Crossing without looking!!

[Matthames]

Had a couple of peds today who decided to try and cross the road without paying much attention to it!!

1: Granny and her shopping trolley. Granted I was miles of when she started to cross, but by the time I was near her she was only halfway across, shuffling away. Anyway having anticipated it I just crawled to the junction she was crossing in primary and waited until she was out of the way.

2: Lady pushing her kid in a push chair. I could see that she was about to cross into my path, she seemed a bit away with the fairies so needed to get her attention before things got messy. A quick "Oi!" was enough to bring her back from la la land.

 

[ianrauk]

This does make me angry. See this a lot on my commute. What makes it worse is that sometimes you can see the ped looking directly at you and they still walk into the middle of the road....

 

[UKPhil]

or walking 4 abreast down a cycle track and forcing you to dismount and squeeze past them..

 

[Madmidwife]

or walking 4 abreast down a cycle track and forcing you to dismount and squeeze past them..

Tell me about it- and I've only been cycling a few weeks!!! We have an amazing network of cycle tracks in Chaventry- but I just don't get the total lack of awareness of the codes of conduct for using cycle/footpaths.
I was gobsmacked the other day when a whole class of secondary school kids came towards me- and not one moved out the way, and 2 smart alec's even did a quick jump infront of me and waved their arms to frighten me.....their teacher- at the back of the group chatting to another teacher!!!!

Kirst

 

[purplepolly]

, and 2 smart alec's even did a quick jump infront of me and waved their arms to frighten me.....

This is quite common with children and especially teenagers. If you're prepared for it you can scare them back by pretending not to notice them at all and just hold your course. Even better get a horn and give them a blast when you're right beside them.

 

[2Loose]

I like the full on brake squeal and broadside skid in front of them approach...makes me feel like a righteous teenager again! <I know, it's a little bit naughty...>

 

[Arch]

Tell me about it- and I've only been cycling a few weeks!!! We have an amazing network of cycle tracks in Chaventry- but I just don't get the total lack of awareness of the codes of conduct for using cycle/footpaths.
I was gobsmacked the other day when a whole class of secondary school kids came towards me- and not one moved out the way, and 2 smart alec's even did a quick jump infront of me and waved their arms to frighten me.....their teacher- at the back of the group chatting to another teacher!!!!

Kirst

I'm afraid... There is no code of conduct for pedestrians on a bike path, shared, segregated, or unsegregated. It is the right of a pedestrian to walk anywhere except certain prohibited roads (motorways). Which is actually a good thing, because it's the sort of basic right we like to emulate with our right to cycle on the road.

As the Highway Code stands, cyclists MUST keep to their side of a segregated paths, and pedestrians SHOULD keep to theirs, but that SHOULD is not a legal requirement, whereas MUST is. it is up to cyclists to take care around pedestrians, just as it's up to drivers to take care around us, although you wouldn't know it half the time. There are very few legal requirements for pedestrians in the Highway Code, only suggestions.

In your case though, I agree that the teachers should have had better control of the kids, out of politeness. It is politeness that should make shared paths work, but it's becoming a rare commodity.

 

[Dan B]

Arch is correct about the law but I'd have said "code of conduct" is not a bad description of advice like ".... pedestrians SHOULD keep to theirs".

Here's a puzzler for you: if roller skaters can average speeds of ~ 10mph and attain 20+ when pushing hard, should they use the ped half or the cycle half?

 

[Jonathan M]

Tell me about it- and I've only been cycling a few weeks!!! We have an amazing network of cycle tracks in Chaventry- but I just don't get the total lack of awareness of the codes of conduct for using cycle/footpaths.
I was gobsmacked the other day when a whole class of secondary school kids came towards me- and not one moved out the way, and 2 smart alec's even did a quick jump infront of me and waved their arms to frighten me.....their teacher- at the back of the group chatting to another teacher!!!!

Kirst

I hope you stopped and explained your concerns to the teachers! They were in loco-parentis at that moment in time, so were responsible for the behaviour of the children in their care. No debate about that, kids in unifrom with staff, staff responsible.

I often get this from one particular high school, as I ride past about 30 minutes after school chucking out time, so the lazy buggers are still dawdling. Last time it happened I really pushed that the school has a responsibility for their pupils behaviour, as OFSTED considers community impact of schools as part of their assessment. Obviously they couldn't identify the kids involved, but the alledgedly did a year7/8 assembly telling them to stop being fools.

I've also noticed the situations that the OP describes, peds crossing the road, usually head down, look in neither direction, don't speed up, just keep impersonating Brian from the Magic Roundabout while they cross the road. What really hacks me off about such peds is that they often do this within a few moments walk of a pedestrian crossing - no wonder the stats are that pedestrian RTCs increase in the metres either side of a pedestrian crossing!

 

[Arch]

I've also noticed the situations that the OP describes, peds crossing the road, usually head down, look in neither direction, don't speed up, just keep impersonating Brian from the Magic Roundabout while they cross the road. What really hacks me off about such peds is that they often do this within a few moments walk of a pedestrian crossing - no wonder the stats are that pedestrian RTCs increase in the metres either side of a pedestrian crossing!

There's a road in Leicester, quite busy suburban road as it links the motorways with the ring road, with, I think, three sets of pelican crossings in about half a mile. And people still run across between them...

Coruskate, you're right about 'should' being a sort of code of conduct, but here's the other thing. How many pedestrians have read all the highway code? Even those who drive, and therefore should have done, will probably only have learned the bits they think they need to pass the test, the bits for drivers. So they are fairly unlikely to even know there is a 'code'...

It should be common sense, but that's a rare bird these days.