so yesterday i was headed out to do some interval/sprints with my racing buddy as preparation for our race Sunday and our big big race the following Saturday (with 3500meters of vertical!)

and on the way we're riding through town at a decent clip... between 30 and 35km/h on the mountain bike... and we're alternating between riding the bike paths (legally required) and the street --- legally in munich you're REQUIRED by law to ride on the paths with a special sign (which these did) but usually if i'm riding over about 25km/h or definitely 30km/h i will hop on to the road even if some cars get pissed off occasionally b/c the paths are just not safe with all the pedestrains right next to you at that speed (it is a BIKE-ONLY path, but the pedestrian path is right next to it so people are constantly crossing and walking there w/o looking)

anyway, we had been in the street and then i switched to the path b/c i had to slow down to adjust my shoe. my friend stayed in the street. after i adjusted my shoe i started slowly accelerating again - as i was going about 20 or 25km/h there was a slight right-hand curve ahead and a few pedestrains to the right --- a woman and her maybe 10-year-old daughter. the woman had her hand around the daughter who was on her right. as i approached the kid started running straight ahead and i moved my fingers to the brake levers... then the kid was between the mother and me so blocked briefly from my vision. suddenly at the last second the kid makes a 90degree left and is RIGHT in front of me! i could not swerve right b/c the mom was there. direclty to my left was a trash can and ahead to the left was a glass and metal bus stop... i slammed on the brakes. then the kid stopped directly in my path so she was just to the right of my front wheel and her shoulder in line with the right side of my handlebar. i'm not sure, but i think i pulled the bar back to the right to "cushion" a blow to the kid and i also pulled the brakes to the max which sent me flying over the bars. i don't think i flipped, but kind of got catapulted over the bars but kept my feet sort of under me so i landed on my right foot and my left knee with my left hand grabbing the pole of the bus stop and my left hand on the ground. the bike lay on the ground behind me and i was between the bike and the kid who was still standing.

anyway, before i was off the ground the mom had grabbed the kid and was yelling at her for running into the path ---- i got the impression the mom had just finished telling her not to run in the path -- and i was a little shocked as she hadn't really checked the kid to see if she was ok. i was just kind of staring and tryng to get over the jolt and the woman says "sorry, it's her first time in munich so shes doesn't know about bike lanes" and then a bystander who seemed to be hanging out as a witness that i had done nothing wrong asked if all was ok and the mom says "yeah, it was her fault. she just ran into the bike path"... then she asks me if i'm ok. but i feel a little funny as i had just hit a kid going 15km/h or so... so i kind of glance at my bike and check my knee and everything seems ok. so i say i think i'm ok. she apologizes again and i check my knee a little better - no scrape. so i ask if the kid is ok (the kid looked scared although honestly i'm not sure if it was from the collision or b/c she was scared b/c she had disobeyed the mom). so the mother apologizes again and i say it's all ok since nobody's hurt and ride off.

but wow, could have been bad! i mean i could have slammed into the trash can or the glass/metal bus stop or i could have really hit the girl. as it was i think i just barely hit here as i then flipped the bike and went over the bars...

anyway, supports my view that the bike paths are only safe for speeds up to 20 or 25km/h and i will MORE often ride the road even though it's illegal here. i'd rather go to court or pay a ticket than kill a kid or severly injure myself...

anyway, ride turned out great, although i think i hurt my wrist a little -- hard to say as i had hurt it in an off-road crash last weekend, but it hurts WAY more today... anyway, i'm wearing the wrist-brace for the day and hopefully it'll be ok before the race sunday!

nathank - glad your OK but your right it could have been a lot worse.

I agree with you, I only use mixed bike/pedestrain lanes if I'm going at low speed or I can see that there are no pedestrains at all.

Council planners seem to have into their heads that everyone that rides a bike is going at no more than 10 mph and that a line of paint is sufficient to keep the bikes and pedestrains apart. They are wrong. My 7-year old can go quick enough to cause a pedestrain some serious damage if he hit them when they stray onto the bike part of the paveway through the local park.

Lucky escape nathank.

I ride over a bridge with cyclepaths and footpaths both ways.

