You just wizz on by

[Dovestrobe]

I so dislike the wizards, especially in summer. Your gingerly going about your business and "wizz!." Someone passes you in the bike lane with you also in the bike lane, inches from your handlebars, you freak a little (but not outwardly)--you don't want to fall into traffic as a women once did on the Hawthorn bridge, onto the steel grate mind you following a wizzing, made her face look like some one finger painted it with ketchup.

I'm certain that if I added a mirror to my ride this factor of surprise would be lowered. I could get up on my brakehoods and swing like a Mammoth prior, forewarning the attacker. This one bites.

But what do you do when you're the pedestrian? Yeah, me walking home the other day. I'm walking in the bike lane, since there's no sidewalk. "Wizz!," inches from my left pinky. I turned around and no traffic in the car lane! I think to myself, how often I have checked behind me, merged to the left, out of the lane for peds and bikes.

Most certainly most of the cyclist who do this wizzing are high on testosterone and working out their killer instincts via sport. I should be grateful they're riding their bikes and not pummeling the kid next door.

[boneshaker]

Perhaps you shouldn't be walking in the bike lane.

[Dovestrobe]

Originally Posted by boneshaker

Perhaps you shouldn't be walking in the bike lane.

Once again, I reiterate, On SW Multnomah Blvd. there is no side walk. There is no excuse for a cyclist to ride idiotically on this road. He had the room, he should have merged out of the bike lane and passed safely. I had a dog with me, this guy played roulette. I and others walk this road all the time!

You're probably like motorists who pass a cyclist unsafely close on a two way street with a double yellow line. Share the road, safety first!

[Simple Nature]

Peds in bike lanes often walk the opposite direction so one can see cyclist coming.
Many bike lanes are marked "Bikes Only" and the occasional jogger just has to use the bike lane instead of the perfectly good sidewalk placed right next to it just for them. In your case, however, I agree... cyclist should appreciate the fact that you don't have a better place to walk and they should give you advance warning and even a respectable reduction in speed. Have you contacted your district's road committee about your concerns?

[Dovestrobe]

I just looked at a website which presents the law regarding pedestrians walking in bike lanes:


Clearly this man is violating the law by not walking on the ample shoulder of the roadway.
However, when the shoulder is barely there, pedestrians are allowed to share the lane.

Common courtesy dictates not wizzing this man, even if he is a damnable law breaker!

Website http://www.stc-law.com/pedestrianRights.html

[Gumbyman]

The biker should have taken merged slightly into the road to give you a little room. I believe that a pedestrian without a sidewalk would be no different than a bike without a bike lane as long as you stay as far to the right as possible. My only problem is taking your dog into the bike lane; I can't count the number of times a dog on a leash has gone in front of my bike and almost taken all of us out. This could happen even if the cyclist merged a little into the road to try and give you room. Just not safe in my opinion.

[wsbob]

Originally Posted by boneshaker

Perhaps you shouldn't be walking in the bike lane.

Remembering from comments to various stories on the main page, it seems people can get kind of territorial about their respective area of the road, according to their mode of travel. Pedestrians walking in the bike lane...even the street isn't unusual, given various circumstances. Sometimes sidewalks aren't the better place to walk, if traffic is very light, especially given how some sidewalks can be dark and shadowed, with broken pavement.

The picture of the guy in white, walking in the bike lane? I'd lay odds he's walking there, because he found it an easier surface to walk on than the gravel.

Pedestrians in the bike lane can be a drag though. Noticed this on Millikan Way south of Tektronix's campus. The street has a decent bike lane, that supports a good strong 15-20mph clip, but for some reason, during rush hour, it's not at all uncommon to find two or three people jogging and walking there. That means bike traffic has to do a kind of potentially treacherous...due to people leaving work at Tek... merge into the main lane. So, I wish they'd be more aware and not do it, but...it's not yet bad enough in that situation that it's a very big problem for me. For other types of riders...it could be more of a problem.

[Simple Nature]

I'd like to think that "share the road" includes pedestrians.

[Apennine]

Wizzing is ok as long as you pass safely and announce yourself as you approach (with a bell or an audible "on your left").

[Simple Nature]

I ran up and back on the southern half of the Banks-Vernonia trail this past weekend. I was really cooking along on the flats and the bell worked very well with advanced notice. People were polite and responded kindly. Even the downhill run back from Stub Stewart, moving at nearly 20mph, went very well. With the exception of slowing for the kids, the cross-paths, and the wooden bridges, I kept that 20mph momentum up for the full 6 miles of downhill.

The path didn't have as many people as I've seen before so this was helpful. But for the most part is shows that a 6' path can easily be shared with a little courtesy. I see no reason that this same courtesy couldn't be shared on our bikepaths and roadways.