shared use

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nez
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shared use

Post by nez »

What is it with dog owners?

Cycling along a shared use path on Saturday I spy a man, a woman and a not-quiet-spaniel dog. The man and woman take up position on one side of the path, the dog on the other. I slow since you can never quite tell if the dog isn't still attached to the owner via one of those ultra thin leashes. The owner waits until I am a meter or two away then - in what I can only think is a surfeit of safety consciousness - calls the dog, who obediently runs under my wheels. So now I'm on the ground with grazes to my knee and elbow, the dog is crying from having been hammered in the ribs by my wheel and the owner is mortified.

What is it with parents?

On the way home (same path!) I'm berated for sounding my bell by a man who has four uncontrolled, unattended and inattentive small children wandering over the path right next to the 'shared use' sign. Apparently he thinks he doesn't have to pay attention to them and I should just take a chance on threading my way through them.

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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: shared use

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Yep...........and some of them drive too :evil:

When.................. someone comes up with an answer they will mint it.................

I would never let anything metal moving get between me and my dogs, I can only guess that they don't luv them that much.

Happened to me last week in the dark, I narrowly missed the dog.
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pwa
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Re: shared use

Post by pwa »

It's just people for you. Can't rely on em. Like with sheep, don't assume common sense is actively working.
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Lance Dopestrong
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Re: shared use

Post by Lance Dopestrong »

Wouldn't it be a shame if in your efforts to avoid hurting their poorly controlled dog you actually rode into them instead?
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kwackers
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Re: shared use

Post by kwackers »

I've posted this before:

I was once cycling along through the local park, it was dusk and there was a woman walking towards me but on the grass to my left, to my right of the path where bushes.
Being considerate I slowed and moved over to the bushes to give her plenty of space.

Then at the last second I saw the lead stretched all the way across the path and into the bushes, I slammed on but didn't stop in time, the lead caught the bike and one of those tiny crap dogs got yanked out of the bushes yelping in surprise.
Dog was OK but she didn't half give me a dirty look - the fact she could see me for several hundred yards and didn't think to bring her dog to her or at least go over to it was beside the point. She even muttered something about going too fast.

As for shared paths, sometime you simply have to slow to a walking pace. Not great if you want to get anywhere but such is life. I only use them if they represent a genuine short cut or a more pleasant journey.
What I've never figured out is why the pedestrians always walk on the bike side (if they're split).
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mjr
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Re: shared use

Post by mjr »

nez dans le guidon wrote:What is it with dog owners?

Some are incompetent and let their animals run amok across the highway. They do it on country roads as well as cycleways so there's no escape. Sadly http://highwaycode.info/rule/56 is not totally backed by law (so not a MUST).
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mjr
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Re: shared use

Post by mjr »

kwackers wrote:What I've never figured out is why the pedestrians always walk on the bike side (if they're split).

Sometimes design leads them to, but sometimes it's for no reason more than because they can. For that reason, any cycleway must be wide enough for cyclists to pass walkists, even if there's a footway alongside. There are very few unshared cycleways - or carriageways for that matter, but legalised motorised terrorism discourages most from walking on them if there's any alternative.
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Cunobelin
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Re: shared use

Post by Cunobelin »

Locally, they use a mix of orders that are enfoced.

Cyclepaths have been designated and it is illegal to have a dog on one withoit a lead, there ae rstrictions on lead length and also you cna be fined for walking more than 4 dogs.
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Cugel
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Re: shared use

Post by Cugel »

Cunobelin wrote:Locally, they use a mix of orders that are enfoced.

Cyclepaths have been designated and it is illegal to have a dog on one withoit a lead, there ae rstrictions on lead length and also you cna be fined for walking more than 4 dogs.


A silly situation requiring oodles of tedious laws, all caused by the imposition of the "cycling infrastructure" which some fool thinks will also mix with the pedestrian infrastructure. There's been a law about not cycling on pavements for decades, for obvious reasons. Why invite the well-known problems of cyclist + walker mix by the introduction of these foolish shared paths?

That's a rhetorical question as the answer is well-known. It's to shovel-off the 3rd class citizens (pedestriansd and cyclists) out of the way of the 1st classers in their cars. The 3rd classers can all be shoved on to a cheap bit of tarmac and told to behave unnaturally. Keep that baby on a lead! No more than two children and no running about to play!

Of course, pedestrians and their children, dogs and hobbling grannies may be punished willy-nilly for being in the way of Strava-striving cyclists achieving an important KoM down the footpath. The cyclists thus become 2nd class citizens atween the 1st classers and the 3rd classers. Great!

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mjr
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Re: shared use

Post by mjr »

And thus the siren song of the anti-infrastructuralist spreads to a third measure. Rise up(!) Throw off your shackles(!) Ignore that motorists get motorways and insist that cycling must never have cycleways(!) :roll:
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nez
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Re: shared use

Post by nez »

Well as you all probably guessed, I was venting. My knee hurts
nez
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Re: shared use

Post by nez »

Cunobelin wrote:Locally, they use a mix of orders that are enfoced.

Cyclepaths have been designated and it is illegal to have a dog on one withoit a lead, there ae rstrictions on lead length and also you cna be fined for walking more than 4 dogs.


but what about the mixed use thing? You know a blue sign with people on one side and a bike on the other. 'Mixed use' sounds like someone wants to evade responsibility. Since police don't attend thefts and attempted burglaries around here 'enforcement' is a pipe dream
johncarnie
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Re: shared use

Post by johncarnie »

On the other hand! Wife and I were walking down narrow shared path when what I assume were 2 families (I think a total of 9) came barrelling up behind us - no bells, no thankyou's when we moved aside - but the worst was, one of the fathers was leading a dog on a lead whilst cycling one-handed! But then, on a shared path always expect the unexpected!
Cyril Haearn
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Re: shared use

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Walking (running) a dog when cycling, how stupid can one be?
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Lance Dopestrong
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Re: shared use

Post by Lance Dopestrong »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Walking (running) a dog when cycling, how stupid can one be?


I dunno. A cycling dog seems pretty clever to me.
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