Attacks by cyclists on runners

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Comments

  • I run in a very rural area where there are no footpaths and many of the roads are only wide enough for one vehicle. 

    Although I know that the highway code states that pedestrians should run on the right to face oncoming traffic, I will admit that I don't do this normally.  The reason being that I run with two dogs on lead, both on my left.  So if I run on the left of the road I can get the dogs out of the way of traffic / cyclists much quicker than if I was on the right.  I do step off the road whenever cars appear, but I think many many drivers are rude by not bothering to wave / nod / smile in acknowledgement of me getting out of their way.

    As for cyclists, I would try to get out of the way if I was causing an obstruction, but if there was a way round me then I'd expect them to do so.  I suppose I think that I'm travelling slower than them so i'll get out of the way....  that said, if there are walkers I'd tend to move around them.

    I do run with headphones in, but with music quiet enough that I can hear traffic and I am able to hold a conversation with the music still playing.

    (and the bike in my name refers to one with an engine.... image)

  • So you run with two dogs on narrow rural roads... and choose to wear headphones?

  • What's your point Phil? You think it should be three dogs given how steep rural roads can be? image

  • Crimson I had a similar problem with a dog on one of those extendable leads the other week. Running along I came across a group of people walking down a wide passageway on the right-hand side, with their dog on an extendible lead. Initially the dog was in the middle, so I went left to pass, but then it moved to the left, so the lead was the full width of the passageway. I'm scared of dogs, and didn't want to try and shove past it at the left hand wall, and the people on the right were refusing to move to the middle to allow me to pass on the right (One shouted at me to jump, then they all laughed.)

    So I picked up the lead and passed under it in the middle. I'd gone a few metres further when they started shouting at me. It turns out the lead had caught in my rucksack as I went under, and so now the dog was kind of dangling behind me as I ran.

    I couldn't help thinking it served them right for being so unhelpful - shame it wasn't the owner left hanging though rather than the dog!

     

  • Just personal perspective and all, but consider my mind boggled by someone who runs in the road with their back to the traffic, out from the verge by the space that two dogs take up whilst also voluntarily impairing their sense of hearing.

     

    I pity the poor sod who runs you over and then has to prove to their insurers that it wasn't their fault.

  • @Radicchio - the first problem for such a driver would be to prove to the police that they were driving with due care.

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