BL******* extendable dog leads

[MikeF]

PLEASE can anyone tell me if any petitions have ever been done to BAN moron dog owners on cycle paths using those extending dog leads

Thanks

Why are dog owners on cycle paths?? I suspect you mean "shared use path" which isn't an exclusive cycle path. The trouble with shared paths is there is never ending conflict - just like roads really. A petition for more cycleways would be more productive, but even then pedestrians would have priority - just like roads really.

However I was riding on a quiet road recently and near ran into an extending dog lead, because, to me, the light made it invisible even though I could see the dog and the woman. I only realised it was there when the woman called out.

We had a dog many years ago and we had an extending lead. The problem is not so much with the leads but people not understanding how to use them. It is possible to shorten them fairly rapidly, and many people don't seem to know how to. Of course if you were approaching without warning then you are also to blame as a moron cyclist - never ending conflict.

[pwa]

On shared use paths you have to expect other users to be doing things that mean you have to slow down and take care. For pedestrians, including dog walkers, these paths are a refuge where you don't have to worry about traffic. People walking on them are more relaxed, perhaps a little too much so at times. But on the shared use paths I know best, mainly converted rail lines, the pedestrians outnumber cyclists by three or four to one. As far as I can tell there is a culture of tolerance.

Extending dog leads are popular because they allow a dog walker to give their dog a bit more freedom where conditions allow. As someone who likes dogs I think that is a good thing, so long as you do it responsibly. That is the issue. Clearly, if you are on a shared use path or a lane where you can reasonably expect a cyclist to appear around the next corner, or behind you, you should be careful about extending the lead.

There is nothing wrong with extending leads in themselves, just the way some people use them.

[softlips]

I've stopped using shared paths after going around a blind bend on one to find someone changing a baby's nappy on the floor. They thought it was funny, it was anything but.

[jeremy1]

I don't know, but I'd sign one to ban them in any public place. I bet they have caused many falls of elderly people, as well as cyclists. We know some cyclists have been killed by them.

How did someone die?

And you say "cyclists" emphasis on the "s". How common is this?

Several anecdotes speak to a much larger issue. Could mean a trend. Maybe just in your area, but still.

It may be worth raising general awareness on.

SEE

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -lead.html

[jeremy1]

Not just cycle paths, " I very nearly " .....

Which means nothing adverse happened to you ... which is good.

When i see dog owners with an extending lead on a shared use path i slow down, attract their attention, and pass safely....you could always stop ...it's not fatal ....
Of course if they are walking their dog on an exclusive, cycle only path thats different.

You can NOT stop or bring it to their attention when idiot irresponsible owners let the dog just RUN to the length of the lead when you are passing, it is too late. I have personally almost come off, dragging the dog howling.

[jeremy1]

I don't know, but I'd sign one to ban them in any public place. I bet they have caused many falls of elderly people, as well as cyclists. We know some cyclists have been killed by them.

As above, I'd love to see some evidence of these deaths and injuries.

Whilst I agree that some dog owners should be hung by the ears due to sheer stupidity, equ

You obviously don't look

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -lead.html

[Vantage]

Indeed I didn't look. Thanks for the link. But the lady with the dog was not in fact a dog owner and apparently had no experience of extendible leads or the unpredictability of dogs. The victim himself said the lady was not at fault.
I have to wonder how fast the cyclist in the link was travelling in order to tangle the lead so much that his bike stopped in a way to cause those injuries.
According to the victim,

"I can't quite believe that all of this has been caused by someone who could not control their dog or be aware of their surroundings."

Swap the word dog for bike and you have the answer. They're called brakes. It's called slowing to a safe speed. It's called knowing dogs can be stupid beyond the owners control and covering said brakes just in case. I figured this one out even before I had a dog.
Myself and others on this forum and other forums have said countless times on countless similar threads that we as cyclists have a duty to ride safely. Just as we expect motorists to drive safely.
Maybe there should be a ban on idiots who can't ride and crash into things. There seems to plenty about.

[jeremy1]

if the dog runs directly in front of you and you DO NOT have time there is nothing you can do. READ the comment I posted about the chap who received compensation.


YOU CAN'T SEE THE B*************** LEADS

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liv ... e-10456283

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAzTNRQVa1o

DOG OWNERS FAULT NOT CYCLISTS

[661-Pete]

Well. There are three dog-owning families amongst my, and Mrs P's, relatives: my sister, and my wife's two brothers. None of them, to my knowledge, ever uses an extending lead.

