People can be jerks

[Floridaman999]

When I'm out biking on the hike/bike path out by my house, I'm amazed at the amount of people who let their dogs off leash while they walk. Coming around a corner on my bike and being forced to dodge loose dogs is not my idea of fun. You'd think the people that do this would realize the leash laws apply to them as well.

 

[Hikergirl]

Our trail allows horseback riders, I wonder what the bicyclist would have done if he encountered a horse. I bet he wouldn't have stopped

 

[wgeo]

When I'm out biking on the hike/bike path out by my house, I'm amazed at the amount of people who let their dogs off leash while they walk. Coming around a corner on my bike and being forced to dodge loose dogs is not my idea of fun. You'd think the people that do this would realize the leash laws apply to them as well.

Totally going off topic here - but there is a guy in my neighborhood that bikes with his two large dogs every night. I always thought it was a bad idea to bike holding onto dogs on leashes. Doesn't seem safe to me.

 

[Floridaman999]

Totally going off topic here - but there is a guy in my neighborhood that bikes with his two large dogs every night. I always thought it was a bad idea to bike holding onto dogs on leashes. Doesn't seem safe to me.

Yeah, so many things could go so wrong. I'd never be able to live with myself if I caused injury and/or death to one of my dogs because I wanted to do something unsafe with them.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

Let's be honest, unless he was coming around a blind turn he saw them in plenty of time to go around them WITHOUT any swerving. He CHOOSE to be a jerk.

I see both sides, but given the context of a wide path with no one else around, I really don't see the issue if it made for a more comfortable walk for mom due to her pains. If other people were around making mom and OP in the way of oncoming traffic, that's a different scenario entirely and I would side with the biker in that case.

Who is to say the next interaction with a cyclist won't be around a blind turn? Or with a runner/cyclist approaching on the correct side of the path?

People shouldn't wait until they almost take someone out to say something as that's how completely preventable "accidents" occur. No question it sounds like he could have been nicer but the original statement just seems snarky. It probably escalated when he didn't get an apologetic response.

**off topic for the thread of course**

Like this?

View attachment 432890

That was a pic someone posted on our Nextdoor website.

In my state the rules are "Whenever a usable path for bicycles is adjacent to a roadway, cyclists must use the path and not the roadway". Said in a slightly different way: "Bicyclists are prohibited from traveling on the roadway when a useable path, designed for the exclusive use of bicycles, has been provided next to the roadway."

Roadway is defined as the two lanes you see. The bike lane is where half the cyclists are in the picture.

I love that our area is becoming a lot more cyclist friendly however everyone, motorist and pedestrian and cyclist alike though have to work together to make it safe for all. Any bad apples of any of those groups tends to sour people's opinions.

Is that actually a bike lane or just a shoulder? Bike lanes typically have a symbol and most I've seen on a 4 lane highway have a buffer area as well. For example, this is a bike lane near me:

 

[luvsJack]

I think, not exactly. Looking at that picture, everybody was on our left. In real life, the cyclist was on the right(-hand) side of the path, aka his right. OP and her mom were on their own left, but the actual right-hand side. Cyclist swerved, or should have, to his left to avoid hitting them.

I think.

That’s not what the OP said. They were both on the same side. (The white and black lines). She and her Mom tried to walk around the jerk on the bike, by route of the green arrow. He got off his bike walked over to confront them. No one swerved. There was no almost accident.

Unless the op has updated with more info, this is what was said in the prior post.



Edited to add: if he thought perhaps they didn’t know where to walk, then speak nicely and in a helpful tone. Otherwise he was being a jerk and I probably would have had some very sarcastic answer for him.

When my mom was still here, we would get out and walk at a track or at the mall. She had to walk slow and where it was the least likely to cause her to fall. We would not have risked a broken hip for someone else’s connivence. Never had an issue at the track but lots of heavy sighs at the mall. After hearing her apologize too many times, a couple of people got a dirty look and a few choice words from me. There are a lot of people that need to remember they too will be old one day.

 

[rlk]

Years ago I volunteered to be a running guide for the NY Achilles Track Club. I would run with differently-abled runners during the week and sometimes on the weekends for races. The president of the club told me a story that has stayed with me all these years. He has a prosthetic leg and one day as he was running, a cyclist ran into him, which sent his prosthetic leg fly across the road. While he thought it was funny, the poor cyclist was traumatized thinking he ripped the guy's leg off.

This story stayed with me and helps keep me aware of other people using the same path as I am. I always keep to the right, but will never hold my ground just to prove a point. It's just not worth it to me.

 

[ronandannette]

I am not seeing anyone lacking compassion. Most of us have said the bikers attitude sucked, as I am sure he could see that mom had mobility issues. There was no need for a confrontation. But "the rules of the road" dictate that we walk, ride, skate to the right. I am surprised (though I shouldn't be) how many people don't follow this. Using the left door to exit a store, walk in the middle of the aisle in the grocery story, walk to the left of a side walk/walking trail.

Sorry this is a little OT but I just can't help myself - it's a major irritant for me. Are your Wal-Marts set up like this? Sweet Jesus, why, just why would the doors be organized like this? It's so totally counter-intuitive. At least half the people at any given time are going the wrong way through the wrong door. They are similar at other large retail places here too.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

As a regular cyclist who rides on many hike/bike trails in the state and city parks around me, I didn't realize my hobby was looked at so negatively by some. Learn something new every day.

