Multiuse trails: Left or Right side walking?

I'm sure this has been addressed ad nauseum, and I searched the Google
Usenet archives, but I have yet to find a definitive, sensible answer.

I am a bike rider, walker/hiker, and dog walker. My position is that all
pedestrians, including dog walkers, walk on the LEFT on multiuse trails
so that they can see oncoming bike riders AND, more importantly, keep
their unruly dogs under control by blocking them with their body to
prevent them from charging into the trail. Dogs are trained by
convention to walk on the left of their handler, so it makes sense for
the handler to walk left to maintain trail safety.

This, coupled with the convention of walking to the left on roads with
automobiles to face traffic, seems to make it sensible to adopt the rule
of walking left on multiuse trails.

Many multiuse trails do not specify rules. Those that do sometimes say
for all traffic to move on the right side. For dog walkers at least,
this is a potential hazard. And bike riders have to deal with
pedestrians not looking at oncoming traffic.

In malls and parks with no bicycles and dogs allowed I can understand
the natural tendency to walk to the right (and face oncoming Japanese
and British tourists).

Is this sensible or am I tilting at windmills?

I am a bike rider, walker/hiker, and dog walker. My position is that all
pedestrians, including dog walkers, walk on the LEFT on multiuse trails
so that they can see oncoming bike riders

On our local trails there are posted rules. All slow traffic is on the RIGHT.


You know this makes sense. Bike trails are not that wide. If "pedestrians"
walk on the LEFT, that makes essentially a slot on both sides of the trail for
pedestrians. Actually, more then that because most pedestrians come in at
least pairs and walk side by side. A bike trail is just too narrow to allow
pedestrians walking on the LEFT with cyclists on the RIGHT. These things are
not 4 lanes.

AND, more importantly, keep
their unruly dogs under control by blocking them with their body to
prevent them from charging into the trail.

Unruly dogs have absolutely no place on multiple use trails. PERIOD!!! If a
dog has a tendency to charge anyone, they should not be out in this kind of
setting. In my observations on the local trails though, the dogs are pretty
well behaved. I have yet to see one try to pursue my bike.

This, coupled with the convention of walking to the left on roads with
automobiles to face traffic, seems to make it sensible to adopt the rule
of walking left on multiuse trails.

Again, multiple use trails are different. They are not nearly as wide as roads
and there just is not the space to conveniently allow for such.

x-no-archive:yes

In our local "bike path" (this path has signs telling people Bicycles Only!)
the pedestrians walk on the right. Why? because the convention for vehicles
is to pass on the left. Dog walkers frequently take up the entire bike
path, and certainly all the Skaters take up the whole path with their wildly
swinging arms and their swaying back and forth. Oh well, at least they
can't gripe at the bike riders because the signs remind people it is a
Bicycles Only path....

Once, I saw a young woman pull her Great Dane off of the path and wrap the
leash around his muzzle while holding him around the chest with both arms.
That made me a bit leery of what the dog might do!

Pat in TX

In article ,
Pbwalther wrote:
I am a bike rider, walker/hiker, and dog walker. My position is that all
pedestrians, including dog walkers, walk on the LEFT on multiuse trails
so that they can see oncoming bike riders

On our local trails there are posted rules. All slow traffic is on the RIGHT.


You know this makes sense. Bike trails are not that wide. If "pedestrians"
walk on the LEFT, that makes essentially a slot on both sides of the trail for
pedestrians. Actually, more then that because most pedestrians come in at
least pairs and walk side by side. A bike trail is just too narrow to allow
pedestrians walking on the LEFT with cyclists on the RIGHT. These things are
not 4 lanes.

AND, more importantly, keep
their unruly dogs under control by blocking them with their body to
prevent them from charging into the trail.

Unruly dogs have absolutely no place on multiple use trails. PERIOD!!! If a
dog has a tendency to charge anyone, they should not be out in this kind of
setting. In my observations on the local trails though, the dogs are pretty
well behaved. I have yet to see one try to pursue my bike.

This, coupled with the convention of walking to the left on roads with
automobiles to face traffic, seems to make it sensible to adopt the rule
of walking left on multiuse trails.

Again, multiple use trails are different. They are not nearly as wide as roads
and there just is not the space to conveniently allow for such.

It's a jungle out there. A zoo. My wife and daughter were
scared by a girl with an unleashed great Dane that was charging
people; but they were not as frightened as an elderly man who
actually ran up and hid behind my wife when this horse charged
him. My wife demanded to know why the girl didn't have him on a
leash, and she just whined 'sorry', but was back the next day
same story.

Yesterday, I had a dog leap at me as I passed and then he
chased me down the trail for a good 100feet, right at my front
wheel looking for a taste. The trail clearly says 'leash', but
one section is 'unleashed' on T,Th,Sat. It seems there's a lot
of dog owners on the city council and they're -very- vocal.

I don't understand it, b/c the dog owners are going to be
liable if the dog hurts someone. ;-(

-B
--
Email Replies to johnsonnospm01j att ntelos dott net

"kab" wrote in message
...
I'm sure this has been addressed ad nauseum, and I searched the
Google
Usenet archives, but I have yet to find a definitive, sensible
answer.

I am a bike rider, walker/hiker, and dog walker. My position is
that all
pedestrians, including dog walkers, walk on the LEFT .....

I'm with you, but it's probably a lost cause. Bicycles are vehicles,
and a bike path is a pathway for vehicles, in other words a road,
although a road on which some kinds of vehicles are banned, rather as
New Jersey bans motorcycles from the Garden State Parkway.

True, it's generally a very narrow road, with a notable tendency to
attract the ignorant and the stupid, but that should change neither
the law, nor the reasons for it.

Jeremy Parker