[Oldragbagger]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

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.

Exactly!

[Laker14]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

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.

Basically your argument comes down to, "if you follow the rules, I'll assume you know what you are doing, and so I can accurately predict what you will do, because you know the rules".. I think it's a circular argument.

If I'm on my bike, or my golf cart, or my car, and a pedestrian is in front of me, with back turned, walking in the same direction as I am traveling, and in my lane, I have no reason to think I know what they are going to do. I have no reason to be sure they even know of my presence. They may be deaf, they may have ear buds in, or on the phone.
On the other hand, if they are facing me, I can tell if they have seen me or not. We can make eye contact. They can see me slow down, veer away from them, wave hello. It removes all guesswork. Well, most of the guesswork.

I simply don't see how you can feel that a pedestrian with his back turned to you, provides a greater degree of predictability than someone who is looking at you.