Comment by jwr
11 hours ago
> A horn or bell is mostly for telling other people "hey I'm here, stay out of my way and dont suddenly cross into my path"
This. I only use the bell on bike paths, too. Sometimes it feels like a game of pac-man, where baddies will wander into my path from all directions and in all kinds of ways. Cars doing a right turn, zombies staring into phones, people walking backwards (!), zombies staring into phones walking backwards, it doesn't end.
The ultimate cyclist killer: those stupid extending dog leashes.
Back when I roller skated, the ultimate question: you see a person and a dog, several meters apart. Is there a leash between them? :-)
Oof. If yes, you might be about to get nailed. If no, will the dog run after me and bite me?
I’ve had a dog on my heels doing doing 40kmh.
They were at my heel, past the back of my rear tyre. I was briefly a competitive sprint cyclist.
That is an issue on bike paths that are build inside a sidewalk, the cycling path is usually build using a smoother surface than the one designed for pedestrians. Plus it sometimes has a brighter paint.
I am pretty sure most people don't realize it but they are inconciously attracted to it. It just feels better walking on it.
No, every bike path in a city inevitably has crossings or is laid out next to a sidewalk. People just do their random-walk thing (Brownian motion, really, sometimes) and wander into the bike path.
Sometimes you clearly see more people on the bike paths than on the regular sidewalks. And I definitely attribute that to its smoother nature compared to the fake cobbles you have in many places, amplifyied if there is a baby stroller in the mix.
That's an issue on any bike path in the US, even if it's a fire road in the middle of nowhere. I bet there are people walking their dogs or checking Instagram on the single track course that is used for the Red Bull Rampage.
Yeah, it happens on sidewalks, bike trails, mixed use trails, and dedicated bike lanes. If anything, dedicated bike lanes are the worst because they get errant pedestrians and cars.