Thursday, December 20, 2007
Rules for Walking and Bicycling
I haven't researched this yet, though I've been meaning to for years. My opinion has long been that walkers should follow the same rules of the road as cyclists. Obviously I don't mean they should walk on the street instead of using the sidewalk whenever available. What I do mean is that walkers and cyclists both should walk/ride in the same direction as traffic. My reasoning is thus: drivers on the road are conditioned to pay attention to their surroundings in very specific ways. When turning right onto a two way street, the driver typically only looks to those travelers moving in the same direction as he is; he pays more attention to what is happening on his left than he does to what is happening on his right. Turning left of course the driver has to look both ways, but turning right he is much less likely to. I have also argued that walking in the same direction on the same side of the road as traffic gives drivers much more opportunity to see the walker/rider than he otherwise might.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I disagree wholeheartedly.
I believe that walkers should walk against traffic. For one primary reason:
Sight.
If a pedestrian is walking on the side of the road in the direction of traffic, then he cannot see vehicles coming behind him. That puts the burden of avoiding an accident entirely on the driver. If a pedestrian is walking against traffic, then he has the opportunity to see an oncoming driver and the driver can see the pedestrian. That way, if one of the two is not paying attention, the one who is paying attention can take the necessary steps to avoid an accident.
You mention at the end of your post that walking in the direction of traffic gives the driver much more time to see and react. However, as a pedestrian, you are not likely to be traveling much more than three miles per hour.
So, assume you are walking along a road with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour, and a moving vehicle comes around a corner and sees you 100 yards away.
Assuming the vehicle is driving the speed limit, then it covers about 17 yards per second. You are only walking at about 1.5 yards per second.
So, if you are walking in the direction of traffic the driver has 6.45 seconds to see you.
If you are walking against traffic then the driver only has 5.4 seconds to see you. The difference is only about a second, and you also get 5.4 seconds to see the driver, compared with zero seconds if walking with traffic. As the speed limit increases, the extra margin walking with traffic gets you grows smaller and smaller.
You also mention vehicles which are turning. You simply should not cross in front of a vehicle that is planning to turn regardless of which direction you are traveling. You are much safer crossing behind that vehicle or waiting for it to drive on and get out of your way.
This is why it's nice to have a mathematician in the family. I've never found a person who agreed with me.
Post a Comment