{"id":328,"date":"2007-04-09T17:29:29","date_gmt":"2007-04-09T21:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2007\/04\/09\/is-sharing-that-hard\/"},"modified":"2007-04-09T17:29:29","modified_gmt":"2007-04-09T21:29:29","slug":"is-sharing-that-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2007\/04\/09\/is-sharing-that-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Is sharing *that* hard?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This exchange<\/a> in the Washington Post – between a cyclist and pedestrian involved in an accident on the Capital Crescent Trail<\/a> (CCT) – illustrates why you’ll rarely find me on that trail (or the Mt. Vernon Trail<\/a> (MVT), on weekends).\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Apparently, it is too much to expect that all users of a trail pay attention to each other.\u00c2\u00a0 While I agree with the general principle that larger and faster moving objects (i.e., cyclists & bladers) have an obligation to be more vigilant than other trail users (i.e., runners & walkers), this doesn’t absolve pedestrians of their responsibility to stay alert and out of the way of other trail traffic.<\/p>\n

The pedestrian in this case really annoys me, apparently unable to comprehend her role<\/a> – plugged into an iPod and evidently unable to hear the warning by the approaching cyclist – in the accident.\u00c2\u00a0 And after 8 years of riding these same trails (tho’ less and less, over the years), I can tell you that she’s hardly alone in her myopic approach to trail use. I have a good voice for yelling, and a better bell for ringing, on all of my bikes.\u00c2\u00a0 And I use them constantly.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet I have dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of stories of near-misses with pedestrians who either weren’t paying attention, didn’t understand how to stay out of the way, or simply decided that it was *their* trail.<\/p>\n

So I have generally given up on riding these trails at any time other than early morning or the odd midday excursion, which is a shame.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 While I’m comfortable that my approach to trail sharing is a fair one, riding the CCT or MVT isn’t\u00c2\u00a0 worth the hassle and possible harm to myself or the unaware pedestrian.\u00c2\u00a0 And then I’m reminded – I can use the Custis\/W&OD<\/a> most any time without these problems.\u00c2\u00a0 Granted, the W&OD is more of a commuter trail than recreational trail.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s a high volume trail where people seem to have the stay-to-the-left, call-out-when-passing routine down pretty well.\u00c2\u00a0 The only difference I can think of between this trail and the other two is that the other two attract more recreational pedestrians.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps, then, that is where the safety education efforts should focus.<\/p>\n

(Scott has his own take<\/a> on this.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This exchange in the Washington Post – between a cyclist and pedestrian involved in an accident on the Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) – illustrates why you’ll rarely find me on that trail (or the Mt. Vernon Trail (MVT), on weekends).\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Apparently, it is too much to expect that all users of a trail pay attention […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling","category-dc","category-virginia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}