Quote:
Originally Posted by Laker14
No you are not wrong. Until someone posts some reasons why it's better to walk on the right side of a path with motorized vehicles or bicycles, and you think those reasons make more sense than being able to see what's coming at you, keep doing what you're doing.
So far the only reason I've seen is "someone told us that's what we're supposed to do".
|
The reason it is better to walk on the right side of a walking/biking trail (NOT MMP) is predictability. It is always safer if others can predict what you are about to do.
Like it or not, in the US we walk to the right and pass to to the left. We do this in shopping malls, we do this in Disney, and we do this on sidewalks. The walking/biking trails are essentially sidewalks with a fancy name.
Walking to the right on walking/biking trails is predictable. Bicyclists "know" that you will be staying to the right and they need to move left to pass - exactly what they do every other place they ride. If you choose to walk on the left then the cyclists has to guess whether that was intentional or whether you are about to dart to the right where you should have been in the first place. You become unpredictable which causes problems.
The same logic applies to walking on the left when motor vehicles (cars, golf carts, motorcycles) are involved. On roads and on the MMPs the drivers of those vehicles anticipate that you will be walking on the left and bicycling on the right. To do anything else causes the vehicle drivers to wonder what you are about to do and makes things more dangerous.
When I am in my car and come up on someone walking on the right side of the road it concerns me because they obviously are not paying attention and I don't know what they are about to do.
When I am in my car and I come up on someone riding towards me on their left side of the road it concerns me because they obviously aren't following the common rules and I don't know what they are about to do.
When I am biking and come up on someone walking towards me on their left side of the path (sidewalk, not MMP) it concerns me because I don't know what they are about to do.
Being predictable is safe. Doing things your own way because the rules don't matter or you know better than the rules makes things less safe.