Runners in the bike path
How about a joke.
How can you tell the difference between the sidewalk and the bike path?
Answer: all the runners are on the bike path.
This would be funny if it wasn't true.
posted by Cycle Fun Montreal @ 2:53 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Nowadays, I'll cut the runners some slack. But what mystifies me still is the bike path's attraction to baby strollers. I see this on occasion, even if a sidewalk is immediately next to the bike path.
The bike paths that are bike-only and not multifunction recreational paths, are meant to be used as a transportation corridor for the faster speed of bikes, i.e. to keep walkers/runners, bikes and cars, each at different speed levels, separated from each other. Each has it's own section of street: sidewalk, bike path, and car roadway. Cyclists have very few and limited bike paths out of the whole transportation system, the bike path is meant as a safe way to ride the bike for active transportation without any other obstacles like walkers, dog walkers, baby carriages, runners alone, in pairs and in packs, and of course cars. There are thousands of miles of sidewalk in the city, and the runners just love to use the tiny 500 km of bike path.
I gladly share the multifunction paths, most of which would be greatly improved if there was some signage indicating where each user should be. But most of the city's bike paths are exclusively for bike TRAFFIC, and we would like it to be safer than it now is, partly due to runners. Some run on the left side. Some run on the right side. Pairs of runners often block one entire side of the path. Runners wearing headphones don't hear the ringing bells of people attempting to pass them and continue to block the path for the bicycle riders, who are the legitimate and legal exclusive users of the bike path.
And then there are the runners who go out and purposely block the bike path. We know your're out there. Cluelessness is one thing, but there's lots of pricks out there who get their kicks from f***ing the bicycle riders on the bike path.
Runners in the bike path is like sand on a skating rink, it f***s up the safety for everyone involved.
Fagstein said it so well last year
http://blog.fagstein.com/2009/05/08/what-part-of-bicycle-path-dont-you-understand/
My favorite is the run-against-traffic runners on the bike path, some of them actually jump out of the way... "some" of them. Others are of the prick variety as described above.
Luciecl sums it up
Running on concrete is harder on your body. I only run on asphalt.
So all that shoe insole padding that you are paying the big bucks for doesn't do any good? Fine, just don't do it on the bikes-only type of bike paths.
Shoes aren't magic. It's still much harder on your body because it's a much more unyielding surface. If I could only run on concrete sidewalks I would not run at all.
I run (and bike) in Verdun/Lasalle along the water. No idea if it's supposed to be bike only -- there are no signs indicating either way. In some areas there are two asphalt paths, one nearer the water and one nearer the road. I used to think the one by the water was for bikes because it had a yellow line and the other didn't. Then they painted a yellow line on the other one too, so I guess I was wrong? In one small section they added more asphalt to the path by the water to make it wider, and painted double white lines. I assumed that part was for pedestrians to keep them separate from the cyclists, but I have noticed that many cyclists use it and many pedestrians ignore it, and in any case there is no signage so who's to say. In Lasalle in some areas there is a gravel/dirt path, so obviously when I'm not on a bike I'll use that. Otherwise I have no idea.
All I know is that you can expect to encounter any or all of the following: walkers, runners, dog-walkers, cyclists, roller bladers, motorized wheelchairs/scooters, out of control children, people walking three or four abreast, etc. I avoid it on weekend afternoons unless I am just walking.
I run solo, on the far right, normally in the early morning, and do not wear earphones. There is plenty of room to pass me. (Obviously I would not run on certain paths, the de Maisonneuve bike path, for example.)
When I am on my bike the other path users that annoy me are not the runners -- it's the roller bladers (who zigzag side to side so that they can be very tricky to pass -- not really their fault, but I wish they'd try to stick to one lane), people who walk three or four abreast or who don't look before crossing the path, and people with unleashed dogs.
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