Manners please!

So, I enjoy a little run in my lunch break around the City of London.  I try and be courteous to everyone and don't keep running at any cost.  I don't want to knock someone over, or surprise them.  I don't think this is too much effort.  Therefore, I'd be really grateful to the running club in Swanley which trains on a Wednesday night if its members would give a little consideration to the lowly commuter attempting to use the pavement to get home.

 Several times I have encountered this club and not one of the group appears to want to give way to me (I always keep close to the inside of the pavement).  They run 3 or 4 abreast some in the road and tonight was particularly awful as they were doing speed work, it was like going against the flow of migrating Wildebeast.

 Running is fun, but don't let us put our fun above other's needs.  We're better than that!

Comments

  • where i live it is walkers walking on bridlepaths and blocking the way past
  • My running club had same attitude. I thought it pretty arrogant and unlikely to endear the public to runners
  • Pack mentality. Maybe write to their club secretary ?
  • compo 1 wrote (see)
    where i live it is walkers walking on bridlepaths and blocking the way past


    The laws in England and Wales provide you with the right to walk, ride, cycle and drive in public rights of way in the countryside. Public rights of way include footpaths, byways and bridleways.

    So explain to me what you think is wrong with people walking on bridleways please?

  • It's all about manners and making room for others to pass regardless of which party is running/walking.
  • That's ignorant.  I'd be tempted to just stop and stand in their way.

    I generally go by the rule of vulnerability which is basically what the Highway Code is based upon ie the most vulnerable road user (yes, that involves pavements too) has priority.  So it goes walkers, runners, cyclists, motor vehicles in order of priority.  To my mind, a runner should always yield to a walker.  

  • Nearly got flattened by my local running club last year as they came charging down a path I was walking along. Not one of them moved to go around me which left me with the only option but to step off the path onto the grass. Could have been a nasty accident if it was someone who couldn't move out of the way quickly.

    Cyclists in a group signal to let others behind them know of obstacles so lead runners should have a similar system to get the rest of the group to move over to go round someone or something in the way, unless of course they enjoy watching unwary runners trip over and fall flat on their faces image.

  • JvR wrote (see)

    Nearly got flattened by my local running club last year as they came charging down a path I was walking along. Not one of them moved to go around me which left me with the only option but to step off the path onto the grass. Could have been a nasty accident if it was someone who couldn't move out of the way quickly.

    Cyclists in a group signal to let others behind them know of obstacles so lead runners should have a similar system to get the rest of the group to move over to go round someone or something in the way, unless of course they enjoy watching unwary runners trip over and fall flat on their faces image.


    Cyclists? None of the ones I see seem to remember the rule about cycling single file. What happened to that?

    When running in a pack, we tend to quite polite. The most fun is with chavs who won't get out of the way on purpose...they tend to lose though image

  • It's odd, I've never met a runner who didn't move out of my way but have repeatedly found that people walking 3 abreast and taking up the whole width of the pavement will not move, thus forcing me (and presumably any other walkers) into the road to get past them. Teenagers and people with buggies seem to be the worst. Dog walkers on the other hand are usually fabulous!

    While running I was nearly hit by a cyclist coming round a corner on the pavement. There's a perfectly good cycle lane on the road which he could have been in, but no. He was going quite fast too (especially for a blind corner and a narrow pavement).

    The best bit - he yelled "Get out my way!" as I leapt into the hedge to avoid being hit. As a cyclist too, this always annoys me and it's why we get bad reputations with car drivers and pedestrians. The other thing is going through red lights.

  • Ali Ostler wrote (see)

    Teenagers

    Shoulder barge.  Fuck 'em.
  • Simon, the Highway Code entitles cyclists to ride 2 abreast on the road.

    Walkers four abreast on a path wide enough for only four; pick one on the end, make eye contact, choose and hold your line image

  • Shout CHARGE and leg it towards them image

  • If I don't want to stop completely I aways state a nice 'excuse me' most people are pretty courteous and move I noticed. Its younger couples holding hands never move out the way image

    and Cyclists on pavements, why do cyclists seem to presume they have more right to be on the pavement than runners. I always thought it was illegal for cyclists to be on the pavement, I must have got that wrong, they all do it round here. Most annoying.
  • Sometimes cycle paths are on the pavements (and it's very annoying when you're cycling along and find someone sauntering on the cycle side of the pavement!).

    Unless there are signs though, I thought cyclists weren't allowed on the pavement? Not that it seems to stop some people.

  • JT141JT141 ✭✭✭
    Most people are fine. Actually most people are better than fine. It's just a few simmering inadequates whose interpersonal capacity offers a stark choice between gurning menace and glowering confusion who would be best off staying home and masturbating themselves into a coma.
  • I find that a nice, polite "excuse me" when coming up behind these groups of walkers taking up the whole pavement normally invites a step the wrong way into my path and utter confusion over who wants to go which way. It's easier to just move onto the road to pass, I find.

