[tifat]

Great advice, and thanks, Pete, for some much-needed perspective.

[tifat]

@jrenaut 2580 wrote:

I defer to pedestrians as far as attempting to avioid hitting them, but I’m not going to be polite about it when they walk out in front of me when I have the light. They’re putting me in danger because they can’t wait until it’s their turn.

I feel your pain, jrenaut. I just think that, in spite of how annoying some of them can be, we as a society shouldn’t restrict pedestrians any more than is absolutely necessary. And as cyclists, I think we should avoid antagonizing them, because they’re potentially our greatest allies.

Philosophical differences aside, here’s a practical suggestion: if you don’t use a bell, give it a shot. Pedestrians seem to respond well to them. Evidently electric cars are more dangerous to pedestrians than motorized ones, because they can’t hear them coming, and I suspect that’s part of the reason they tend to get so confused and in the way around bicycles. I doubt many of them are trying to be a nuisance — they’re probably just not used to being outside of their cars, and so, like newborn foals, they’re a little clueless and skittish on their feet. If we make life easier for them by gently announcing our presence and our intention to pass them, they might gladly return the favor.

[tifat]

Gore-tex socks.

[tifat]

Why not just defer to pedestrians, as motorists should defer to both cyclists and pedestrians? It’s only fair to assume the more dangerous modes of transportation should avoid harming the less dangerous, and although our traffic code pointedly does the reverse, as cyclists I think we should take the higher road in this effort. If we can’t show pedestrians a little common courtesy and patience — motorist-convenience laws notwithstanding — then we can’t expect anything different from motorists in their interactions with us.

Cyclists and pedestrians have a common enemy. We’re disproportionately the victims of traffic violence. We’re disproportionately harmed by traffic pollution. We’re disproportionately taxed for local road construction and upkeep. We’re disproportionately inconvenienced and victimized by laws that prioritize motorist ease and non-liability above all else. So long before we should start siccing cops on pedestrians for failing to follow motor traffic rules (and these rules are purely for the sake of motorists, which is why there’s no such thing as “jaywalking” on a bike path), we should be asking law enforcement to begin enforcing the simple traffic rules that keep all roadway users safer — such as those pertaining to turn signals, yielding when appropriate, and sharing roadways without aggression toward non-motorized users.

I’m sorry if pedestrians get in your way sometimes, and it’s especially annoying when those same pedestrians, being motorists at heart, have little understanding of the laws relating to cyclists, but I think we’d all be better off if, as cyclists, we model the behavior we expect from motorists in our behavior toward pedestrians.

[Author]

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