Troul 

if you're tubeless & wax your chain, that gives you the default entitled right-a-way.

Mtracer

I agree with everyone else here, if I'm B I slow until it's safe to pass. If I'm A, I may or may not slow, but will be at the ready should B try to pass.

I've been B once and done the stupid by accident. Went to pass some adult riders and had plenty of time to do so, not plenty of time to pass the 4 kids in front of them I couldn't see. I got around and I don't think A even needed to slow, but I think I made them pucker up a bit. As a result of this, I make sure to not just have enough time to pass, but have some extra. I.E., err on the side of caution.

genejockey 

There's ONE pedway I ride on, because it's only ever very lightly populated. It's wide, probably at least 8'. There's a dotted yellow line down the middle, and each lane is divided by another white line. My interpretation is Slow Traffic Keep Right. Based on my observations, maybe 70% of walkers agree. The other 30%? Based on where they walk, they're either anarchists, or British.

bmanpgh

I've seen every one of these -- including the one on skates on a gravel path (compacted limestone though). The same day the scenario I described happened to me twice, I was later behind three walkers the other day and said "Passing on the left" and all three started slowly moving to the left. Luckily, I still had time and said "No, I'll go left, you go right" and they scuttled off to the right, blaming each other for the dumb move.

bmanpgh

No, but I have no doubt the same things happen there. There are a lot of rail trails around here and people cyclists and walkers share them. 80% of the time, it's fine.

bmanpgh

Loved this one, LOL.

bmanpgh

Thanks for all the replies -- It's good to see the variety of thoughts on this and some of them made me laugh out loud.
This isn't what I'd call a "pedway" -- it's a wide, (probably eight feet or so) crushed limestone path that is intended for cyclists and walkers to share. It's a trail in the suburban/rural areas; not a sidewalk.

What was remarkable to me the other day is that this happened not once but twice where cyclist B did the wrong thing. In one situation, I was cyclist A and assumed that B wouldn't do it but, well, I was wrong and he decided that the silver-haired walkers were more-or-less gates on their personal slalom course. In the second, I was actually behind cyclist B and sensed that he was going to do the wrong thing but didn't say anything. Cyclist A did the right thing which, in this case, was to utter a single word to let cyclist B know what orifice he resembled.

As cyclist A, I hesitate to move over to give B room lest that encourages him/her to make the dumb move. I probably should though.

As cyclist B, I always slow down and wait for the other cyclist to pass and try to stay well behind the walkers to keep from spooking them ('cause that happens and for good reason). However, it's excruciating when cyclist A slows down and I have to practically stop to wait for them to pass.

This picture with people across the path will give you a sense for how wide it is...

spclark 

Ditto. Walkers have dibs on safety, rider A has right-of-way for negotiating the passage but bears responsibility for keeping everyone safe. Rider B must yield to walkers first, then rider A as they pass the walkers and rider B behind, then pass walkers in as safe a manner as possible even if that requires dismounting and walking his ride past them until it's safe to continue.

Depending on circumstances – pretty much upon the awareness and age of the walkers – rider B shouting ON YOUR LEFT when approaching walkers from behind may help maintain safety for all. I do this fairly often when I encounter walkers in front of me, I've never had one not show appreciation for the warning in some way once I draw close.

When I was a kid we had little spring-loaded bell thingies on our handlebars for just such times. I'm not aware those are in common usage anymore. Freon-powered boat horns I AM aware of would be a poor substitute under pretty much any condition I can conceive of finding myself in.

Nice. You're fortunate in that. Paths where I ride are rarely wider than half the width of what you show there so manners are maybe even more important.

rumrunn6

some ppl are in their own little world. I find that lovers are the most absent minded


sometimes the decision is easy




some groups give you no choice but to thread the needle. but if their face is buried in their phone, you gotta slow down

Bald Paul

If I'm rider B, just yell "On your left!" and watch the walkers move that direction, directly in front of rider A. Then go around the carnage.

genejockey 

A: Doing it right.
B: Thinks she's in England
C: Anarchist

Chuck M 

If I am rider A or B I slow down when I encounter pedestrians. I will most often slow down for cyclists too because they can think they own the path.

