Delicate situation - suggestions please...........
 

Situation:- I am on the MUP coming home from work.
Path is about wide enough for 8 ft wide I'd guess.
Outbound, there is a pedestrian ahead walking about 3 mph at the far left.
I'm also outbound coming up behind the pedestrian and keeping left speed about 10 mph.
I'm planning my safe diversion around the pedestrian - normally a simple thing.
There is another pedestrian inbound. All three of us will be side to side coincidentally - still no problem, because both pedestrians are keeping left and I can fit in the middle.

Suddenly I see the light of another cyclist behind me. He is obviously doing 20 mph. His speed is such that if he keeps going we will all (the 4 of us) be side-by-side on the path at the same spot. We could just fit, but it is dark and there is a risk of one person just moving off there line a little which would result in an accident.

What is recommended behavior?
We can assume pedestrians probably won't move (one of them has no idea there are 2 cyclists behind her).
So it is basically up to the cyclists to observe some sort of courtesy/ rule.
Should the front rider (me) slow down, so the faster rider can hopefully not plow up my date but swerve around and keep going?
Or, should the fast rider, slow down, he can see all 4 people?

Sounds like a crash in the making.

First, where is your bell/siren for alerting the pedestrians that you're about to pass? As you pointed out, if one of the walkers moves out of line while you're passing it could result in an accident.

If I were the rider going 10mph, I would stop and let the other cyclist pass. I wouldn't assume that he's going to observe any form of courtesy by slowing down and passing safely. I'll assume everyone is incompetent and wreckless and is going to take stupid chances and so it's up to me to break the chain of circumstances that leads to an accident. Don't rely on the judgement of other people. Take action yourself to prevent a wreck. That's my take. :thumb:

Don't know how your MUPs work in detail, in the UK most paths I've seen that are shared between pedestrians and cyclists make it pretty clear that pedestrians have priority. "Shared path" means they shouldn't be difficult about letting you through but ultimately it's your job to slow down for them rather than their job to be out of the way in time. So assume they won't move, especially if they don't know you're there.

20mph on a shared path when there are pedestrians visible seems excessive, if he really was going that fast. I always reckon the best bet is to assume everybody else is a monumental bonehead who will do just the wrong thing at the worst time and go from there. If you really want to teach your man behind a lesson then pull to the middle nice and early and force him to either slow down or do something really stupid, but if you do that be aware the consequences might be a nasty crash.

Your job is to yield to all parties and YELL if necessary to alert them and avoid the collision. Having you, the possible lone party fully aware of the potential for mayhem, able to try to counteract the danger is the thing to do.

A preferable situation would be to exercise even more diligence to keep these instances from occuring at all. Be more aware of your surroundings and act sooner if you are able.

I suppose I'd holler at the approaching bike, "Look out! They don't know you're here!". Meaning the peds don't know he's there. He might or might not do the right thing, of course. But that's not really your concern other than seeing to it that you're not on top of them when he hits the bottleneck. This might also alert the walker with his/her back to you that something's up.

Other than that I'd also make sure that you never allow yourself to be sandwiched between two peds like that. I'd adjust my speed so that I pass one and then the other.

I like this one... fast easy and simple. Just yell "bikes approaching" and slow down enough to avoid the situation.

Brake hard, pull off the path, laugh at the ensuing mayhem as you continue along your way.

It's no guarantee the peds will hear you, or even react, at least on the MUP where I go. I can afford to slow down to their speed, since I'm on a trike, but often the peds will defy you even when you call out, because there's this pedestrian vs. cyclist thing going on. Then in the streets there's the motorist versus cyclist thing, no wonder so many of the cyclists get cranky... I would likely slow down, wait until the faster cyclist passes, and the peds move over, then proceed. A pain in the neck at times, but better than hitting somebody. :/

Slow down and time it so that the pedestrians have started walking away from each other and you can pass behind them. There's more room and less chance of a panic jump that way.

The cyclist behind can slow down and pass after you're both clear from the pedestrians.

ps, I am the cyclist going 20 in this scenario, which I encounter often on my daily commute. No way am I going to rush around and put people in danger just to keep my speed up for an extra 20 seconds or so. Do it the safest way and let that guy react to circumstances. I'd use a hand signal in your situation but otherwise the faster guy in back can just wait for his chance to pass.

First pedestrians have the ROW, then the guy approaching from the rear (20mph) would need to adjust his speed to safely overtake the vehicle ahead while still giving the peds the ROW

In similar situations back when I rode MUPs I would slow down, extend my left arm straight out to create a little visual barrier and yell "Walkers!".

Unless the path were very wide I'd not consider passing in the middle between the walkers.

Can no one think for themselves any more?

You have to slow down-and yell- way EARLY--passing to your right (you pass right-like a Brit right).
You are slowing down so you will have more time to avoid any screw ups by a fellow path user.

Not much you can do about the 20 mph bike rider-isn't there a speed limit-what is it? Just make sure you hold a line-no sudden moves-so he can-probably- speed around you.

Unfortunately many walkers are startled by sudden yells-PASSING ON RIGHT- and speeding bikes. They will move the wrong direction.
This is why riders shouldn't speed by pedestrians- never pass at more than maybe 7-8 mph-roughly 3x their speed.
Walkers can't kill one another in "crashes"- but bikes certainly can-so we are more responsible.

Why would you pass the Peds when they are side by side? If this situation was cars/bikes and in the street you'd be a huge jerk for passing between to cyclists on a narrow road. We expect cars to slow and pass safely on the street, we should be doing the same for vulnerable MUP users, pedestrians.

