Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Walkers on the walking trail
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Old 06-22-2023, 09:14 AM
PiscisMagnus PiscisMagnus is offline
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I think the above response by @Bill14564 (Post #3) was comprehensive and written well. It is certainly consistent with my multi-use path use in two large cities over the last 38 years. Before buying a house in TV, I lived in Henderson, NV for 5 years and in Ann Arbor, MI for 33 years. I was on the Bicycle Advisory Committee to the City of Henderson for 1 year. Neither city permitted golf carts on the multi-purpose paved paths. But as far as cyclists/runners/walkers all on the same path, staying to the right and passing on the left was simple to remember and understand, and accidents were rare.

Although I didn't find any specific laws governing Florida multi-use paths on a simple search, I did find a guidance from Bike/Walk Central Florida, a regional advocacy organization for cyclists and pedestrians, whose etiquette guidance for trail use is very familiar to me. They advocate Staying right and Passing left. Forum rules did not allow me to include the URL link, but it is easily found.

So cycling, running, and walking on the right side of multi-modal paths in TV feels very natural to me, even in the presence of golf carts coming from behind. Until there is a formal rule stating I have to walk/run on the left side, I'll stay on the right.

Are there any data from other cities where golf carts share the multi-use path with cyclists and pedestrians (walkers/runners)? It might be worth a look to see whether walking left vs right is the better approach for overall path safety. Hopefully any real decisions or rules about safe path use will be based on data from other municipalities and not on other users' personal fears or opinions about what is "common sense".