So: if three households can manage without, perhaps others can too? After all these things weren't in existence a generation ago. Plenty of dogs around back then, all being given decent opportunities for 'walkies', no problems (apart from the **** in the streets, but that's another story).

It seems to me that extending leads give the dog-walker an excuse to be a wee bit lazy? Allows the dog to have a good energetic run-around without the owner needing to exert themself too much? Disagree if you must! When my sister and b-i-l decided to get themselves a dog, it was in order to boost their exercise regime after my b-i-l had suffered a minor cardiac episode. In the 20 or so years since, he's done well: same age as me and visibly a lot fitter...

As to extendible leads being a menace to cyclists - well I've not had any 'incidents' yet. I generally spot them in time. But I do sometimes have to use the brakes. And if I see a dog ahead, I always assume the worst.

So my view is: no. Not a great idea.

[Vantage]

if the dog runs directly in front of you and you DO NOT have time there is nothing you can do. READ the comment I posted about the chap who received compensation.

YOU CAN'T SEE THE B*************** LEADS

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liv ... e-10456283

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAzTNRQVa1o

DOG OWNERS FAULT NOT CYCLISTS

I watched the echo link. I saw no accidents, deaths or injuries to anyone. I DID see the handle of the extendible lead in the lady's hand. Although that may well be because I was looking for an 'invisible lead'.
I watched the youtube vid too. Dunno about you, but the cyclist travelling at some speed didn't appear to slow down. At all. From the comments section, a few other folk also noted the speed he was doing. Failure to ring his bell on such a narrow path also goes against him.
Given the width of that path in the last vid, my standard lead would have had the dog in front of the cyclist also, so not strictly an extendible lead fault.

Feel free to dig up more vids that I can nit pick.

[Bonefishblues]

Anyhow, I was driving along the other day, and do you know what, a STUPID CYCLIST done a stupid thing what was to turn in front of me and what was completely unexpected and I hadn't slowed down and so there was no option but to run him over. Silly cyclist, shouldn't be on them there roads - I mean who had the stupid idea to make roads shared use?

...by the same logic

[axel_knutt]

Not just cycle paths, I very nearly was had by one stretched right across a public road. I was rolling downhill at a fair lick and in front on my left is a car in a layby and a woman talking to the driver, not much problem, so I thought but just as I got near the car realised that the woman was holding a dog lead and the dog was invisible in the undergrowth on the opposite side of the road with the dog lead stretched right across the road at wheelhub height. I managed to slither to a halt with my front wheel resting on the dog lead, without coming off. The worst of it was that the blasted dog owner thought it was funny, I soon disabused her of that idea.

I've had much the same thing. I came round a bend to find a pedestrian facing me on my side of the road, and as soon as he saw me he dived headlong out into the road in front of me. I looked over my shoulder as I passed, and saw he had a dog on the other side of the road with an extending lead stretched from one side to the other.

[ChrisOntLancs]

I've stopped using shared paths after going around a blind bend on one to find someone changing a baby's nappy on the floor. They thought it was funny, it was anything but.

i'm of the same attitude really, give me a choice between a shared use path and a road and i'm likely to pick the road.

they're a nice idea, but it's just not going to work. pedestrians shouldn't have to worry about stuff like this, and the only reason they do is because we've been forced into their space... and whats more, cyclists didn't set out to travel at safety speed.

on farm roads.... it's rarely an issue. i'm a dog lover myself (though no friends at the moment ) so i sort of know how they think. it's not just common, it's inevitable, that a person will be at one side and the dog as far as they can possibly get. i've never had a problem asking the person if i can squeeze up on the other side, and i prefer for them to give me as little space as possible, because if they go too far the dog will only trade places

it is a bit rubbish, having to stop and start, but i expect the same of motorists when i'm on the road. it might do their head in, at a junction, when i'm cycling past, and they may have had a window if i was in a car. for the most part though, they respect my right to be on the road

[[XAP]Bob]

My point was that the dog lead was stretched across a public road, not a cyclepath and I only just managed to do an emergency stop, in less light I wouldn't have seen it at all.

You'd have been going slower though - since you wouldn't have been able to see as far...

[rfryer]

For those who can't appreciate why an extendable lead might be desirable, I find that a key benefit is that the mutt is able to run ahead, sniff things while I walk past, then come past and repeat. For a dog that is obsessed by sniffing, this can make a walk bearable in places when it is inappropriate to let him off the lead.

But, as others have said, the owner does need to stay vigilant; the longer the lead, the greater the opportunity for chaos. In my view, problems caused by these leads are entirely the responsibility of the owner. Saying they should be banned is not unlike calling for bikes to be banned because some riders are idiots and hit pedestrians.