"What Does "Yield to Pedestrians" Mean, Exactly?" Topic

I ride my bicycle frequently along an old rail bed that had the railway tracks ripped up in the 90s and was kept as a walking and cycling trail. It is relatively flat and passes through a truly beautiful park (Bowring Park), an experimental farm and goes on for kilometers.

There are signs which indicate cyclists must uield to pedestrians and I am very careful about his – on overtaking or meeting people on foot, I always slow down and say "excuse me", making sure I go around them – usually to the left if I am overtaking or to the right of I am meeting them.

Yesterday, this jogger is coming towards me. I move over to the right. He moves over to the right. I move almost right off the path – he is obviously looking to crash into me, for whatever reason, I have no idea. I had to stop pull off the path and I swore at him as he went by. He then started lecturing me that cyclists have to yield to pedestians. Yes, I say and yield usually means passing each other to the right. I'd gone over as far as I could.

"I wanted to run along this part of the trail clear of gravel" was his demand.

I don't know if he was looking for a fight – he didn't pursue it, which was good for me as my bones are now so brittle, one good hit in the face would collapse my skull… My mouth hasn't realized my recent physical deterioration and so I haven't learned to shut up when I feel I have been wronged…

Not sure what I'll do when I see this ing piece of trash again. He wasn't from here based on his East European accent. I think I'll stop and put down my bike and stand right in front of him and see what he does, camera phone ready.
--
Tim

Put a cow-catcher off the front fork and play chicken…..

I too ride on various rails-to-trails and other multi-use sites, and use common courtesy when passing/meeting walkers, joggers, whathaveyou, but once you moved over, and he moved as well, game on… that's why I wear a helmet.

Yield to pedestrians not **les

Buy some caltrops and scatter them in his path as you pass him.

He was a douche. Yield to pedestrians usually means you have to stop if they are crossing the road in front of you, not anything to do with passing people walking on the same road as you.

Cretins! Just avoid them at all costs. You can't win anything when it comes down to your word against theirs. And no matter what, the pedestrian is always right in a bashup with ANY wheeled vehicle….

Pedestrian traffic is such a problem on some cycle trails in Ottawa that the cyclists have given up and gone back to the roads. Unless the police start picking them up en-mass there is no point in relying on either courtesy or brains.

When you moved over you yielded to the pedestrian.

When he then moved in front of you again, he became a target.

Killing said target will get you talked about. But there is something to be said for personal satisfaction.

Did this runner have blondish hair, perchance?

I used to cycle across a bridge in another part of Canada, and a blond runner with an East European accent always used to harangue me for cycling along the divided sidewalk, even though there was plenty of room for both directions.

[The designated cycle path was separated from 80 kmh traffic by nothing more than a painted white line, which is why I took the divided sidewalk instead.]

You know, there's nothing like a nice piece of hickory.

I agree with hex, he was a douche. With that said, if t happens again insult as is appropriate. If needed, defend yourself. There are times when you have to explain yourself in whatever terms that are necessary.

Thanks for the comments – he wasn't around when I rode my route today. Jeez, I feel like this is a bully at school sort of thing…

Can't really defend myself anymore, Brent. I'm not small, and years ago was described as "formidable looking" – that was before 7000 pounds of fat was added… In any event, kidney failure and dialysis has made my bones rather brittle, plus what used to be my main jabbing/blocking arm (my left) has a pretty delicate reconstruction of my artery and vein for the dialysis needle and it doesn't take much to penetrate it – I'd bleed out very quickly.

As I said, though, my mouth hasn't really realized my physical limitations, so I will mouth off to someone being as idiotic as this guy was.

Skeptic – I suppose you could say he hair was blond – more sandy brown, though. This was in St John's, Newfoundland. did you know his name? If you were in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I'd take a guess at the guy's last name.

Anyway, I really appreciate the support – my ride tonight made me realize that this unnerved me more than I'd thought.
--
Tim

Just run him down – didn't you say there was no-one around?

It means they have the right-of-way.

However, there are rules for how pedestrians are supposed to use paths and roads, and they always involve staying on one side or the other. Right-of-way doesn't mean you get to weave all over the place, take up the whole road, and make it impossible for anyone else to use.
-Kle.

Back when I rode a bike a lot, I carried a small squeeze
bottle of ammonia water (about 2 cups ammonia to 1/2
cup of water).

It was to deter various dogs along my riding route.

It could, of course, have other uses…

Hi

there are a small group in every larger group who have an agenda that seems crazy. You met one. Once is not a trend.

But in my life, I have seen this a lot. One in a million is still a lot of people.

You have car drivers who feel that their needs trump yours. While bike paths are there for the bikes, you have bike riders who take that to mean that car drivers should violate the laws of physics to cater to them. And you have joggers who feel that their needs trump everything and they are obligated to make the world a foot path.

I feel sad for the people who are so focused on THEM that they forget common courtesy.

the silliest is this, he doesn't KNOW you are fragile. In a normal encounter, just riding into him when he did the veer, would have not only hurt him more, but have been illegal.

Worse with cars.

I was once stopped at a stopsign in a truck when a bicyclist swerved into me. And wanted me arrested for not yielding! Besides the hospitalization, he was astounded at being ticketed for riding recklessly!

Rocky

I had always heard that pedestrians are like husbands…
Both have, "right of way," unless they try to PROVE it.

Looks to me like he wanted to prove it, so… correct his misunderstanding; I'd recommend if you do, to find a different route from then on and ensure to rid yourself of any evidence.

This afternoon, on MY bike path, a guy on a motorcycle passed me going the opposite direction: I barely had time to give him a thumbs-down: he started to grin and wave at me as we passed each other, then saw that I was not approving. I just called the police and reported it. What else can you do?…