Pedestrians and cyclists ignore shared walk/bikepath rules.

Laterider1958

If possible I try to use bikepaths to avoid busy roads, but am aware that many people ignore shared path rules. Here in Australia we keep to the left on roads, but it seems our citizens seem to ignore this rule when on walk/bike paths. They seem to wander around unaware of others who may want to pass them.

Once incident involved me following a slower cyclist, and as we were approaching a narrow fenced opening I held back and waited to pass. The cyclist knew I was there, but ambled on in the centre of the path, often weaving and eventually riding on the right hand side for a distance. I followed behind, waiting for an opportunity to pass, and came up to another fenced narrow opening. I slowed right down to almost to a stop, as there was another cyclist coming from the opposite direction. The rider ahead of me was on the wrong side of the path, the approaching cyclist gave him a friendly nod as they passed each other (each on the wrong side of the path) and I who had waited patiently for these two to move to the correct side and negotiate the gateway, was ignored. Talk about lack of manners and ignoring rules!

The second was on the same bikepath and I came up behind 2 very slow ambling riders who weaved as they talked and turned when they heard me riding behind, but continued on ignoring me and effectively blocking my path for over 100 metres. I eventually veered off and rode on the road. Total lack of manners and observance of rules. ...........I know, I should have dinged my little bell, but where are the manners?

Aussie Steve

Buy an AirZound Horn . A very very short (but loud) toot will get their attention. If they are being silly give them a longer one, and curse them as you go past. I do.

But the horn is 115dB and does a GR8 job.

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mattyb

I find the same frustrations.
Even if you ding the bell, some people just look and don't move or attempt to move. Really really annoying when you are on a fast ride and you need to slow down every couple of minutes.

My girlfriend passed a guy riding his bike this morning and obviously he didn't like that so he passed her back and then slowed down and would not give her enough space to pass again.
Just rudeness!

Anyway, I find Melbourne a great city to ride and it would be much much better if everyone was courteous. Most walkers are fine but there are some...

sogood

On a similar note, pedestrians by city streets don't always walk on the left side of the path. So I think it's futile to expect everyone to conform. Not as if people can be fined for walking or riding on the wrong side of a 2m path.

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mattyb

Are other cities like melbourne where the shared paths have direction on them?
It's glaringly obvious what everyone should be doing, but you are right in that everyone isn't going to follow the guides.
Just hope that most do

Wattsy Rules

A short run up from behind with an over taking move where you brush their should and shout "TRACK!" usually does the trick.

I ride the Melbourne tracks on my Mountain Bike occassionally and have only really encountered this type of behaviour once or twice in 10+ years. I think they were lucky that you are a nice guy as I know MANY other riders who would have given them a blast, me included!

1id10t

Unfortunately, there's an abundance of rude people irrespective of whether they're on foot, cycling or in vehicles.
There were two cyclists riding on the Harbour Bridge some time back. They were side by side. Both saw me approaching but do you think they moved over to let me pass; No. There was still a short distance before I reached them (and still no effort to move aside as they chatted away) so I put my head down, moved to the centre of the cycleway and began pedalling furiously. That got their attention and one eventually made a slight move back and behind the other allowing me minimal room to pass. I called them f*wits as I passed (not nice but I was annoyed).
Another time whilst cycling with friends at Olympic Park we were passing by the brickpit. The gravel path is quite wide there. As we made our way back to the picnic areas a group of casual cyclists on their hired bikes came towards us riding 6 abreast. They made no effort to move and we had to pass on the outside brushing against the fence. That really p*issed me off but this time I said nothing. It takes very little effort to show manners but I guess it's the kind of society we live in.

thomas_cho

I ride on the bike paths quite a bit as well in Canberra. Thing I hate most are these gung-ho cyclist who think they are time-trialling, dont slow down at blind corners, dont stop at red lights. Most of the time, they can only hit those speeds downhill, and with their heads down! I have had close shaves where these numb-nuts came hurtling round a blind corner only to "surprised" to find me rounding the corner, and both having to brake hard to avoid an accident.

I have had my share of shouting my presence to get pedestrains/cyclists/dogs to move to one side to allow me to pass. The worst was 3 ladies walking 6 huskies. I just went around them. What about those cyclists/pedestrians with headphones in their ears? They are just in a world of their own, had to shout 5 times before he moved over and mumbled an apology.

All in all, minor inconviniences compared to the risks of getting knocked over on the road.

thomas_cho

BTW your patience in passing could have been taken by the other cyclist as not moving fast enough to pass. A shout of "bike right!" would normally get him to move to the left to let you pass. Works for me. Annoucing your presence would also ensure that he knows you are there, and you dont just assume it. Would save him veering into you when you are attempting to pass. Its more of a safety thing than a politeness thing.

GT1965

The days of bike paths that are not on the road are numbered as well as shared bike paths. The reason is that nobody really gives a sh*t about them other than serious riders. I live in Port Melbourne and I train on the bike path that goes around the bay because there's very few places that you actually have to stop.

Everytime I go out I'm constantly looking out for hazards as there's at least 5kms that runs directly besides parked cars. I have had run ins with Football clubs using the "bike track" as their running ground. I have seen a toddler walk straight into the front wheel of the bike in front of me as she stepped straight out of the car without looking or her parents taking any care. We were doing about 35ks an hour at the time. The kid went flying into the air and the cyclist went sliding along the track for about twenty metres. No one thankfully was seriously hurt. And then there's those kite surfers loading up their cars with out giving way as they cross the path.

There's always seems to be an abundance of joggers training with prams and sunday bikers three abreast. Why does nobody care, well nobody enforces the fact that it is a bike only lane and that since bicycles are vehicles that they should also obey the road rules be it on the road or on a bike track.

And just to make matters worse, Port Phillip Council in all is wisdom has decided that it will remove the bike lane from around the St Kilda Sea Baths area and replace it with a shared track made of wood. This is proudly supported by our Bike Loving Mayor. Great idea. (pause) NOT! How many times did I get a flat from the track around the Yarra? And why are they slowly getting replaced?

Yeah I know this a bit of a ramble but lets not make out that Melbourne is a perfect place to ride.

The reason I don't ride on the road is because I can't keep up withe rest of you on my mountain bike.

matagi

Well now, the solution to your problem is obvious.

GT1965

yeah, you would think so but it's pretty hard to ride a road bike around this:



it's a nice 19km of single track

wishes

I second the AirZound Horn trick, i have one also - fantastic.
But as my father used to tell me when i was learning to ride ... if you're going the same speed as the traffic then you should be sitting on the road in the middle of the lane with the traffic!

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mattyb

I certainly agree with that. The faster I go on roads, the further out from the gutter I ride. For nothing else than personal safety. But I'm on a MTB too so my speeds can't match those on road bikes.

GT1965 - where is that?