I think there's a lot of very nice cyclists out there, the one I met just happened to be rude.

OP, if I’m understanding this correctly, the cyclist confronted you when you moved out of his way. Is that what the arrow in the picture indicates?

Yes. We moved to our right side to get out of his way.

I think, not exactly. Looking at that picture, everybody was on our left. In real life, the cyclist was on the right(-hand) side of the path, aka his right. OP and her mom were on their own left, but the actual right-hand side. Cyclist swerved, or should have, to his left to avoid hitting them.

I think.

You're mostly right except once he got within a couple yards of us he stopped, got off the bike, and started walking with his bike towards us while staring right at us. When we walked to our right to get out of his way, he jumped to his left to stop us. He wasn't riding the bike during any of this. That contributed to my moms anger, and mine.

 

[Squirlz]

Sorry this is a little OT but I just can't help myself - it's a major irritant for me. Are your Wal-Marts set up like this? Sweet Jesus, why, just why would the doors be organized like this? It's so totally counter-intuitive. At least half the people at any given time are going the wrong way through the wrong door. They are similar at other large retail places here too.
View attachment 432954

Couldn't tell you about Walmart, my scruples don't allow me to shop there. But Costco and similar stores are set up like that.

 

[Floridaman999]

Sorry this is a little OT but I just can't help myself - it's a major irritant for me. Are your Wal-Marts set up like this? Sweet Jesus, why, just why would the doors be organized like this? It's so totally counter-intuitive. At least half the people at any given time are going the wrong way through the wrong door. They are similar at other large retail places here too.
View attachment 432954

My local stores are setup this way but only on the general merchandise entrance. The grocery entrance is the opposite, and I think they do it this way so that you are on the same side as the shopping carts when you enter. At least that is how it seems to work at my local stores.

 

[ronandannette]

Couldn't tell you about Walmart, my scruples don't allow me to shop there. But Costco and similar stores are set up like that.

Why? I just need to know why? Can you explain why?!? Honestly, I may be a little obsessed with this - it just seems too stupid to not have some actual good reason.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

5 pages and

Sorry this is a little OT but I just can't help myself - it's a major irritant for me. Are your Wal-Marts set up like this? Sweet Jesus, why, just why would the doors be organized like this? It's so totally counter-intuitive. At least half the people at any given time are going the wrong way through the wrong door. They are similar at other large retail places here too.
View attachment 432954

dont get me started on the Walmart exit system. It's the worst

 

[ronandannette]

My local stores are setup this way but only on the general merchandise entrance. The grocery entrance is the opposite, and I think they do it this way so that you are on the same side as the shopping carts when you enter. At least that is how it seems to work at my local stores.

Then how about they put the freakin' carts on the other side - end the madness.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Is that actually a bike lane or just a shoulder? Bike lanes typically have a symbol and most I've seen on a 4 lane highway have a buffer area as well. For example, this is a bike lane near me:
View attachment 432937

It's a bike lane.

Your picture doesn't show a repeating symbol over and over on the whole lane but we know it's a bike lane

There's signs and symbols; it just so happens the picture doesn't have either of those right there in there but it's most def. a bike lane

Your picture shows what we would call 'protected lanes'. That's a new-ish thing in my area-like here's one with parking and additional lines. I want to say that may be our only protected one but I'm not 100% positive:


There are several different kinds from green-box style ones, there's even a new one by my house where the bike lane is in the middle of the street; I don't have a picture of that one as it was just completed a few weeks ago.

However, the vast majority of bike lanes are just along side the road just like my picture. Here's a street I'm on all the time where you see the sign and then a tiny bit of the symbol:


Now just a bit further down the street:

No symbols or signs but a bike lane none the less on both sides of the road as the above picture showed.

Here's another one with the concrete median in the middle:

Bike lane is on both sides of traffic

There's no shoulders on your average normal roads (excluding your highways) here.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

There is a road that runs close on some parts. This is a photo of the trail from google street view. I don't know how well it shows up but this would be looking at the path from the cyclists side.
It looks smaller from this perspective but it is big enough to fit 4 cyclists side by side.(I saw it before with a group of them)

 

[disneychrista]

Totally going off topic here - but there is a guy in my neighborhood that bikes with his two large dogs every night. I always thought it was a bad idea to bike holding onto dogs on leashes. Doesn't seem safe to me.

I'll one up you. There was a guy who would cruise in his CAR doing this on the loop airport frontage road by my old work.

 

[ronandannette]

Totally going off topic here - but there is a guy in my neighborhood that bikes with his two large dogs every night. I always thought it was a bad idea to bike holding onto dogs on leashes. Doesn't seem safe to me.

Lots of times I've seen kids doing this on roller-blades or skateboards; letting the dogs tow them along. It looks like it would be tons of fun - until it wasn't.

 

[tzolkin]

Why? I just need to know why? Can you explain why?!? Honestly, I may be a little obsessed with this - it just seems too stupid to not have some actual good reason.

All the stores I have been to that have the doors “backwards” like you’re talking about is because the checkouts are located on that side. So you don’t have to cross the “incoming traffic” to exit.

Every Target I have ever been in has been set up this way.

 

[kaytieeldr]

That’s not what the OP said. They were both on the same side.

Yup. All on the same side. AKA the wrong side for OP's party.