While having coffee and laptop time with my dear friend Ingrid, she stated she had a ‘pedestrian faux pas’ moment that made her think of me.
While walking the dog on the sidewalk, jamming out to her ipod, she got that subconscious tingle that someone was giving her “the stink eye”. She turned and saw a cyclist coming towards her, with no way around her and the dog (aka the furbaby*).
At this point, I gasped and stated “I hate it when pedestrians hog up all the space!”, but then realized that it was unclear where she was standing… why couldn’t the cyclist get around her?
She clarified that she was on the sidewalk, walking opposite traffic.
SO here we have a clear cut case of a CYCLIST in the wrong:
-He was riding against traffic
-On the sidewalk
-With NO helmet!
Tsk tsk, fellow cyclist! My friend, the pedestrian, was in the right, and you were in the wrong.
That's right!
*The author of ThrownChain is a cat person, but I will concede that this dog is kind of cute. For a dog.
I always want to yell at cyclists breaking the rules when I’m up running at the Rose Bowl. There are a few that will go against traffic. There are a few more who will ride within the area set apart for pedestrians (it used to be clearly marked on the path, but not so much now). This is usually parents with kids…and they’re teaching their kids how to be jerky cyclists…
I admit, I will run both directions over the course of a long run, because otherwise the camber of the road will make me run lopsided.
Sidewalk Riding (LAMC 56.15) Prohibits the riding of bicycles (or other human power devices) on sidewalks (bikeways or boardwalks) with a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property. Disallows the riding of bicycles on Ocean Front Walk in Venice.
Which, of course, allows riding bicycle on the sidewalk. I’ll continue to do it until there are sufficient bike paths in the city.