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  • Trail: Slow down, Ring a bell
  • Sidewalk: Slow down, Ring a bell

"On your left!" really means "Move right!" but most cyclists appear to feel that's too bossy, so they try the presumably more polite formulation. The pedestrian most often reacts by moving in the direction s/he heard shouted ("Left!"), which is the opposite of what's intended. It's like those tests with a list of color names printed using OTHER colors, and you have to say what color the ink is. Your brain has to override the impulse to say the word you read rather than the color it's printed in.

As commenters have suggested, it's a lot easier to ring a bell well behind a pedestrian to give them time to react and move, then steer appropriately. And, yes, the cyclist HAS to slow down.

by Steve_W on Jun 12, 2012 1:55 pm • link • report

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