Paramemetic

It's funny to me. Here on campus, I end up getting more irked at the pedestrians than the vehicles.

See, pedestrians have sidewalks. When I am on a sidewalk on my bicycle (generally when it is the most direct route, where there is no road that goes there directly), I go slowly, yield to them, and am generally very mindful not to try to zip around at high speeds, cut them off, or things like this. If I can, or if I need to pass, unless it's clear on the pavement, I'll pass through the grass, it's why I commute on a MTB. That's how it should be - it's the sidewalk, it's for pedestrians.

However, when I am on the road, I am a vehicle. Many times, I am going nearly as fast as the vehicle in front of me. Sometimes as fast. Either way, I'm traveling quickly. Not only that, but it's actually more difficult and more dangerous for me to stop suddenly - I can do it, and I can do it safely, but a lot more can go wrong if I have to slam on my brakes on a downhill at 20mph than if a car has to do.

Still, invariably, someone is crossing the street somewhere other than a crosswalk, and watching for a car. And as soon as that car passes, nevermind me following, the pedestrian just has to step out into the road. This puts me in a very awkward position - I can stop, swerve towards the road and risk losing control and going into oncoming (an irrational fear of mine. I lost controlled and spun on my side into oncoming once - wasn't hit, thankfully - and have been a bit neurotic about it since), or I can run the person over. I usually do the first option, but that doesn't make it any less irritating. I try to avoid confrontation, so I typically just stare them down. Angrily. Letting them know I'm staring them down.

Still, this is more frustrating to me than the cars - cars around here are somewhat used to cyclists, they give us a wide berth and in turn I stick to right half of the lane usually. But these pedestrians! Oi! Very irritating.

Mchaz

I have learned just to slow down on campus. Going fast is not worth the risk with all of the car/ped/bike traffic.

bmclaughlin807

I'm just trying to figure out what your bike has to do with it... the idiots do the same thing with cars.

I was going 20 mph downtown one day... about to cross an intersection at a green light and some moron walks right out in front of me, pulling his ~5 year old kid!!! Let me tell you.... a '79 Chevy Blazer makes a hell of a squeal when you lock up all 4 31" tires!

Bolo Grubb

+1

Campus is crazy with ear bud wearing, cell phone chatting, non-attentive peds. Slow down and expect them to do stupid things.

gosmsgo

ARe you still getting like 8 mpg in that thing?

AEO

The problem is, you're at a campus. That's where the worst peds gather together and throw themselves in front of on-coming vehicles.
I've recently had a few peds ignore that I was there. I usually like to continue on my way if I catch it in time, but yell "F-bomb, you idiot" in addition if it scared the crap out of me. I actually nearly took down a jay-walker because she didn't see me.
Some of them start walking on an amber light to get across the street, and mind you, this is at an intersection that has count down signals installed to let you know that you should wait for the next cycle.

stormchaser

Airzound!

chephy

It doesn't just happen on campuses only. People do it on the road to me all the time. Usually though that means that there are no cars behind me and I can swerve in any which direction I want to go around them. Though a couple of times they tried to step right in front of me while looking in the opposite direction, or right through me. *sigh*

Paramemetic

Fair enough about slowing down, I mainly run into the problem on a particular downhill where there's fast but sparse vehicular traffic but no crosswalk - and I suppose you're right that I'm sure these blokes do the same thing with motorists too, I just notice it that the car I'm following will pass and they'll step out in front of me as if I can't harm them as I'm on a bicycle rather than in an armored car.

bmclaughlin807

That 'thing' was totaled last spring when some idiot rear ended (at over 100mph) it while parked. I hadn't driven it for over a year at that point, anyway...

So... no, I'm not.

mandovoodoo

Isn't a new problem. I hit one in the early 70s. Stepped out from behind a parked van. Hurt my shoulder and nearly took me down! I just had time to lean into them a little. I was surprised to recover without going down. No idea what happened to the ped! Grazed many others while evading. I wasn't going fast. Folks would just change direction, suddenly step off the sidewalk, etc.

