Thursday, April 26, 2012

Road users and their position

As I cycled to work the other day I came up behind a young man walking down the middle of my side of the road. He clearly didn't hear me, or my bell; perhaps this was due to his use of headphones and what he was listening to. As the road was quiet it was easy enough for me to go around him but it might have been different. And before you ask, there was a pavement!
It got me thinking about the different road users and their use of the various road parts. Here's my opinion about who should be where; what's yours?
Pavement
For pedestrians including wheelchair and motorised scooter users etc. Other than really young cyclists I don't see the requirement for people to cycle on the pavement. A very dangerous activity in my opinion.
Road
For everyone else, going from horse riders and cyclists to cars and all the other forms of motorised transport. I'm not a great fan of cycle lanes on the roads as I think it encourages drivers to pass too close to those users in them. There seems to be an attitude that it's ok to be quite close as long as everyone stays in their lane. Which might be fine if drivers didn't seem to think it is perfectly ok to use the cycle lanes as well if needs must. And of course everyone parks in the lanes too. Don't get me wrong I'm just as guilty of these "offences" as well apart from getting too close to cyclists I hope. But as I don't like cycle lanes I feel I'm justified.
Pedestrians, like the one above, shouldn't really be on the road. There are obvious exceptions, like roads with no pavements, but in general pedestrians should be on the pavement! And it would be great if those walking learned to look. I see far to many accidents waiting to happen when I'm on the bike or when I'm walking around myself.
The Gutter
The in-between bit. In my opinion this area is for drains and drainage. It is not for cyclists, so don't be tempted to cycle in it. It is not the safe place as cyclists can only move out into the road from it; you need to give yourself some room for manoeuvre. And try not to let drivers push you into the gutter, although this can be harder than it first seems.
It's not really a place for pedestrians either but I often find myself stepping around other people on the pavement who are not willing to make space. Again the important thing to do here is to look. Especially for the silent cyclists!

I have tried not to make this a rant; I just thought I'd put some thoughts to page. I hope it makes you think too, when you are using the road regardless of your mode of transport.

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