Originally Posted by Wulfheir
I've only been biking for the last 6 months or so. In that time I have had far more close encounters with people just walking out in front of me, than cars. I'm not talking about them using marked crosswalks. They have the right of way, that's a given. I have seen this happen many times, and yesterday it was done on snow/ice and could easily have caused me to bail, or hit her. Pedestrian walking on sidewalk, does a quick check up and down the street and begins to j-walk, right IN FRONT of me. This is in the afternoon, well lit. A 12-year old did it to me a couple of weeks ago with his friend, it's like they are saying, "Oh yeah, you think you can use the street to ride your bike, well watch this!" Then procede to stand in front of me. I promptly told them to **** off and that they could have gotten hurt. I didn't say anything to the lady yesterday because I was struggling to keep my bike up right. Making myself more visible will do nothing because they already see me.
What should I do?
Pedestrians! A plague almost as bad as squirrels! (See
http://www.chainreaction.com/squirrels.htm for details on this menace!) I have had whole flocks of pedestrians scatter in front of me in every conceivable directions including straight up! I came upon a herd of 4 pedestrians once, called out "On your left!" and had them go in 7 different directions!
Once, while riding in Downtown Denver, I turn right from 17th Street to Tremont (properly and legally) at about 15 miles per hour. Three or four car lengths from the corner, I heard a woman calling to friends on my right just as she darted between two parked cars and she body checked me in a manner that would put a hockey player to shame! I went down and she came right on down with me. She popped up, asked if I was alright, I mumbled something about I think so and she took off like a startled deer. I still have the image of her bounding across 3 lanes of traffic without so much as a run in her nylons while I was laying on the road with a left leg that looked like it had been attacked by a power sander! She even managed to bend the crank arm on my bike!
About the only thing you can do to deal with them is to watch out for them and assume that they are as dumb as a post. Either that or assume that they are part of an evil plot out to kill the cyclists of the world.