Reply #15: Disparate users on the same trail rarely understand one another well. [View All]

I'm reminded of work we did years ago on backcountry trail use, involving horses, motorcycles and Jeeps.

It took a lot of buy-in from the various user groups to get them to start seeing things from the other users' perspectives -- that, and frankly playing on each group's fear that they might be banned from using some trails if they couldn't work it out. Once that factor kicked in, people started working to educate one another.

Jeepers learned that the guy on the motorbike that whizzed by them wasn't being a jerk, for example, he just needed to keep his momentum up so he didn't keel over. Motorbikers learned that the equine set was quite gracious when other users idled their engines going by, to keep from spooking horses. That sort of thing.

It makes sense that a bicyclist is probably put more off-kilter by coming to a complete stop than is offset by the safety factor, but at the same time there needs to be traffic control that takes into account motorists' seeming inability to see bikes coming. Bicycles ideally move slightly slower, but stop less often. It's a very different use of the same "trail," and there needs to be more education.