At last some sense on cycleways – or shared paths as some prefer.
Urban Services Minister Bill Wood announced yesterday a 12-month trial encouraging cycle-path users at Lake Burley Griffin, Lake Ginninderra and Lake Tuggeranong to “keep left”.
“Keep left” will be put various points around the three lakes and their effectiveness monitored.
Wood used the term “cycle path”. But they are shared paths, used by walkers, joggers, pedestrians, roller-bladers, dog walkers and the like.
Hitherto, using the paths has on occasions been frightening. Some pedestrians walk on the right and others on the left. Others dance uncertainly between left and right as a cyclist approaches. Other groups of walkers split left and right. The uncertainty causes danger.
There were no rules. The Traffic Act 1937 merely states: “A person shall not walk upon a public street or use a wheelchair upon a public street; without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the street. Penalty: 1 penalty unit [A small fine].”
Nothing about keeping left.
Some pedestrians say it is safer for them to keep right so they can see the on-coming traffic. Just like on a road. That would be fine with one major proviso. People who walk on the right of the road get right off the road when a car comes. But on a shared path, they do not do that. They stay on the path and expect on-coming cyclists, bladers and other pedestrians to put themselves in danger by moving out to the right hand side of the path into on-coming traffic – traffic which the pedestrian has not seen because it is behind him or her.
Traffic of similar width travelling opposite directions on a narrow path is a different situation from pedestrians travelling on the side of a wide roadway in the opposite direction to fast motor cars.
On a cycle path, if you get two cyclists travelling towards each other with pedestrians walking on the right hand side between them, one cyclist is closing in on the obstruction (the pedestrians) very rapidly – about double the rate of them travelling in the same direction. This increases the danger. If all traffic travelled on the left, however, ordinary road rules would apply. A cyclist approaching a pedestrian from behind both on the left and going the same direction would have to slow to walking pace if the right hand lane in not clear – just as cars have to slow behind tractors and other slow vehicles before it is clear to over-take. The difficulty with pedestrians travelling on the right is that, even if a cyclist does slow to a walking pace, they are still on a collision course.
It should be obvious, but the obvious will now be pointed out.
Yes; there are obnoxious cyclists — and obnoxious pedestrians and motorists, too. But most people most of the time want to travel safely. A keep left rule will have to be better than anarchy.
There is a further incentive for pedestrians to keep left, even without the penalty of the criminal law. If a pedestrian defies the keep left signs and causes an accident, it is now likely that keeping right will be viewed by the civil courts as negligence, making the pedestrian liable in damages. One hopes it will never come to that.
And cyclists should sound their bell when approaching pedestrians from the rear. If it became the standard practice it would no longer be seen as rude and invite reciprocal cycleway rage. And they should have a light at night.
On a related subject, the paths and signs occasionally fizz out leaving tourists bewildered. You come across them regularly. Some imaginative people from tourism and traffic authorities should get on their bikes and go around all three lakes, work out a signage regime for directions and tourist highlights, get rid of the hazards on the paths (some put their misguidedly as “safety” measures) and then promote the paths and bike-hiring places to interstate visitors. Ninety-eight percent of the work is already in place.