Sorry if it wasn’t clear, my logic was never “cyclists should be able to bully pedestrians because cyclists are faster”
My logic is: It takes like 10 second for an pedestrian to step to the side, let 10 bikes pass, and then move again like nothing happened. Or literally no time at all if they just don’t take up the whole sidewalk and the bikes can pass safely. The cyclist in general also wants to have a safety gap to the pedestrian because a crash is just as dangerous to both parties. That is entirely different to bikes on the road, which need a minute and a lot of energy do accelerate again, and if a crash happens, only the cyclist is in danger, so drivers can get sloppy.
And it does matter that I think it’s a jerkish move, because all I saw in your comment was “sometimes, cyclists are assholes”. If there is anything more there, let me know, because I can’t see anything else in your anecdote.
I specifically avoided, not only calling cyclists assholes, but calling the people in my story cyclists. It also takes like 10 seconds for a cyclist to get off of the cycling path to allow a line of 10 cars that have invaded it to pass. That’s entirely not the point. If a cyclist is aware that they should keep their distance from a pedestrian, then they wouldn’t be on the sidewalk or they would get off the bike and push it, which is what the law says. There’s no ifs or buts. Giving motorcycles to people who don’t understand that and calling them “ebikes” will just endanger everyone.
Sorry if it wasn’t clear, my logic was never “cyclists should be able to bully pedestrians because cyclists are faster”
My logic is: It takes like 10 second for an pedestrian to step to the side, let 10 bikes pass, and then move again like nothing happened. Or literally no time at all if they just don’t take up the whole sidewalk and the bikes can pass safely. The cyclist in general also wants to have a safety gap to the pedestrian because a crash is just as dangerous to both parties. That is entirely different to bikes on the road, which need a minute and a lot of energy do accelerate again, and if a crash happens, only the cyclist is in danger, so drivers can get sloppy.
And it does matter that I think it’s a jerkish move, because all I saw in your comment was “sometimes, cyclists are assholes”. If there is anything more there, let me know, because I can’t see anything else in your anecdote.
I specifically avoided, not only calling cyclists assholes, but calling the people in my story cyclists. It also takes like 10 seconds for a cyclist to get off of the cycling path to allow a line of 10 cars that have invaded it to pass. That’s entirely not the point. If a cyclist is aware that they should keep their distance from a pedestrian, then they wouldn’t be on the sidewalk or they would get off the bike and push it, which is what the law says. There’s no ifs or buts. Giving motorcycles to people who don’t understand that and calling them “ebikes” will just endanger everyone.