Cycle Paths

Hi all.I don't know about anyone else but I refuse to use shared cycle paths and would sooner use the road and I guess its the same everywhere because most of the people have headphones in/on there ears !!!! I even bought a electric horn 120 decibels and they still don't or wont hear it but the Spanish have much better ideas as you can see from the pic and this is from a Country that is broke !!!!!!.

Regards Steve c

Fully agree here.. You don't Want to be using the same path as small children.. Recipe for disaster.... The Spanish cycle lanes are first class.... Except when drunken brits decide to wander across without looking..

I even bought a electric horn 120 decibels and they still don't or wont hear

I had an electronic horn and also found it ineffective so I brought a louder one, again, it was ignored

I then noticed there was some little reaction from the footpads but it was more confusion than recognising an on coming bike.

I have recently spent big (£1.49) on an old fashioned bell (ring ring, ring ring) not as loud as the electronic horn but when heard, people know what to look out for.

The path in the pic looks well, but I see the cars are parked to the left so no doubt everyone wanders across it to get to the promenade on the right.

There are loads of shared paths in Brighton, the council call them pavements.

Some of the have a bit of paint added to make people follow them but thy are still pavements.

I regularly ride on shared paths. I find that even when there are markings to show which half pedestrians use, they still walk on the bike bit all the time, or wander into it at random. Traditional bells are probably the best, especially to warn older people. There are kids around today who have never heard a traditional bell, and are unaware what it means, even if they can hear it despite their earphones.

 

I feel that it is important to avoid using any warning instrument aggressively, as it can upset people. I chose a large two tone "Ding Dong" bell, because it is loud. I give a first warning when i am still 100 yards away. If there is no reaction, it is repeated at 50 yards, and ten yards.

 

In spite of this, I still had a guy step in front of me. He said he had heard the bell, but "Thought it was somebody`s doorbell". The nearest house was a couple of miles away.

 

My pet hate is extending dog leads. Dog and owner are separated by five metres. Invariably, the dog is one side of the path, and the owner the other. Just what is the supposed advantage of these leads?

My pet hate is extending dog leads. Dog and owner are separated by five metres. Invariably, the dog is one side of the path, and the owner the other. Just what is the supposed advantage of these leads?

Came round a blind corner on a shared trail recently to be confronted by a damn great dog separated from its owner by 15ft. Of cord:

Said owner got quite stroppy when I went to manoever round her pooch & expected me to wait while she wound him in.

 

Unusual for down here - I usually find peds & pets much more amenable. Mind you; it was near St. Dennis

Shared paths can be hard work.

 

I have been one of those annoying pedestrians who wander absent mindedly into the bike part, so I'm not going to moan about that.

 

Extending dog leads are a nuisance, I'm guessing the owner thinks his dog is getting proper exercise while still allowing him to claim it's on a lead.

 

I've seen a cyclist with a dog on an extending lead tied to the back of the bike - worst of all worlds.

the Spanish have much better ideas as you can see from the pic and this is from a Country that is broke !!!!!!

 

Perhaps that's why they are broke.

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The highway code advises you not to use cycle paths if you go over a certain speed (can't remember what it is), so you probably shouldn't be using them anyway unless you want to. I found that the only warning for pedestrians that works is the "bring bring" traditional ones if you can find a metal one. The plastic ones break straight away.

 

I was going down a steep cyclepath one day where there's a raised curb up to the pedestrian side. The overgrown undergrowth at the other side made it too narrow to pass anyone. There was a lone pedestrian walking down on the cycle side wearing headphones. I stopped behind him and was shouting at him to get out of the way, but he couldn't hear me. Finally, I had to shake him, which made him jump.

 

This warm weather has brought all the pedestrians out into the town park. You get them in groups of up to about 10 occupying both sides of the shared and marked cycle path. If you sound a bell or shout, they just shout back that you shouldn't be riding on the footpath even though they're standing on a bicycle symbol. To me, these paths are more hassle and dangerous than the road, so I avoid them where I can.