The footpath is on the outside each way with the c/p on the inside and about 3 times as broad, and marked with bike signs every few hundred metres.

You still get pedestrians ambling along, families spread out all over the place. Really gets my goat and they look so upset if you point out they are on a cyclepath.

Things turned out suprisingly well (no one seriously injured). Hopefully the kid learned something from this experience.

You did much better than I would have. Given a choice between the kid, the mom, or a bus stop, I would have chosen to collide with mom because mom would be more elastic than the bus stop and mom is probably less breakable than the child.

Dan

the people in Munich are in general surprizingly good about staying out of the bike path --- and i use my bell generously - a bell is a necessity here --- it's mostly tourists that cause major problems. quite frequently i see big groups of asians and i sound the bell and they look around to see what is happening but keep on walking in the bike path...

well, i didn't really have much time to decide... the kid was just suddenly there... there's also a slight raised divider between the bike path and the pedestrian path, so to have hit the mother instead of the kid i would have had to cross this with the brakes full-on which might not have been a good idea. it's only about 5cm (2") high, but with both brakes on and from a side angle it could be a problem... hitting the trash can or bus stop would have been way worse! for me personally it would have been best if i had just moderately braked and slammed into the kid... but then the kid would have been hurt i think as i weigh 73kg...

I'd suggest a bell on the bike.
My main use of the bell is to warn pedestrians on the bike path I'm behind them.

Also at the moment, even here in Europe, the bike path is just that, a path. As far as I'm aware no local authority has yet had the guts to build or even plan a bicycle 'freeway'

Many flat cities could easly have bikeways built, all that would need to be done if for a small but straight and flat road to be re-surfaced and marked and have all the motor powered vehicles banned.

Only HPV's (Human Powered Vehicles) or other wheeled pedestrians would be permitted, so skates and wheelchairs would be OK, one might insist that things like baby buggies and pushed wheelchairs are permitted, but have to travel in the slow lane (like freight on a motorway)

The bikeways, like the car motorways, would have three lanes in each direction which would be wide enough for a recumbent or trike, and only overtaking (not undertaking) would be allowed. They could even go as far as putting a roof over the bikeway.

Cost would be minimal, savings vast. However it needs vision, something that no polotician has.

I hate people that ride too fast.

just as if you were in a car and someone hits their brakes, if your going to fast or following to close, you will hit them.

if there are other people on the path, not going the same speed as you or whatever, SLOW DOWN.

the next guy/gal I see going too fast in this maner is going to get a stick in the front wheel. that is, if I can catch up to them.

seriously, slow down. ride fast some where else or where/when it's safe to all around.

wow, and this coming from someone who doesn't wear a helmet.....

Hey nathank, I thought you were going to say the mom started yelling at YOU even though she and the kid were at fault. That is the reaction I would expect in the US anyway. I used to ride on the beach bike path in Los Angeles, and even though it was isolated from the pedestrian path, and people had the entire beach to walk on, idiot peds would walk on the bike path. Sometimes they would walk 3 or 4 abreast and block the entire path! Idiots. And of course, kids would often stray onto the path, but I could never get mad at them. It's the stupid parents fault for not looking after the kids.

And where exactly would they put it? I know that here on the Gold Coast, for example, there just would not be space for a continuous "bike freeway" that actually went anywhere. I think you'll find this is the case in most cities. This is the main reason that I believe campaiging for bike paths and separate facilities generally is a complete waste of time - not to mention the increasingly violent clashes between cyclists and pedestrians over path space (how many people seem to forget - pedestrians are just drivers lucky enough to find somewhere to park)

I keep hearing people saying "but if it actually went somewhere...", well it isn't going to. Given the amount of space that's already been dedicated to one transport network (around 60% of most urban areas), there's no way anybody in their wildest dreams is going to find space for a second similar transport network without at least partially removing the first one. This isn't going to happen anytime soon.

As far as trying to remove pedestrians goes, this is also a pipe-dream. And I don't see why they should be removed. After all, it's probably their footpath/sidewalk that's been ripped up to make way for the "bike path" in the first place. So why get rid of them at all. Simply put, if you're going to use their space, accept their presence. If not, use the road.