Tips for mothers on shared cycleways

[blamebrampton]

* The little diagrams suggesting that you keep left are there, in fact, to suggest you keep left.

* When you choose to ignore them and walk in the middle of the path, do not look hugely surprised when people ring their bells to encourage you to look up from texting as you walk and make you aware of the oncoming bicycle.

* On becoming aware of the oncoming bicycle and noticing that your youngest child is on the right hand side of the path, at a point level with the cyclist, who is successfully negotiating  a passing manoeuvre at low speed, do not shriek to the child, encouraging the wee lass to turn around and into the bike.

* On witnessing the cyclist performing an heroic avoidance effort while travelling uphill on a loaded bike with a confused and unpredictable toddler in the vicinity, do not run in front of the bike.

* On finding your toddler wholly avoided despite your best efforts to have her killed, do not call your other daughter to you, especially when she is six and very likely to run in front of the still-moving cyclist, who has just had to veer to the opposite side of the path to avoid ploughing into you.

* When the tried-beyond-endurance cyclist suggests that was less than optimal all round, do not open your mouth unless it is to apologise. Should the first words out of your mouth be 'You should have …', do not be surprised when the cyclist interrupts with: 'Mowed you down, I know' and rides off.

Comments

[germankitty]

Yeah, I realized right after hitting "send" that I'd kind of missed the point; I should've amended that for every responsible cyclist like you (and every sensible pedestrian) there's an equal number of each who couldn't (and all too often don't) give a damn about the other people they're sharing space with. Sorry, didn't mean to imply you were at fault -- quite the contrary!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

There are definitely lunatics in every group, though I wouldn't say half. I find most road and path users are thoughtful and considerate, it's just that the ones who aren't tend to be the sort of person who not only do the wrong thing, but then think it's your fault they did the wrong thing.

The taxi driver who ran the light to try to kill me yelled at me for being on the road, I like to call him Proof of Theory.

I do agree that in an ideal world cyclists would never be on the pavement. And there would be separated cycleways everywhere, which would be better for everyone!

And no one would be allowed to use their phones or iPods while moving unless they were on a train, bus or similar. I've literally saved four people from going in front of cars because they were busy texting or listening to whatever was going through their headphones, and that's just the set I've physically grabbed. Lost count of the number I've avoided running over by nimble cycling when they stepped out without looking.

[germankitty]

I guess it depends on the area you live in; my part of town is mostly residential and comparatively hilly, so we don't have many cyclists -- most everybody either has a car, or can use rather decent public transport. Across town, where I used to live before marriage, it's quite different. :)

And don't get me started on phone use in traffic, please! *groans* The things I've seen people do, even with toddlers in tow ... unbelievable!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I swear, phones are more of a hindrance than a help!

And yeah, I think most cities have some parts that are better for cycling than others. I have a curse in parts of East Sydney so I just refuse to ride down those streets anymore, as my near death: ride ratio is just too high!

It's the same for public transport here: some parts of Sydney are well served, others dire. London is MUCH better off!