Not sure how I'd handle the other cyclist but probably just slow up and make my position more towards the center to try to encourage other guy to slow down.

Agreed, when I'm a ped I have to keep looking behind me, and on an MUP, I have to wear my cycling mirror, because so many cyclists pass close and too fast. My daughter has some cognitive problems at times, and might step too far out toward the middle. We've had some close calls. This being a shared MUP, and not a divided ped and bike lane MUP. At the very least, make some sort of noise or warning, it happens too quickly for some folks.

Or just ride in the damn grass when you go past the pedestrians...

Right- like Special I hit the grass if there is grass.I ride a 26" 2" tire rigid mtb- so no problem with rough surfaces or grass.Not sure how squirrely really skinny tire high pressure bikes are on grass- but they must be grass capable,I guess?
Is there?

Standard rules of traffic: everybody MUST yield to slower traffic in front of them and pass only when it's safe to pass.

On an MUP, that means that the slow bike needs to yield to the walkers, and the fast bike needs to yield to the slow bike.

If I were in this situation, I'd move to the center immediately and signal a slow/stop to the fast cyclist behind me. I'd then use a bell, followed by my voice, to alert the walkers that I'm passing. Only when it's clear that the walkers see and understand what's behind them will I proceed to pass.

There's nothing you can do about the sociopathic @$$hole who won't slow down for anything -- but this way, if he tries to weave around you and through the pedestrians, it will at least be clearly his fault.

I Would Stop Get a drink and let the moment pass..... The othe bike was going to pass you any ways so it would be better just to stop and relax.... if there was a accident waiting to happen YOU Would not be involved.....Or at least slow way down so your timing would be different .....

Simply:

Slow down to a very, very safe speed - maybe "jogging" speed, but some sort of pedestrian speed, not a bicycle speed.

Aggressively use the "stop/slowing" hand signal to the cyclist behind you.

Call out to pedestrians, honk horn, ring bell, whatever you may do.

What's the uncertainty?

I certainly would never pass between two pedestrians without either slowing to near walking speed, or calling out well ahead of time and making sure that BOTH acknowledge. If the same-direction walker does not acknowledge, you have no choice but to slow to a pedestrian's speed to make the pass.

The cyclist behind you needs to be controlled in this situation, just like someone following you in a pace line. It is totally unacceptable for him to pass you in this situation. Just like you must have a way to signal slowing/stopping in a car (brake lights), you need to use the hand signal to show the person behind you that you are braking and he/she needs to do the same. Just as you would do in a paceline if you're anticipating a slowing or stopping, simply use the hand signal, but use it very aggressively.

Ah, but doesn't or shouldn't "shared use" paths be for EVERYONE to use EQUALLY regardless of the "vehicle" that they're using? And shouldn't pedestrians have an obligation to use the "shared use" path in a safe manner, just as the cyclists do?

I have a "shared/multi-use" path that I ride on, on a regular basis that has a posted speed limit of 20MPH. The only real complaint(s) that I have about it are the people who walk their dogs either off leash or on leashes that are longer than 6' long, or pedestrians who are taking up the entire width of the path as they walk, or cyclists who likewise are riding two or more abreast and not going single file when they encounter a cyclist traveling towards them.

As I first said (at least to me) "shared/multi-use" path means that everyone can use the path equally. And if one persons use of the path interferes with another person's usage of the path than that first person is wrong.

Ah, but just how far is the OP suppose to go in preventing a crash? Should the OP place themselves in danger in order to prevent the faster cyclist from impacting with the pedestrians? I'm sure that like many of us here that you have encountered pedestrians who can best be described as "iPod zombies." And that nothing short of a gun/cannon blast is going to penetrate their music.

The rule is that bikes yield to peds. Yeah, peds should be careful. But bikes yield to peds.
They may be wrong, but you still have to yield to them.

You have to yield to them. Even if they don't hear you because they're blasting Black Eyed Peas on their iPods. You may even have to *stop* your bike.

I agree that we need to yield to pedestrians, but that doesn't absolve them of taking responsibility for their safety. That means (or should) that they keep the volume on their "iPod" at a level that they can actually hear what is going on around them so that they are not "surprised" by an approaching cyclist, car or another pedestrian.

Again, I agree, and didn't mean to say/imply that we didn't have an obligation to yield to them, but again they also have an obligation to use shared resources in a safe and responsible manner.

Again, I agree with you. When I'm riding through several of the local parks more often than not it appears that I am about the only person who slows down when encountering pedestrians. But again, that doesn't absolve pedestrians of acting in a safe and responsible manner themselves.

Also on the MUP that I ride most often it is a divided path when one is traveling "north" pedestrians are suppose according to the signs along the MUP to stay to the right and bikes to the left. And the reverse when traveling "south" on the MUP. Sadly, it appears so few actually do.

At any given time one will find pedestrians over on the bicycle side of the MUP and vice-a-versa. And sadly when one encounters a pedestrian who is on the bicycle side of the MUP the pedestrian(s) almost always "glare" at the cyclists as if they were the one doing something wrong.

As I've said I didn't mean to say/infer that cyclists shouldn't yield to pedestrians, but pedestrians also have a responsibility to use the shared resources safely.

Pedestrians are random. Slow down, say hi, make your way safely around them. What the other rider does is his problem. You can't ride everyone's bike at the same time, just worry about riding yours.