Letter: If you’re on a bike path, follow these simple rules! (please)

Posted 6/7/18

With spring upon us, it is great to see so many people out on our region’s many bike paths. But it distressing to see them becoming a more dangerous place to ride, run and walk.

Sadly, much …

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Letter: If you’re on a bike path, follow these simple rules! (please)

Posted

With spring upon us, it is great to see so many people out on our region’s many bike paths. But it distressing to see them becoming a more dangerous place to ride, run and walk.

Sadly, much like drivers, people act as though they are the only ones on the trail and do not need to take others safety into consideration. There are dangers related to any outdoor activity, and we should each take small steps to be safer.

Bicyclists:

  1. Slow down once in a while! Your desire to maintain a high heart rate is not more important than everyone else’s desire to not be hit by you. If you want to pass someone in front of you and someone is coming the other direction, slow down and let them pass first.

  2. Give people space! I can’t tell you how many times I have been walking on the bike trail and a bike will pass me with only a few inches of clearance. Do those same bicyclists like it when cars pass them on the road with a few inches of clearance? Nope.

  3. Wear a helmet! You are not a better bike rider than everyone else. And if you don’t wear one because of vanity, well a busted skull always looks worse than a helmet. 

Walkers/Runners:

  1. Control your dogs and children! Hold that leash tight and don’t take your eyes off your kids. At the same time, dogs and kids are inherently crazy and even the best parent/pet owner can’t control them all the time. So bicyclists should heed rules one and two when approaching kids/dogs.

  2. Pick up after your pets please! I would love to talk to the people who put their dog’s waste into a plastic bag and then leave it on the trail. Contrary to what you may have heard, there is no dog poop butler who comes by after you leave to pick up your mess. You’ve just managed to litter twice.

  3. Look around you before making sudden moves. This is mostly aimed at the joggers wearing headphones who often do a complete 180 without bothering to see if any bikes are coming up behind them. 

Chris Josephson

Providence

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.