Road Hog! The Unwritten Rules of the Road

This is a guest post by Mely “the Wife” Wilcox.  She came back from a run one day in a state of apoplectic rage at pedestrian discourtesy.  She doesn’t write often, but when she does you know it must be important.  This is what she has to say.   

It has been said in the past that writing improves one’s mental abilities, and that is also a good way to relax.  I am putting it to the test.  I am not a confrontational person and don’t have many pet peeves, but this one is a thorn on my side. Why can’t adults be responsible enough to practice common courtesy and then teach it to their kids (our future generations)?        

I try to keep myself in shape.  I eat well and workout often.  Part of my work out routine is running (because I enjoy it).  We live in Boulder, Colorado. It’s a wonderful city for all kinds of outdoor activities.  It’s a pedestrian and bike friendly city, too.  There are paths and bike lanes all over town, which makes my running much better because I like to take my boys with me.  They bike and I run along with them.  They get time to be outside and we all get some exercise.        

When the boys go out with me I make them wear their bike helmets (because that’s the law in town), and I always make them follow the basic rules of the paths: ride on the right side, pass on the left, let people know you are passing them on the left, let faster people pass you – in general, be cordial and attentive to the rest of the people with whom we share the road.  Well, I may be a tad bit to militant about it because when I’m out with the boys I sound like a drill instructor: “Stay right!” “Pass quickly on the left!” “Watch out for those people over there!”  “Don’t run over that dog!” The upside is that it has helped my physical condition as I spend most of my run talking (and on occasion yelling), but most importantly, it has made my kids more conscientious of the people around them.  My reminders have made them better people, better bikers and better pedestrians.  My reasons to drill this into their little heads are, firstly, our safety.  If they bike safely observing all the rules, it’s harder for them to get in an accident; and secondly, the safety of the people around them.  I don’t want to see my kids running over another kid, adult or pet or crashing into somebody if it’s something they could have avoided.  If we follow the rules we are all safe, right?        

Unfortunately that’s not true.  There will be occasions or circumstances wherein we will not be able to prevent accidents.  Among those is the behavior of other bikers and pedestrians.  When other people are inconsiderate, doing only what they want and when they want, thinking they own the street (or the road) and don’t follow the same rules as those of us who are trying to be nice, they put everybody around them at risk.  Like they say, it takes two to tango, and it sometimes seems being nice and courteous doesn’t protect us in the least.        

Just such a thing happened to me last week while I was, as it happened, running by myself.  As I was going on a curvy uphill on one of the paths we usually take, I saw a couple walking ahead of me.  They were with their dog, a little ways up the hill almost around a corner.  This part of the path is not narrow because it’s a steep hill with a big curve in it.  The couple had their dog in a leash (nice, one rule observed), the man was walking in the middle of the path on the dividing line, and the woman was walking on the far right side of the path (she had the leash), and the dog was hiding in the bushes all the way to the left of the path.  In other words, the three of them and the leash were occupying the entire path.  I saw them as I started going up the hill and I had to get off the path on the right side to pass them.  But they heard me coming, and saw me, but didn’t make any attempt to move out of the way to let me pass.  It was annoying that they wouldn’t move allowing me space to pass, but what really got me upset was to think of what would happen if a biker turned around the corner at full speed (since it’s a downhill after all) and found himself all of a sudden with a leash stretched all across the path and two lazy people who hadn’t planned for the eventuality.  It would have been the cause of a nasty accident for all involved – not to mention the dog running the risk of being turned into ground meat in the moving parts of a speeding bike.  And then I was even more upset when I thought of what would happen if it was a little kid, My Kid!  Or a less experienced biker who couldn’t react quickly going down that hill.        

This is unfortunately something we see all the time, not just on paths.  Why can’t adults, who should have been taught, at least follow the simplest rules of the road?  It’s a rhetorical question, of course, because we all know most people just philosophically, are.  There is nothing I can do to make these sorts of people change their rude ways.  All I can do is teach my boys to be better, to respect others and to watch for others and themselves.  One side of the equation is all we have to work with, and it’ll have to do.  It’s our responsibility as parents to be a good example to our kids and to teach them how to be sensible and respectful adults, even if it means other people won’t do the same.  Learning to be a citizen of our city applies to all parts of life; paths, roads, grocery stores or otherwise.  Friends Romans Countrymen!        

There, I said it!  I got it off of my chest and now I feel better. It’s true; writing is relaxing whether I’m writing just for me or for an audience.  I said my peace, and now I’m better.  Ahhhh!  And that’s all I have to say about that.  Thank you!