    The other thing I notice is that people can't walk in a straight line. I'll be running behind someone with more than enough space for two of us, and as I draw level to pass, they'll lurch to the side and I run into them. I don't understand it.

  • Try yelling back "excuse me would be nice!" the next time you run, if you get no apology then the next time you run just aim straight for the middle and act as if no one is there. Probably not the right thing to do but thats how I'd handle it!!
  • JT141, I just spat tea onto my keyboard! I'm going to have to find a conversation where I can quote you image
  • The worst ones are definitely grannies on mobility scooters. Thye do not give way to anyone.
  • acdcgirl wrote (see)
    The worst ones are definitely grannies on mobility scooters. Thye do not give way to anyone.


    Not in our area- where I live the worst by far have to be the teenage Eureopean forgein students. Walking along with backpacks (so a hazard already to anyone who has a face which they want remaining on their head) they walk in pairs or heards and refuse to hear "excuse me" or even "MOVE" running through them is the only way, if your walking, running or even cycling they do not hear see or notice you, neither it seems do their tutors. Is this how things are in their Countries work or is this just a holiday thing?

    Seconded only by small children (under 7's) on scooters who seem to either have no control over their own direction or really are attempting to hit your calves with force.

  • jennn wrote (see)
    acdcgirl wrote (see)
    The worst ones are definitely grannies on mobility scooters. Thye do not give way to anyone.


    Not in our area- where I live the worst by far have to be the teenage Eureopean forgein students. Walking along with backpacks (so a hazard already to anyone who has a face which they want remaining on their head) they walk in pairs or heards and refuse to hear "excuse me" or even "MOVE" running through them is the only way, if your walking, running or even cycling they do not hear see or notice you, neither it seems do their tutors. Is this how things are in their Countries work or is this just a holiday thing?

    Seconded only by small children (under 7's) on scooters who seem to either have no control over their own direction or really are attempting to hit your calves with force.


    It's a holiday thing, I've seen groups of english tourists doing the exact same thing in Spain manys a time. image


  • It's a holiday thing, I've seen groups of english tourists doing the exact same thing in Spain manys a time. image


    I wish I could say it only happened at holiday times though as its pretty much contant in London, we ALWAYS seem to have large groups of foreign European students where I live- and no I am not in the center! Italians, Greek, French, Spanish...the accents change but the must-block-all-access-for-everyone-else mentality never changes. I think I blame the tutors leading them as much as I blame them, aged between about 15-20 they should by that age know better!

     *looks down from high horse*

    (actually, a high horse, now thats not such a bad idea...)

  • I find students are a hazard. They tend to go about in small groups blocking the pavement. They are completely unaware of their surroundings and do not notice other pavement users. The only solution is the aforementioned shoulder barge.
  • NykieNykie ✭✭✭

    It's a tourist thing where I live (a little town in Yorkshire) - they can't seem to walk unless they're next to each other. And there's always something nice for them to look at when you're behind them, which causes them to stop suddenly. Next time I might just keep going image

    Not really related, but I did the Harrogate Parkrun last weekend and the route is three laps of an open public area. Before the start, the runners were told that they had changed the route slightly so as not to trample all over the crocuses that the council had planted.

    On two of the laps, I saw one of the club runners disregard this and trample through a big flower bed. Grrr...

  • You've just reminded me of another one Nykie: the blackberry/mobile phone user!

    Completely blind to the fact that other people exist! Not just because somehow owing a mobile and using it makes you the only person in the world (or as I tend to find, they only have room inside their heads to take on one activity at a time and if they have a mobile either talking or typing means the head has no room for anything or anyone else- you watch them with their children going crazy for their attention, you see what I mean!).

    They don't move unless you physically move them or their bags, then they flinch and often shout some sort of abuse along the lines of 'this is MY world and how very dare you exist in it!"

  • NykieNykie ✭✭✭
    Ah, yes, the 'I only have enough brain to cope with one thing at a time' people! My Mum is one of those people image
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    PhilPub wrote (see)
    Ali Ostler wrote (see)

    Teenagers

    Shoulder barge.  Fuck 'em.


    Love It PP. I must admit i did this on purpose to some chav up the track once. They were just aimlessly hanging around and walking between lanes, while I was doing a session. Eventually i gave one a right old clip with a "oh sorry mate". They moved along pretty sharpish.

    On the roads generally though i very much follow a "run defensively" strategy. You can't expect people to get out of your way, so i try and plot a route round them, and not so close I give them a heart attack! Its not always possible though, and I've had to throw a few "sorrys" back as some woman has yelped.

    Last week, i zoomed round a corner, and some poor student type chap literally shouted " ARGHHHHH" and jumped out of the way. I think his reaction was a little extreme, but threw him a sorry anyway image

    The most frustrating people are the ones on narrow paths who see you coming from a distance away, but turn around or just stop right in the middle of the path.

    What do they think is going to happen there!?!

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