To me, these paths are more hassle and dangerous than the road, so I avoid them where I can

I can see both sides of this discussion as a lot of paths a badly laid out with no continuity, twisting & turning, some even take me up a side street before crossing a junction !

As I drive to work at 5.30 most mornings the cycle paths are clear but I am regularly held up by the same cyclist struggling up the same hill (40mph limit) while both sides of the road are cycle paths and clear of footpads.

I've recently seen that just about halfway up, when it's just to much for him, he gets off the bike and then pushes for the rest of the hill along the cycle path.

This is one guy who's loss I won't mourn, he also likes to cycle in black ( even in the winter )

For the most part, I avoid cycle paths. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, they're often badly pot-holed or otherwise uneven due to poor maintenance, and are far more likely to have broken glass and other detritus of the kind that causes punctures.

 

If I happen to delay a few motorists by a few seconds while they're waiting to overtake, well, tough.

I think the main issue here is not cycle paths but shared paths, which are a bit new in my area. They meander around bus stops, trees and other obstacles, they cross Road junctions where cars are not expecting cyclists to pop out unannounced so all in all not a place I want to be.

I get my old age pension this year!!! 7 Months to go!! Yipee

 

The best time of your life coming up Phil, enjoy!

 

I retired early 24 years ago and the only thing I'd change is to have retired at least a decade earlier.

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I think if a cyclist uses a shared pavement, they should be prepared to travel at walking pace now and then. It is after all a pavement. I have had many occasions where I didn't want to startle a pedestrian so I just hang back. Strangely, headphones or not they eventually sense you are there, turn around and step out of the way.

The best time of your life coming up Phil, enjoy!

 

I retired early 24 years ago and the only thing I'd change is to have retired at least a decade earlier.

.

Ah yes, I retired 5 years ago deciding that the money I have would be better spent enjoying life while I can.... Hope I can get to your age in one piece...... however old that might be.....

Said owner got quite stroppy when I went to manoever round her pooch & expected me to wait while she wound him in.

 

 

If you'd just waited the few seconds it takes to rein the dog in there would have been no unpleasantness.

I think if a cyclist uses a shared pavement, they should be prepared to travel at walking pace now and then. It is after all a pavement. I have had many occasions where I didn't want to startle a pedestrian so I just hang back. Strangely, headphones or not they eventually sense you are there, turn around and step out of the way.

 

Totally agree, I'm always happy to slowly pass at a walking pace, with a smile for the pedestrian(s) and a thank you if they've stepped aside for me. That often gets just as pleasant a response.

 

Patience is better than conflict, and of course that goes for all road users and usage as well.

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I think if a cyclist uses a shared pavement, they should be prepared to travel at walking pace now and then.

 

That's true, but it's also a good reason to avoid shared paths.

I think if a cyclist uses a shared pavement, they should be prepared to travel at walking pace now and then. It is after all a pavement. I have had many occasions where I didn't want to startle a pedestrian so I just hang back. Strangely, headphones or not they eventually sense you are there, turn around and step out of the way.

I don't know about OP, but I'm talking about the cycle paths that run alongside footpaths with signs and markings that show segregation of pedestrians and cyclists like this:

 

http://www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Cylepath-footpath-300x300.png

 

http://www.camcycle.org.uk/newsletters/70/images/facility-0605.jpg

 

Not like this where you expect pedestrians to be anywhere on it, so you have to make concessions regarding speed etc:

 

http://www.guildford-dragon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Cycle-ways-cropped-2012-09-19-15.50.38-768x1024.jpg

 

http://midsuffolk.greenparty.org.uk/assets/images/local_parties/midsuffolk/NewsIcons/Shared%20Use%20Sign.png

 

Telford is full of the first type, but pedestrians shout at you when you use the marked cycle side. They have similar ones in Germany, but if a pedestrian puts one foot on the cycle side, he/she'll be swiftly dealt with. The problem is that there's not enough cyclists in Telford, so the pedestrians have got used to occupying the cycle paths. When I ride through the town park, nearly every pedestrian is on the cycle side for some reason, and the pedestrian side is always clear. There's sometimes small raised curbs between the two sides, so it's not possible to change sides to get past the pedestrians. One time in the wet, I tried, and even though the curb was nearly flush, my wheel bounced off it nearly causing me to crash.

