I was on my bike coming home from school, taking a greenway (for non-Americans this is a long wide concrete strip running through forests or communities for walkers, bikers, etc.). Standard greenway etiquette is to stay on your right, and pass on your left. Similar to a two-lane road.
There was a runner who seemed to have both AirPods in and did not hear my bell, and I passed him on the left. The runner was fully taking up the greenway and running in the center of the entire strip, obvious to let anyone pass him. I was on the furthest left as I could, almost touching the grass, and he screamed "a\*\*hole". AITA?
Nah sounds like he wasnt paying attention
NTA- as you said, etiquette (and common sense!) says keep to the right and have awareness of your surroundings, when on a shared use pathway. They were being TA, not you.
NTA. What were you supposed to do, follow him all the way along the path?
He should have been keeping to the side so you had more space to pass. Possibly he didn’t hear you with his air pods in, but that’s not a thing you could do anything about
NTA …. I guess, since he was on the center line he expected not to be passed?
Clearly NTA, you rang the bell and gave as much space as possible. It’s not your fault the runner made himself unable to hear what is going on around him, which in itself is borderline AH and hazardous behavior on a mixed-use trail, and certainly leaves him in no position to criticize others.
(If there happens to be anyone who takes the runner’s side on this, I’m curious what they think OP should have done differently?)
NTA. You probably scared him but you did everything a person can be expected to do in a polite society.
Try a air horn next time.