I suspect part of the problem is that we don't make any noise.

Were I riding in a city I'd use lights and bright clothes all the time. And probably ding a bell whenever I saw a person. But I don't ride in a city anymore.

EnigManiac

In any environment where there is a greater liklihood of pedestrians or other traffic sharing your public space---remember, that is what all campus roads, greenways, downtown streets etc. are: public spaces---slow down! It's not rocket science. Clearly, the conditions call for cautious speeds. Whether you think the pedestrians are doing something illegal, stupid or dangerous or not, slow down. The conditions demand it. Whether you're in a car or on a bike, proceed slowly. Often, campuses have much lower speed limits. There's a reason for that. Because they want you to travel at very low speeds because there's a lot of pedestrians traffic. Just because you're riding on a road does not mean pedestrians are not permitted on it. Man, some cyclists really do think and behave like they're cagers sometimes.

Mr. Underbridge

I think you're misconstruing what he's saying, and this effect isn't limited to 'pulic spaces'. Also, I think he's traveling under the speed limit from what he says, so that's not an issue. And you can't go slow enough such that some moron ped doesn't dart out into the street between parked cars. Even being as cautious as you can, evolution has not yet equipped cyclists with 360 degree x-ray vision.

I've had the same thing happen to me many times (not on a college campus). I'm on my bike, following a line of cars. We're equally spaced, traveling same speed. The ped waits until the cars pass and then steps out in front of me. It could be visibility (of us by them), it could be they're not used to bikes going fast, it could be that the bike just short-circuited their handful of functioning neurons.

Now what's that about pedestrians being allowed in the road (presumably not at crosswalks)? That sounds like jaywalking to me.

EnigManiac

I understood the situation, believe me. I frequently ride through UofT here in Toronto, a huge urban campus with hundreds of thousands of students. They frequently cross streets to get from one building to another. These streets have moderate traffic and bike lanes. It doesn't matter. They cross anyway. But because I know there is a strong liklihood that people will suddenly appear in my path, I ride slower than I normally would---and I'm not a terribly fast rider anyway. People jaywalk everywhere. If we don't anticipate it and expect it, we shouldn't be operating any vehicle.

Read the thread on shared spaces, i.e. naked streets. In my study of the concept, when all controls are removed EVERYONE---motorists, cyclists, scooter riders, motorcyclists and pedestrians all become very cautious and slow down. Where the system is being used, traffic managers are reporting that the only collisions reported to them are between cyclists and pedestrians. None are serious and there are few of them, but cyclists sometimes think they have the right of way in situations where they may not AND pedestrians sometimes don't perceive cyclists as a serious threat, thinking the cyclist will merely veer around them.

The thing is if you are travelling slowly through parking lots or narrow campus roads and you're still encountering near-collisions, you're still going too fast for the conditions. It doesn't matter whether peds are jaywalking or not. It doesn't matter what the speed limit is. We need to recognize and adjust to the environment. Signs and laws don't know what the environment is. Our eyes do. The conditions demand everyone proceed slowly.

tarwheel 

Get a bell or horn. Your situation is comparable to riding on a MUT. You have to adjust your riding habits to the situation, and unfortunately that includes clueless pedestrians. A bell/horn would at least provide you a little more protection.

BigDaddyPete

I work on a major university campus just south of my location, and I see it all the time. I sometimes like to sit outside on a nice day and watch the cellphone chattering, earbud wearing, morons ride thier giant cruiser bikes into one another, parked bikes, the occaisional wall, steps, garbage cans and just about anything you would think people smart enough to go to this school would know to watch out for. I especially chuckle when they ride into one another and no one even hits the brakes, thats my favorite. But I am really careful when I have to ride around when they are out in force.

