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It is absolutely a people problem just as much as it's an infrastructure problem. We call them multi-use path (MUP) here. It has a yellow line painted straight down the middle, and people, whether they're walking, running, riding a bike, rollerblading, are expected to stick to their side of the path. I've lost count on the amount of people on the MUPs wearing something that removes their situational awareness, be it ANC earbuds, or over the ear headphones, etc... So why did I bring up the lane division? Because on top of people choosing to completely occlude themselves from their surroundings, a subset of them also like to walk/run/etc... abreast, completely taking up the path on both sides. So if you come up behind them, and they're taking up the whole path, you can't get around them without ringing a bell, or asking them. And if they're very engrossed in their conversation, or they're wearing headphones, it's even harder... The point of a MUP is to share the path. It doesn't give a right for any kind of users to practically occupy the path, and then act very offended when you finally got their attention to get around them. It has got to the point that I rather bike down the MUPs in the rain, because these users with no etiquette aren't dedicated enough to be out there in the rain. |