| Multiuse trail rules: Left or Right side walking?
I'm sure this has been addressed ad nauseum, and I searched the Google
Usenet archives, but I have yet to find a definitive, sensible answer.
I am a bike rider, walker/hiker, and dog walker. My position is that all
pedestrians, including dog walkers, walk on the LEFT on multiuse trails
so that they can see oncoming bike riders AND, more importantly, keep
their unruly dogs under control by blocking them with their body to
prevent them from charging into the trail. Dogs are trained by
convention to walk on the left of their handler, so it makes sense for
the handler to walk left to maintain trail safety.
This, coupled with the convention of walking to the left on roads with
automobiles to face traffic, seems to make it sensible to adopt the rule
of walking left on multiuse trails.
Many multiuse trails do not specify rules. Those that do sometimes say
for all traffic to move on the right side. For dog walkers at least,
this is a potential hazard. And bike riders have to deal with
pedestrians not looking at oncoming traffic.
In malls and parks with no bicycles and dogs allowed I can understand
the natural tendency to walk to the right (and face oncoming Japanese
and British tourists).
Is this sensible or am I tilting at windmills?
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