Part 1 in a series on pedestrian laws and practices across jurisdictions. To help with the discussion, please take this short survey. Results will be shared in Part 2.
I don’t recall if he was more Eric Estrada or Barney Fife as he peered from his patrol car, but he told us we’d been riding on the wrong side — which was the right side(!)
My older sister and I had been pedaling our Schwinns down the main street of our town of 2,500. The flashing lights behind us had sent shivers down my seven year old spine.
No ticket. Instead: An invitation to a “workshop” for all two-wheeled scofflaws who’d been picked up in the city’s recent dragnet to make the streets safe again for town drunks swerving home from Schmitty’s after their shift at the mill. Justice had been done. Order had been restored.
This memory comes back to me when I (literally) run into walkers and runners who use the left side. Yup, we’ve now mostly accepted that bicycles really should go on the right side, yet we’re confused about other non-automotive traffic. And these confusions are amplified on biking and walking paths where lanes seem to randomly merge and diverge.
To help explore this, I created a little unscientific survey that will remain open until April 24. In the next installment, I will share the results, along with some analysis and personal rantings.