Camilo

Both should slow and be cautious and courteous. But B needs to just wait until it's safe to go into the opposite lane to pass the peds.

bruce19

Direction of the walkers? Walkers on our roads walk in the direction of oncoming traffic. It's often the same on our rail/trails. And, in this case, when they see B coming they are apt to go single file to give more room.

_ForceD_

Some people (i.e. non-cycling motorists-walkers) are oblivious. On my most recent ride…while riding down a road that isn’t too busy with traffic, but has ample parking on the sides…a car passed me and then pulled off to park on the RIGHT shoulder about 75-100 yards ahead of me. The driver got out and stood next to his car for a second or two, and looked only to his RIGHT (that would be straight ahead for me) to cross the road. As I got closer, it appeared to me that he was just going to stand there. So, with no cars behind me, I swerved out closer to the centerline. Then just as I got there…still having not looked in my direction…he began to cross the road and stepped right in front of me. I yelled and it startled him, and I swerved again just narrowly missing him by a couple inches. He says to me “Hey watch it!” as if the close encounter was my fault. If I had been a motor vehicle he would have been flattened.

Dan

Maelochs

Yeah ... ummmmm .... what? Do stop signs and traffic lights cause you ten-level pain? Do railroad crossings leave you lying, whimpering, in a puddle of sweat?

We share the road---we share the hole world--with a variety of people , and not all of them use what we would call "logic" or "reason" or even "awareness" in all situations.

Neither do we ourselves.

Whenever I am not inside my home or in my fenced-in back yard, I expect to have to react to Stupid Human Tricks. When riding, even more so. and on a few occasions, I have been the Stupid Human Trickster.

When I am perfect, I will never beat at fault, so I will not feel guilty when I accuse others .... but when I am perfect, I will have perfect compassion and will not get upset by my imperfect human compatriots.

I am not there yet, anyway. Maybe later on today, or maybe tomorrow.

Iride01 

I've had your situation happen all too often. I've started tricking the cyclist coming the other way into thinking I'm riding fast by shifting to a lower gear and pedaling a very high cadence. That seems to throw off their perception and they slow to stay behind the walkers or other traffic. When I use to coast as I approached the on-coming walkers, other cyclist behind them use to pass and not take into account my speed coasting correctly.

spclark 

I'm inclined to lower my guard at such times also, but not entirely. Been surprised at some level more than once to an unwelcome intruder, even then. Just seems to be part of the human condition.

Paul Barnard

When I am rider A, I do not move far right initially. I stay more or less center of my side of the path to try to discourage an unsafe pass. This technique worked twice for me today and failed once. If they insist on hitting the squeeze, I'll move right and shake my head in contempt. Why would a cyclist who'd be upset if a motorist squeeze passed them, in turn squeeze pass a pedestrian. As rider A, I have to be aware that if B squeeze passes and the pedestrians do something unpredictable (which of course they never do) I might get caught up in the melee. I scrub some speed if B gets stupid.

As rider B, I start slowing as soon as I realize that we are going to arrive at the same time. I do not squeeze. I also try to stay far enough back that the peds don't hear me. I don't want them to feel any pressure to do anything. I want them to keep walking.

spclark 

What I've bolded sums up my sense of how we need to think about outcomes in the fractions of seconds left for actions that can be taken to protect everyone's best interests.

We can't know with any certainty how the various participants will react; we can only imagine scenarios in which our choices affect the possibilities, then make our choice from actions we can take that might lead to the best outcome of what we see ahead.

Gets really complicated the greater the number of participants are involved, children for example, or pets.

rsbob 

There is a MUP I used to commute on as well as cut my teeth on becoming a semi-serious rider. There are three under crossings with very limited sight lines, but they do have a line down the middle to indicate the lanes. Not surprisingly there have been several rider on rider and rider on pedestrian (either on the wrong side) accidents, most requiring EMTs. As a result, where sight is limited, I go full gas slow to a crawl.

Eric F 

Nah, man. You want to spend as little time in hazardous conditions as you can. Go as fast as possible. Same applies to driving.

rsbob 

In Germany, the maximum when driving in fog is ‘drive faster’ so you don’t get rear-ended.

SpeedyBlueBiker

Sounds like a typical day on the Burke-Gilman or Sammamish River Trail. Be careful out there which is why I avoid those two trails on the weekend.

Broctoon

That's a clever analogy, but I don't really understand it, because I've never been into golf.