The Wicked Witch Spotted on the Mount Vernon Bike Trail
The trail was crowded last night when I left for home. I use a warning bell to let walkers and other cyclists know that I am behind them. Most people are appreciative of the use of a cheery bell as a warning device. I have found it much more effective than calling out “on your left” as you pass. My opinion on that useless term will be reserved for a later post.
Last night I was behind a woman who was not giving any warning to pedestrians so, I used my bell. She didn’t like it and told me so in a rather unpleasant manner. I explained that I wasn’t trying to get her out of the way. I was warning the walkers that we were coming up behind them.
She said something else nasty to me. I told her that giving a warning to walkers was the considerate thing to do. She told me she would say something to them if it was needed. I told her that using a bell was better. People can not distinguish between a cyclist calling out and all the other traffic and crowd noise.
She got very nasty and yelled very loudly. I should have just followed her and kept dinging my bell.
I assume she had a bad day. Her broom was probably in the shop and riding a bicycle is not how she likes to get around.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:48 am
The lady needs to chill. But, as you say she may have just had a really bad day. Totally unrelated other than it’s about cycling– Did you see where there’s a guy cycling backwards across the country? Have you ever tried cycling backwards? You’d probably get some use out of your bell doing that, right?
April 17th, 2008 at 7:02 am
I saw a news video on the cycling backwards guy. I don’t know how he does it. He seemed to be going pretty fast. It would take some bike modifications. Seems rather dangerous also.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:04 am
I’m looking forward to your thoughts on “on your left.” The thing that invariably happens to me when I am walking and someone calls that out is that I am so startled by it and have so little time to react that I do what I’m sure looks like some kind of funny dance trying to (a) figure out which direction I need to go and (b) getting my body to actually go there before the cyclist runs into me. And then I end up feeling like a big dumb dork.I don’t think I’ve ever had experience with a bell, but I can see that it would be an improvement. It’s easier to hear so you could signal from farther away, giving the pedestrian more time to react. And it doesn’t require any actual comprehension, so the pedestrian will just instinctively glance behind them and get out of the way. I hate rude people like that. One time I got yelled at for crossing with the light on a crosswalk by a lady who was parking illegally in the middle of the crosswalk. I was seething the whole day.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Your reaction to “on your left” is exactly why it doesn’t work. Your reaction is pretty much the norm.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:24 am
When us skiiers come flying down a mountain we also yell out On Your Left, or Right, whatever the case may be. We do this just to let the slow dude know we are coming up from behind, we dont expect them to move, but we just yell to let them know. I guess Skiing is a tad different, heeheehee.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Given that skiiers are all bundled up I can guess that it is just about as useful when skiing as it is when bicycling.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:52 am
[...] or whistle. I prefer a bell due to its ease of use and the more pleasant atmosphere it creates. In spite of the bad encounter I had a few weeks ago, a bell generally elicits a much more positive response from a walker. The response is more [...]