Hudson River Bike Path: full of joggers
Observed by freshness on Sat, Sep 06 2008
Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT), you are failing miserably to enforce regulations that will ensure the safety of bikers and joggers alike. Daily those of us who use this wonderful bike path must dodge careless and thoughtless joggers who think it's ok to jog any place they like. Despite the many road markings and signs indicating biking/skating only, the joggers choose to ignore these. Bikers must slow down and dodge them in order not to get hit. Joggers wear headphones and turn up their iPods, oblivious to the conditions around them. I was struck by and thrown from my bike from a jogger wearing headphones who made an abrupt turn (I was several feet away) and ran right into me as I was about to bike by. She was unhurt; I sprained my arm.
Enough is enough! HRPT, you need to get Parks Dept. to enforce the rules. If bikers can be fined for riding on the piers and walkways, then joggers too need a courtesy and enforcement campaign. It IS dangerous to jog on an active roadway where skaters and bikers are going at 20 m.p.h. If bikers dare try to explain this to joggers (as I occasionally do), the only response we ever get is #$%@ you. This complete lack of courtesy and respect for safety is just untenable. HRPT, do something about it: in addition to "No Pedestrians in Bike Lane" signage, you especially need signs around the Chelsea Piers bottleneck and between Houston and Canal Streets that clearly state "No Jogging/Running in Bike Lane". And you need to enforce it.
2 Comments
Login or Register to comment.
Posted on Sun, Sep 07 2008 at 09:49 AM
As someone who uses this space for both running and biking, I understand your frustration. For now, I suggest some patience. The final design of the park offers separate, uninterrupted lanes for each type of use. However, until the park is completed, the runners and cyclists are supposed to share parts of the path, which is both annoying and at times dangerous. As more of the walking/running lanes are finished, runners and walkers will migrate towards those spaces. In the meantime, while the split is off-and-on, it will be tough to get runners and walkers to move from the bike path where there is the option to do so - the splits are simply not that obvious. Even then, cyclists will still need to be careful. In Central Park, there are plenty of sidewalks that parallel the drives, but despite the heavy traffic of runners, rollerbladers and cyclists, some walkers still feel the need to walk in the drives.
Posted on Tue, Sep 09 2008 at 05:24 PM
Your comments are well-taken and are reasonable. I forgot to write that where there are shared-use portions of the path, I do of course slow down and share. Thanks for posting!