Mr. Underbridge

I did read it. To me, that sounds like a nice way of saying 'increased congestion and less throughput.' Don't know how universally workable that system is; it looks like it's been tried in areas with light congestion. This wouldn't work in areas with crowds of peds because they'll never stop and cars will never be able to move. In any event, that's not currently the law of the land, so it's not relevant to the current topic.
From the description of the OP, he probably did in fact have the right away. It sounds like what this is distilling into is 'pedestrians generally do stupid things,' which is most certainly the case.
The 'conditions' are a result of a certain foot-traveling portion of the populace simply breaking the law. I also don't get the impression we're talking about a narrow alley on a campus; larger colleges have sizeable, real roads that run through them (or near them). In any event, all forms of traffic are obligated to obey markings. We don't defend it when it's motorists, it shouldn't be different for pedestrians. It would be different if we were talking about people who were literally mentally deficient; as it is, we're talking about willful breaking of the law which has significant impact on our safety.

Lt.Gustl

I have trouble walking around and pedestrians either stepping backwards or doing some such other oblivious move that causes me to have to avoid bumping into them..

Once I was in the city (NYC) with some friends it was a Saturday night and there were plenty of idiot out of towners mulling about as we were navigating to the appartment of one of my friends... some dimwit almost pokes my eye out pointing across the street... He and his group were mulling allong at half the speed of everyone else on the sidewalk looking clueless, totally sober but all had blank idiot faces to match their HS sports team jackets. Likely looking around for a bar that would accept there fake ID's.. So as the idiot sticks his finger in my face I grab it with one hand and push him back with the other as I said nothing but gave him a mean look as I kept going on my way. the Ass just opened his mouth and tilted his head like a confused monkey.

there are stupid people everywhere and unless it's death race 2000 you have to leave them alone.

bmclaughlin807

Earlier this week I was in the mall food court, balancing a tray with food and a soda on it with one hand... wait for an opening and try to cross behind this lady to get over to the tables.

She does a 180 degree pivot in place and walks right into me... The entire food court stopped and stared when I yelled 'HEY!' in my 'You idiot motorist, you almost ran over me!' voice.... You should have SEEN the look on her face! Priceless. Her husband (Now two paces away) just shakes his head and keeps going the direction he'd been going.

I managed to save the tray... the drink fell over on the tray, but the lid kept it from spilling very much.

Yes... people are stupid everywhere.

BarracksSi

That's why, whenever I have to carry a tray by one hand (I try to hold them with two hands anyway), I always hold the cup with my thumb and a couple fingers along with the corner of the tray -- usually the far corner so I can tuck the tray closer to my body. Somebody would actually have to purposely try hitting the tray out of my hands to knock anything off of it.

bmclaughlin807

I've got pretty fast reflexes... I went from balancing it on one hand to it resting across my forearm, my hand around the far edge and the near edge against my chest without dropping anything. I almost didn't spill the drink... it was just a little too top heavy, though. (Darn sodas with their wide tops and narrow bottoms!)

Sammyboy

I had a guy just step into the road without looking on a road in London that's very quiet car-wise, but is a main cycle route. I cut as close as I possibly could to him, and whispered "excuse me" in his ear as I whisked past. He jumped out of his skin, and the apologised a lot as I rode away.

cerewa

When I am moving at the same speed as cars, I usually don't ride toward the right side of the lane. I ride in the middle.

If I'm following a car and a pedestrian steps out, behind the car, I usually have room to continue because if they're approaching from the right I move to the left half of the lane. Because of the fact that I'm in the middle of the lane, I don't have to move far to get to whichever half of the lane is empty of pedestrians, so I don't have to do a hard swerve, which would feel dangerous. Such an easy "swerve" as moving 2 to 3 feet right or left in your lane is usually very safe even at 20+ mph.

Lot's Knife

Hundreds of thousands of students? Please.

zonatandem

As a vehcile, have your met any other vehicles on that sidewalk? Scooter, motorcycle, car, trucks?
Either your ride the road or 'walk' on the side'walk!'