This morning, I rode my bike uphill on one of my university’s paths: wide enough for 4-5 people to walk side-by-side. As I climbed, I noticed 3 men on the right walking side-by-side. I’m already at the right-most edge, and most incoming traffic is approaching from the left. So, assuming they will shift more to the left, I continue forward at the same speed. But, oddly, none of them decide to step aside despite plenty of space. So, I ended up brushing past the right-most guy and nearly snag his backpack on my left handlebar. In the end, I didn’t think confrontation was worth it nor was I in the wrong, so I continued forward, only briefly glancing back to see the guy yelling in anger.
Edit: We were on opposite sides of traffic: they were heading downhill, and I was going uphill. I was on the right since most peds going uphill were moving in that direction.
If you’re overtaking someone from behind, it’s your responsibility to avoid contact.
YTA.
Sorry, I should have clarified. They were incoming traffic, and they already saw me approaching from a distance.
OP needs to at least invest in a bell
YTA – next time call out – on your right or on your left..
YTA. they likely didn’t know you were there. Call out next time.
With the update, NTA. They clearly saw you and could’ve adjusted. They also shouldn’t be taking up that much space on a shared path.
Edit: NTA based off this info. They saw you coming and had every opportunity to move.
Originally I-N-F-O: Your post needs some clarification. If they had enough room to move over, why couldn’t you have moved left to swerve around them? Are you saying that there were other pedestrians on the left side behind them, so you didn’t have space to swing around them and then move back to the right?
YTA
You are on a vehicle. You need to adapt to pedestrians even if they are doing stupid things.
(Also if they were walking towards traffic then they were possibly on the correct side and you should have gone to the left of them)
Strange isn’t it, cyclist want cars to give them plenty of room and only overtake when it is safe to do so because they are more vulnerable than vehicles
Cyclist want pedestrians to get out of the bloody way and bugger their vulnerability!
> So, assuming they will shift more to the left, I continue forward at the same speed.
You saw an obstacle and changed nothing while approaching them from behind???
YTA
If the path was not a dedicated bicycle path, YTA. If it was a dedicated bicycle path, the reverse.
YTA. You’re on a bike and they’re on foot. You have greater responsibility to avoid hitting them even if you think they should have moved over. You should have slowed down until you could go around them without touching them.
YTA if you’re on wheels its your job to not hit anyone, you’re going way faster than everyone and if you’re close enough to hit someone walking out you need to slow down.
So if you were one of three bicyclists doing the equivalent on a road it would be okay for a truck to hit you?