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Comment RSSSingle File: It’s Just Common Courtesy
30.08.07 # 7:06 # Uncategorized # No CommentIn the town of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1923, a bylaw was passed to regulate pedestrian traffic. It required people on foot to pass oncoming pedestrians on the right, just like vehicular traffic. If you were walking side by side with a friend, you were required to move into single-file formation when meeting oncoming pedestrians. It was also illegal to wheel two or more baby carriages side by side on any sidewalk.
To me, this seems like a very excellent idea. In the city where I live, I enjoy riding my bicycle all around the bike paths. I am a very courteous biker. If I meet pedestrians walking side by side I will always swerve off onto the grass and go around them. This one occasion, however, I was crossing a bridge over the Red Deer River. This particular bridge has a regular sized sidewalk over it, but it has barricades on either side. One to keep you from falling into the river and the other to keep you out of the path of oncoming traffic. As I was riding along, there were two women pushing baby carriages, side by side, coming towards me. I just assumed that they would extend me the common courtesy of moving out of my way and allowing me to pass. Was I ever mistaken. They didn’t even acknowledge my presence. They just kept walking side by side. I went as far to my left as I could which resulted in my peddle scraping on the concrete barricade (which is only about knee high when I am on my bike) and then I lost my balance and nearly fell over the barricade into the oncoming traffic. These two women just kept pushing their giant SUV baby carriages and waddling their fat asses side by side without so much as a pause in their conversation. It was such an ignorant thing to do. There ought to be a law.
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