I don't know about OP, but I'm talking about the cycle paths that run alongside footpaths with signs and markings that show segregation of pedestrians and cyclists like this:

 

http://www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Cylepath-footpath-300x300.png

 

http://www.camcycle.org.uk/newsletters/70/images/facility-0605.jpg

 

True, they are almost always a problem. I get the impression that if it's not the road, pedestrians regard everywhere as theirs. It doesn't help that many of these "segregated" paths have been created by taking from what was pavement.

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The phrase "do unto others" comes to mind! I often walk on the canal towpath and there is nothing more annoying than a group of bikers bombing on as fast as they can expecting pedestrians to immediately get out of the way... On one occasion I was shouted at "look out, strava coming through". But when cycling on there I ring the bell and slow to a walking pace, and if still not acknowledged I call out hello! Bike behind you! Anyone with any doubt about how to behave on a shared path should walk it and see what pedestrians have to put up with. There is always more than one point of view!

And herein lies the problem. It's not exactly fair on the pedestrians, who are at just as much risk from cars and cyclists are.

 

In the Netherlands, they take typically space away from the roads, not the footpath, in order to create safe cycling spaces. Narrow roads become single-track for cars, forcing them to slow down and take more care:

 

http://wiki.coe.neu.edu/groups/nl2011transpo/wiki/e2b66/images/__thumbs__/0b248.JPG

Strangely, headphones or not they eventually sense you are there, turn around and step out of the way.

 

What????

 

I find the exact opposite. There's a sort of field around me that causes pedestrians to suddenly change direction and veer into my path. The nearer they are to me, the stronger the field, so the faster the change of direction.

 

It's the same for cyclists that I'm trying to overtake. They're just cruising along in a straight line, but exactly when I get to the point of no-return, they suddenly change direction for no explicable reason, and always into my path - never the other way. Please don't say "ring your bell or sound a horn". That's absolutely fatal. They start to move out the way, so I start my overtake, when suddenly, they panic and decide that they want to be on the other side of the path, so they veer across when it's too late.

 

It's the same with pedestrians, especially when there's several of them. You ring the bell as you slow down. If your lucky, one of them will hear it and tells the others, so they spread out to the verges either side of the path. You say "thanks" and start to go through the gap, when, suddenly, one of them decides that they want to be on the other side. I don't know how many near misses I've had like that.

What????

 

I find the exact opposite. There's a sort of field around me that causes pedestrians to suddenly change direction and veer into my path. The nearer they are to me, the stronger the field, so the faster the change of direction.

 

It's the same for cyclists that I'm trying to overtake. They're just cruising along in a straight line, but exactly when I get to the point of no-return, they suddenly change direction for no explicable reason, and always into my path - never the other way. Please don't say "ring your bell or sound a horn". That's absolutely fatal. They start to move out the way, so I start my overtake, when suddenly, they panic and decide that they want to be on the other side of the path, so they veer across when it's too late.

 

It's the same with pedestrians, especially when there's several of them. You ring the bell as you slow down. If your lucky, one of them will hear it and tells the others, so they spread out to the verges either side of the path. You say "thanks" and start to go through the gap, when, suddenly, one of them decides that they want to be on the other side. I don't know how many near misses I've had like that.

You must have some interesting rides and I suppose there are only a limited number of near misses before.......

My bit of towpath is only 4 foot wide so a near miss may end up in the water so I call out as I pass cyclists "coming by on your right" or left as the case may be. My only not a near miss was when duck decided to run the gauntlet getting stuck under my front wheel! I slithered to a stop with it wedged under the wheel then unbelievable as it may seem it extricated itself, quacked at me in disgust and jumped back in the water. At least ducks don't bite your ankles!