So #BikeTooter seems very excited by this noise-cancelling headphone negating bell, but I don't get it.

[isol@mastodon.au]

@pete

That's a very narrow mindset - there are also cases where you wish to make people aware of your approach so that they can adjust or control their dogs or kids, so that everyone can equally enjoy the pathway equally safely and equally considerately.

You may also wish to gain their attention to, say, alert them that their crying baby has thrown a dummy, a shoe, and a bottle out of the pram over the past 100m - unnoticed because of the headphones.

If a headphone-wearing, middle-of-the-path jogger who you've been trying to pass, suddenly drops and starts doing pushups in middle of the path, would it be OK to use a bell then?

[billhulley@mastodon.online]

@pete also, deaf people exist.

[fodwyer@mastodon.social]

@billhulley @pete 100% - plus (in my experience) most people’s reaction if they do hear a bike bell is sheer terror and scrambling to get out of the way.

Instead I think cyclists (and I am one) should slow down behind the pedestrians, maybe say something, and wait to be noticed. (But assume we haven’t been until proven otherwise)

[meganl@mas.to]

@pete These things tend to get picked up by social media and people post about them. Doesn't mean people are necessarily subscribe to the idea that pedestrians can be run over.

For me, I'm in the market for a bell or horn anyway so I'd rather have one that doesn't get blocked by ANC. Also, pedestrians are not the only ones using headphones... Drivers and other cyclists do, sadly.

My use case is Albania where it is much more of a circus than any urban area I've cycled in before.

[cycling_liz@mastodon.social]

@ClintonAnderson @pete That's fine but if you're walking in the middle of a cycle path completely unaware of anything and everything around you, don't be surprised if people get a bit pissed off at you if you're preventing them from passing.

[zebulonmysterioso@mas.to]

@ClintonAnderson @Cycling_Liz @pete You're absolutely correct, and that applies just as much to the person with noise cancelling earphones occupying the centre of a shared path. Having the right of way doesn't mean you don't also have to be considerate. As you say, it won't hurt you.

[anibyl@social.coop]

@pete Something is telling me that the venn diagram of people who find this bell a good idea and those not yielding to pedestrians in croswalks is a circle.

[pete@masto.hypertelia.com]

@ClintonAnderson @zebulonmysterioso @Cycling_Liz
️> ️/️ > ️️ > ️ > ️ > ️

[zebulonmysterioso@mas.to]

@pete Cyclists who expect a clear run like you're describing are a real problem, but I think most of us just want to be able to let those ahead of us know we're approaching. We're effectively the car on the country lane in this context so we have a responsibility to make the danger of our presence clear and behave safely, the same way that a pedestrian has a responsibility to share that space.

[zebulonmysterioso@mas.to]

@pete @ClintonAnderson @Cycling_Liz

Are we discussing the same thing? I thought we were sharing perspectives on a bike bell that could cut through NC to help alert someone unaware of a bike's approach (from behind them) so that the cyclist could initiate a safe and respectful overtake?

Right of way doesn't really factor in, it's sharing situational awareness.

[pete@masto.hypertelia.com]

@zebulonmysterioso @ClintonAnderson @Cycling_Liz

> … it's sharing situational awareness.

Perhaps technically yes, but the reality is that too many cyclists (and in turn car drivers) think that letting someone know they are there is necessary, and then ought
to lead to the more vulnerable road user ceding the space.

[pete@masto.hypertelia.com]

@ClintonAnderson @zebulonmysterioso @Cycling_Liz In the UK it's part of the Highway Code. https://www.motoringresearch.com/advice/hierarchy-of-road-users/

[pete@masto.hypertelia.com]

@zebulonmysterioso @ClintonAnderson @Cycling_Liz … remember when we (as cyclists) rightly lost our shit when the Ineos Grenadier SUV included a button specifically for tooting it's horn at cyclists?

[pionir@masto.bike]

@pete @ClintonAnderson @zebulonmysterioso @Cycling_Liz

This image does not illustrate what you (or I did until recently) think it means

Why pedestrians don't have priority on shared paths and shared spaces

Every time a video of a cyclist and a pedestrian on a shared route appears online, the same comments flood in.

West Yorkshire Cycling (westyorkshirecycling.co.uk)

[pionir@masto.bike]

@ClintonAnderson @pete @zebulonmysterioso @Cycling_Liz

Agreed, but this was not the point of my post.

[plookington@mastodon.sdf.org]

@pete
On the shared path, pedestrians tend to take up the entire path, failing to consider faster traffic behind. They forfeit their "priority" when disregarding other path users.

[bongotwisty@social.vivaldi.net]

@pete I'm shocked there is no graphic for dog walkers. I was of of the understanding that they can ignore everyone else with impunity.

[pete@masto.hypertelia.com]

@ClintonAnderson *mounts fog horn on front rack*

[pete@masto.hypertelia.com]

@BongoTwisty Funnily enough, while slowing for them, I always tell (the nicer) dog walkers that their beasties will always have priority no matter what the Highway Code says. I reason that many people hates dog walkers as much as they hate cyclists so we should stick together.

[bongotwisty@social.vivaldi.net]

@pete Quite right too.