Please help my wife and me understand each other's opinion on this. Is it better to pass a cyclist or pedestrian with a single "ding" of your bell, or to verbalize "passing" or "on your left"?

She believes that words are less upsetting and more effective. She finds the bell offensive. Okay.

I'm partial to the "ding", because I think that it's distinct from the rest of the surrounding sounds. I think that both work fine, but the voice fails me. Especially if I'm working hard or am parched. The result from suddenly trying to speak is, well, underwhelming unless I yell.

Again, there's no animosity between us on this, just a difference of opinion.

What say you?

Phil

I say you should follow the convention in your area. On the major MUP around here, pretty much everyone says "On your left!", and people know what to do. In other places, bells seem more common.

Personally, I don't see what would be "offensive" about a bell. As long as someone isn't just ringing it to be obnoxious, what's wrong with it?

I usually give a quick "ding-ding" from afar and then say, "on-your-left", just before passing...

I think the convention in my area is to scare the crap out of people on the MUP after both using your bell and stating "passing!" as they had their headphones on and couldn't hear you if you fired a Howitzer to announce your presence.

Why waste my breathe on a slower rider or ped.

Ding, ding, ding....

Unless you yell, which gets tiring and old really fast, they aren't gonna hear you until you're right on top of them anyway. I prefer to ding the bell when I'm getting close.

Ding the bell or use your words...whatever is more convenient. There are other things to be offended about...such as saying, "Move your ugly fat ass on an ugly bike, out of my way!"

This is my position. The bell is much easier to hear.

There is no right answer. Pedestrians are totally unpredictable and whatever you do is wrong. If you shout, you are being rude. If you use a bell you are being rude. If you warn people of your presence, they jump across the road like headless chickes or cower by the side till the "danger" has passed. If you approach a group and one person sees or hears you, they wont tell the others. If you approach a couple, they do the Split-S manouvre so you have to ride between them. If a dog hears you bell, he wont tell his owner to reel in the lead.

+1 on the no right answer.
On Sunday, I started my 10 mi am ride on MUP. Had a couple on matching bikes ahead. He was riding to the right of MUP. She was slowly weaving behind him across the entire width of the MUP. Dinged my bell a couple of times, finally yelled OYL, and as she weaved to right I started my pass. I was nearly abreast of her, when she started to weave right into me. Rode off onto to the grass to keep from crashing. I looked over at her, wanted to say something, and noticed she had hearing aids. Dead batteries? Turned off? I don't know. Didn't say anything. Would she have heard or understood anyway?

I'm usually breathing anyway, aren't you?

Truth.

+1 to doohickee's video, that is pretty much what I've found. If I yell on the left, as often as not, the pedestrian will move to the left. For me a bell works better, that is assuming they don't have an ear bud firmly implanted.

I find that I can't really yell without sounding mean. To me a bike bell is a nice sounds. Ding or brrrring. Isn't it a friendly sound?

[QUOTE=Doohickie;13154252

Truth.[/QUOTE]

Nice Video, Doohickie!

Now that's what I'm talkin' bout!!!

Ding a ling ,ding a ling. Singing hidey ho brother don'tcha know they will move when they hear my ding a ling, ding a ling!

I do the "ding ding.........ding ding" and not the DING!DING!DING!DING!

I get lots of friendly comments like, I thought it was the ice cream man!:

I did get a "YEAH YEAH I HEAR YOU!" from one hard core wannabe. I figure his obnoxious reply was part of his own arrogance in response to my wife effortlessly rolling around his sorry ass!

I'm with the ding ding dingies

I do an "on your left" and ding if they don't move over. The people on the bike path usually understand "on your left" better, but pedestrians react better to the bell.

The worst, and I repeat WORST are the ******** who walk in the bike lane on the descent of the NYC bridges. Nothing like going 30mph+ when a stupid tourists decides to abruptly walk in front of me to take a picture. I hate them, and would not feel bad if I clipped them. Theres a reason why there are separate lanes.

Nice...but, that is in Japan...totally different set of values. I lived there for 2 years...can't wait to visit again.

I will say with years of experience that a BELL works 10x better than your voice. I don't see how a bell could possibly offend anyone, but if it did, screw them. I'm more concerned with keeping myself and everyone else safe.

That video above is pretty accurate for the states too. Much of the time they don't even turn around. They know it's a bicycle and scoot to their right.

LOL at the escalator btw.

I usually say some form of 'good day'. I don't have a bell.

I absolutely HATE "On your left". I KNOW what it means. Even so,by the time I am able to consciously process what's going on when I hear those words from behind me, I find I have already moved left by a couple of inches, thus moving in the way of the one trying to pass me.

It's easier for me to hear bells. I can't hear you when you say "to your left" i'm deaf in my left ear -_-

I often ride on the same MUP as the OP and perceive current practice is evenly split between bells and voices (for those that actually announce their presence). I currently say "passing" to avoid confusion regarding left / right. I don't want them to move left or right, just be aware that someone is going to pass them and they should maintain a straight line.

The tone of the bell or voice is probably more important than which device is used.

I would think that after you've heard it over ten times, you wouldn't have much to process by now...