The Chainlink

Why is no one saying "to your left" anymore on LST? Can we all start that again? Thanks!

Seems like I haven't heard a single person say this as they pass me this summer but I always say it. It helps all our safety right? 

Can we collectively start doing this again?

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On your left!
On your left!
On your left!
On your left!
On your left!
Passing, on your left!
Left! Passing!
'Ding, ding!'
On your LEFT!
Yes! I agree!

I haven't used off-road paths in a couple of years, but IME back then, saying "on your left" created a 50% chance that the person being passed would look to their left and drift into my path. 

 

For on-road paths, I don't pass until/unless I can "take the lane" and leave a massive gap between us, which makes me particularly sensitive to shoalers. 

yes, yes, yes

I'm all about the bell

I agree about the bell.

A light ting will usually alert someone or a loud DING to wake them up.

Bell is great too!

Bell, "on your left", whatever. Some sort of communication is courteous and  safe.  I have said this before on  other  threads-- the  tone of the ring,  oral message or shout can be tempered to match the intensity needs of the  moment.  Renee's post asks for a simple and  undemanding warning that you are going  to  whiz by her.  I think she has a reasonable request. A call to a rider who is weaving  and making  you  nervous as you  go by may merit a higher  level of  inherent alarm. I will say that  if  I  see Renee safely to the right and  there is  so little  traffic that  I  can easily and safely ride by her using the other  lane  and there is a good distance between us, I may not bother  to call or ring or will give a simple single  ring.  While on  the topic of ringing bells,  once the message has been made,  there really is no need to  keep ringing.  The  constant ringing is no longer  saying,  "excuse me Ms., I  am  coming  by" but rather, "Get outta the way B#*@h, I'm more important than you." and nobody wants to hear that.

But a constant ringing is sometimes necessary when attempting to pass peds or riders who have their headphones cranked up loud.

Yes.

simple and undemanding warning - so true. I always try not to yell and say it at a reasonable level as to not shock/scare people.

agree with all of this :)

Yes! reasonable!

I was on a collision course with a pedestrian who was standing in the bike lane on Randolph recently and he didn't seem to be heeding my bell, so I yelled - way too loudly it turns out, and he jumped about a foot into the air when he finally realized what was going on. I'm still feeling pretty bad about it. The poor guy needed to be alerted to his error, but I didn't need to scare him. I've been trying to be more considerate about these things, but also to realize that my attitude while riding plays a role in this. I do not actually need to be in a hurry, and the loop bike lanes are not conducive to fast riding.

He'll get over it and think twice before he stops in a traffic lane again.

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