National Environment Agency More efforts needed to get pedestrians off cycling paths
Many cycling paths run side by side with pedestrian footpaths. They are separated only by a painted line.

On a few occasions, I have encountered e-scooters or bicycles charging at me while I was walking on pedestrian-only pavements, because the riders were trying to avoid pedestrians walking on the cycling paths.

Unpleasant scares, near misses or accidents can be reduced if pedestrians stay clear of cycling paths, so that riders of personal mobility devices (PMDs) or bicycles will not need to swerve into footpaths to avoid these errant walkers.

It would be most perverse if a PMD rider ends up hitting someone walking on a footpath because he was trying to avoid pedestrians encroaching on the cycling path.

This unfortunate mutual encroachment into each other's paths takes place quite regularly.

I have chased quite a few clueless or careless pedestrians away from the cycling path, and asked them to walk on the footpath.

It takes two hands to clap to avoid collisions between people and PMDs or bicycles.

The authorities should put more resources on the ground and appoint traffic wardens to ensure people walk only on the pedestrian section of shared paths to avoid needless accidents.

Lim Teck Koon

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/more-efforts-needed-to-get-pedestrians-off-cycling-paths

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