All The World’s Problems Solved Through Proper Bike Path Etiquette

A few days ago I was riding my electric bike down the bike path some 5 miles from home and noticed a couple on bikes getting ready to cross the road and use the bike path. They looked both ways, appeared to look down the bike path towards me, and apparently I had the fantasy that the lady actually made eye contact with me.

They came across the road, still looking in my direction, mind you, and proceeded to pull directly in front of my bike traveling at 14 mph, as if I wasn’t even remotely in their current perception of reality. The lady did happen to notice me at the last second and stopped short within a mere foot of hitting my bike.

So, for the next mile or two, I pondered how they both could have looked for traffic in both directions, looked towards me down the bike path, and yet once they zoomed across the street, they still nearly hit me. Did they not see me, or was it because they were probably tourists and had some weird vacation mojo going on where you don’t see obvious things right in front of your face.

This is not a rare occurrence by the way, it happens nearly every time I take my bike out, which is nearly every single day. Being that this is such a frequent thing since I’m on my bike at least 2 hours a day when the weather is good, it makes me ponder what it is about a bike path that causes people to become so situationally unaware of their surroundings?

There are some basic things about a bike path that many people just don’t seem to get. Traffic goes both ways. Some of that traffic on the path is slow, and some is fast. If you walk with your friends 4 abreast, you will be blocking traffic in both directions. Bike traffic moves faster on the downhill sections, so it’s not a good idea to stop and park your bike perpendicular to the path in those places, or anywhere on the path really. If you pull your vehicle out onto a bike path, or walk into a bike path without looking, you could get hit by something. A bike path is just like a road, there is almost always traffic on it. If you look both ways to cross the road, look both ways before you cross or enter into a bike path.

And if you are riding an electric bike that can go 20mph, don’t ride that fast around people darting in and out between them. Slaloming in and out between people at 20 mph isn’t impressive, it’s dumb.

If you are on a bike, show courtesy when approaching strollers, large groups of people, people parallel parking along the path, young children, intersections, etc. And don’t ride your bike while looking at your phone, especially if you’re riding on the left side of the path. For that matter, don’t ride on the left side at all unless you’re passing someone.

It sometimes feels as if some individuals, most certainly not everyone, but some people lack situational awareness when they venture anywhere near a bike path, and of course, I have not always been the best bike path traveller myself, forgetting the situation when I want to stop, or turn around, or stop and talk to someone, or whatever thing it was that cause someone to nearly hit me.

If you make it a practice to be aware of the situations you are in and how it affects others around you, it makes for a more courteous world for all of us. If you look both ways when you cross the street, don’t let your guard down, look both ways when you venture onto a bike path. I’m not sure that would solve all the world’s problems, but it might keep you and your spouse, or children, or friends safer and someone’s bike ride more pleasant.

Imagine, a world where people are just naturally more pleasant and courteous around each other.