Announcing your passes – a walker’s observation

[bikesnick]

@KLizotte 54055 wrote:

Last night on two separate occasions peds apologized to me as I went by because they thought I was dinging them for getting in the way (I was merely announcing my presence and there was plenty of room for me to pass). I felt bad about it and hope they quickly figured out what “dinging” means. A couple of weeks ago on another MUP a woman started screaming at me when I dinged because she had a dog unleashed and was walking near the yellow line. Again, I was merely announcing my intention to pass (nicely). She started screaming that “she could hear me”.

I have found that greeting the ped (hello, good morning, etc.) can be calming.

[dbb]

All,

I posted the original doc not in an attempt to re-litigate the issue but as an attempt to share the note that was received by the county. I’d like to believe that some trail users can be educated. To that end, Dasgeh has a great idea in the posting of fairly temporary signs that help folks understand what we would like to believe the trail user “norms” are. Kind of like the “Burma Shave” signs of the 1950s, we could use these signs to help educate all trail users. While I believe this group has the creativity to actually create a new crop of Burma Shave signs

Heaven’s
Latest
Neophyte
Signalled left
Then turned right
Burma-Shave

I think single signs with a line or two of text would be useful. A sign on calling one’s passes might read “A bell or call is the polite way to call a pass, avoid sudden direction changes”, or probably with even more elegant wording. By making the signs on foam core or something inexpensive, we might be able to keep a number of them in rotation so they never get stale.

[mstone]

@dbb 54086 wrote:

I posted the original doc not in an attempt to re-litigate the issue but as an attempt to share the note that was received by the county. I’d like to believe that some trail users can be educated. To that end, Dasgeh has a great idea in the posting of fairly temporary signs that help folks understand what we would like to believe the trail user “norms” are. Kind of like the “Burma Shave” signs of the 1950s, we could use these signs to help educate all trail users. While I believe this group has the creativity to actually create a new crop of Burma Shave signs

I like it. I’m not particularly creative, though.

Only you [pointing finger]
can prevent accidents [band aid]
signal before passing [bike symbol]
look before turning [jogger symbol]
share the trail [happy people holding hands]

[dasgeh]

We don’t want you
To be a horse’s ass
Stay alert
And call your pass

[dbb]

In addition to being the arbitrater of ELITE, dasgeh is also the primary author of the Burma Shave signs. Cool!

[Mark Blacknell]

Oh, good. I thought it had been too long since we’ve had this conversation.

Speaking of, I walked down the sidewalk in Rosslyn the other day. None of the other pedestrians called their passes! And they were everywhere!

[rcannon100]

@Mark Blacknell 54266 wrote:

Oh, good. I thought it had been too long since we’ve had this conversation.

Speaking of, I walked down the sidewalk in Rosslyn the other day. None of the other pedestrians called their passes! And they were everywhere!

Mark, those are ELITE pedestrians.

[Subby]

Any sign with more than three words is going to get ignored. K.I.S.S.!

CALL
YOUR
PASSES

ACKNOWLEDGE
PASS
CALLS

Alternate those two every half mile.

[rcannon100]

I agree with Subby. Loud. Clear. Signs.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3044[/ATTACH]

[dasgeh]

Inspiration on my ride in to (from chalk markings, probably from hashers…)

This is Crazy Ivan [stick figure]
Crazy Ivan is a runner [stick figure with running shoes, hat, fuel belt]
Crazy Ivan makes U-turns without looking [stick figure slammed into the front of a bike]
Don’t be a Crazy Ivan

This is Reckless Rita [stick figure]
Reckless Rita rides her bike [stick figure on bike]
Reckless Rita doesn’t call her pass [stick figure flying up in the air, bike having hit another stick figure’s bag]
Don’t be a Reckless Rita

In all seriousness, though, I think signs aimed at peds can have more words. Signs aimed at bikes should be shorter.

Like:

CALL [phone graphic]
YOUR [hand pointing at you]
PASSES and your mother too [picture of nice old lady]

[Drewdane]

@KLizotte 54055 wrote:

I understand what you are saying but do you acknowledge all passes with a wave or nod? Do you wear headphones? If you answer yes and no, respectively, then I think you have every right to “throw stones.” If not, well…

Yes and no, respectively, but I fail to see the relevance of the questions to our responsibility as cyclists to observe trail etiquette regardless of how others behave.

[Author]

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