Too many bicyclists don’t realize the bike paths are shared use lanes, and if someone is ahead of you using that lane, you either wait or go safely around them WITHOUT making a snide, entitled objection.
For example, a driver (me) keeping his door open for an extended period to safely take his disabled child out the traffic side doors (sidewalk side were blocked) is a first-come first-served shared use. But of course I had to hear some moron who sped passed me sarcastically say “nice door” (he was a safe distance from me when I opened it),
This reminds me of when smoking was legal on train platforms - until too many smokers deeply inhaled just before boarding and then exhaled on the train.
Privileges abused become privileges lost. The same fate may await bicyclists if they are not more mindful of others.
> Privileges abused become privileges lost.
Well put. Works for many, many things in life.
I ride on Greenways (not in traffic) and even I complain about a lot of cyclists. Some are rude, just like a lot of drivers. Most Greenways require you to use a bell or voice notification when coming up behind somebody. People walking always have the ROW. There have been times I was walking my dog and either I or my dog were nearly run over by a cyclist that came flying up behind us that we didn’t know was there. On the flip side though, when I was riding and used my voice or the bell, or both, walkers either ignored me or had ear-buds pushed in so far they couldn’t hear me. Don’t even get me started on rude dog walkers letting their dogs zigzag across the trail on 16’ flexi-leads. From where I’m looking, everybody is equally at fault most times.
Too many pedestrians are guilty of the same mindset: On the rail trail where I often walk, there are big signs that mark the far left and right lanes for pedestrians and the middle lanes for bicyclists, and yet every time I use the trail, I see pedestrians spread out five or six across so that the bicyclists in the center lane have to veer into the opposite pedestrian lane to get by the walkers, who seem oblivious to the "share the rail trail" ethos.
In all fairness, the bicyclists around town are also a-holes. I live in a community that is dominated by an uber-expensive, elite liberal arts college that has lots of bike riders. Apparently, mummy and daddy (or should I say the nanny they hired to raise their kids) never taught Biffy and Buffy that under state law, bicycles are supposed to follow the same rules of the road as motor vehicles, which means that riding a bicycle on the sidewalk or on the road against traffic is illegal. There have been too many times that I have stepped out on the sidewalk from a shop or restaurant and was almost run over by a bicyclist illegally riding on the sidewalk. As a result, I have become passive-aggressive and when a bicyclist rides towards me on the sidewalk, I not only refuse to get out of their way, but force them to stop to allow me to pass as I sometimes lecture them on the law.