bike to work or go about your business and trying to do the right thing, and I've too questioned "what's the point?". I think more bicycle to pedestrian interactions can make the MUP a safer and bicycle-friendly path. It's hard enough getting paths to allow bikes to be ridden on it as is. On Tuesday, December 27, 2016 at 8:33:06 PM UTC-5, Tim wrote: > > Do you think it's ok, when riding on the path, if you can pass a > walker/runner/family, safely with 3 feet to spare, to go by without > warning? That means not saying "on your left" or something else, or not > ringing your bell if you have one. I ask because I was riding my Roadeo > today (50 degrees here in KC!) and it doesn't have a bell yet. A bell is my > much preferred method of warning that I'm there. But I find that many > people are startled by a bell just as much as "on your left." Or they have > earbuds in and don't here you. Also, my experience with "on your left" is > that 50% of the people who hear that, move to their left. I ALWAYS ride > with the knowledge that pedestrians have the right of way, NO MATTER WHAT. > I give a wide berth to others, really slow down when there's a family, and > try to smile and be friendly. But the more I think about it, it really > seems to me that a warning of any type only works with about half of the > people out there. On the other hand, I passed a woman one day without > warning her, she was on the far right and I was on the far left, at least 5 > feet away, and she was pretty nasty about letting me know she didn't like > it. So sometimes it seems like you just can't win. What do you all think? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
