Pedestrian Safety on the Bol Park Shared Path

By Art Liberman

While walking along the Bol Park shared path, I have had a number of close calls with bicyclists riding at excessive speed. When I mention this to other residents, some tell me that they, too, have had similarly uncomfortable experiences. And I know of two Barron Park residents who were struck and knocked down while they were walking in the park by students who were riding their bikes carelessly.

Most bicyclists are responsible, careful and attentive. Some bicyclists call out as they approach, and others ring their bell. That’s a basic requirement, but  ‘yell or bell’  is not enough if a bicyclist is riding at high speed on a path where there are also elderly walking slowly, kids on tricycles, toddlers running over the hill from the play area, families pushing strollers to the donkey pasture, and folks walking their pets. I am a bicyclist myself, and I often ride around the neighborhood and along this path. I am aware of the hazards a fast moving bicycle poses to pedestrians; it is a disaster waiting to happen.

The solution is simple. Bicyclists must SLOW DOWN when they are near pedestrians. Bicyclists need to know that the path is to be shared with pedestrians and that they need to slow down. To reinforce that message, I am advocating that the Parks Department place the following sign (based on one that’s on a path in the Los Angeles area) at the path entrance and at a number of places along the path:

Bol Park Shared Path – SLOW DOWN- SHARE THE PATH

The Bol Park path is a ‘Shared Path,” not just a bike path. Bicyclists may not realize this and, from the sign currently at the path entrance, be under the mistaken  impression that they have exclusive rights to the path:

“Bike Path” sign at entrance to Bol Park Shared Path

This issue of speedy bicycles in proximity of much slower walking pedestrians is not only a problem here on the Bol Park Path. A San Franciso bicyclist wrote the following about the Panhandle path near Golden Gate Park:
“Now, we don’t walk through the Panhandle too frequently, but we would guess that pedestrians feel a little unsafe sharing the path with speeding cyclists. It has to be a little disarming to be out jogging with your friends and have cyclists racing past you on your left at 20 mph. When we’re out on our bike, we can see that the flying bikes grazing past with mere inches to spare intimidate some pedestrians.”

And there are those bicyclists who feel that pedestrians are an obstacle and ought to move aside. One Barron Park resident wrote to the BPA Board recently about a case of ‘Path rage’: “ Last week I was walking with my sister and her dog pushing my son in a stroller when a spandex clad man rode up rapidly behind us on his carbon fiber bike and complained loudly when we did not move over quickly enough.  There ensued a verbal exchange between us which escalated most unpleasantly.”

A change to the situation will require education of the bicyclists. Pedestrians, too, must be aware of their surroundings and watch their children and pets when there is some oncoming traffic. But Pedestrians are at the disadvantage, just as are bicycles when sharing the road with cars.

A Boston area bicyclist wrote on his blog:
“It doesn’t help matters that pedestrians might not hear a cyclist’s approach, or might not know how to react even when they do. In my 4th year of riding in Boston now, I have still not found an ideal way to gently warn those on foot of my presence. If I ring my bell, they might freeze or panic. If I say “on your left” they might instinctively jump to the left. If I say “excuse me” they might misinterpret this to mean “get out of my way” and get offended. And if I say nothing at all and don’t ring a bell, they might move into my line of travel at the exact moment I try to pass them.”

In fact, just such an incident resulted in the tragic death of an elderly woman last June. The woman was walking on the Four Mile Run Trail, a shared path just outside Washington DC that is almost identical in width and appearance to our own Bol Park shared path. Hearing a call from a bicyclist approaching (too) quickly from behind, she was confused and turned around, …unfortunately the wrong way, and was struck by the bicyclist and died when her head hit the pavement.  In the writeup of that accident to the bicycle community, the  Washington Area ‘Bicycle Ambassador’ wrote:
“Pedestrians are unpredictable and vulnerable, which is a bad combination (and doesn’t even get into things like pets and children and the mobility-impaired), and bicyclists should be prepared to slow down to whatever speed is necessary to ensure that they can react safely to whatever a pedestrian does.”

I attended the Palo Alto Bicycle Advisory Committee (PABAC) meeting in March and voiced these concerns. The members of this committee, all of whom are avid and responsible bikers, understood the issue and endorsed the idea of signs placed along the Path. They also advocated for education outreach to the students at Terman and Gunn, to be sure they learn basic riding etiquette and courtesy along with bike safety.

I have asked to have this topic placed on the agenda of the next BPA Board meeting , April 16^th.  If you have some experiences or comments that you would like to share, come to that meeting or post them in the comments section below (you need to register on the website first in order to leave a comment– pick a username and password in the login box on the left side).