My difficulty with announcing my presence vocally is that I have a voice that either sounds too soft to hear from a distance, or that sounds angry. I'm
not announcing my presence in anger, but to make my voice heard, the people who hear it will hear anger in my voice despite my good intentions. So I have a choice; sound like a jerk, or do my best to give a wide berth as I go around people on the path. If I can't do the latter, then I must do the former. When that gaggle of strollers fills the path, or a small group of walkers leave very little room, or even a single walker is not keeping a straight line, such that I cannot tell where he or she will be when I approach, then people get the angry voice (with a non-angry person emitting it).
I guess I should get a bell for each of my bikes, but my handlebar space is getting a little cramped. The road bike (Cannondale Synapse) came with CX inline brake levers on the tops. I ride at night a lot so there's usually a light or a light mount on the handlebars of both my road bike and hybrid. I have a Garmin, so there's an out-front mount on my road bike and a standard mount on my hybrid. And I have a Garmin remote (believe it or not, it's a nice addition) within thumb's reach on each bike. A bell
may be possible if it's one of those circular ring types. Perhaps I'll get one for my hybrid and see how it goes. If it better serves to alert people without giving them an angry-tone voice it's probably worthwhile.
In principle people should stick to their side of the path, and overtakers should move over to the left side to overtake when it is safe to do so. But my experience riding the MUP in Salt Lake County, MUPs in Los Angeles, and MUPs in Portland, Oregon is that it is human nature to not pay much attention to what side of the path you are on when you are:
- Walking
- Walking in a group
- Walking in a group with strollers
- Jogging in a small group
- Cycling with leisure in a small group
- Cycling with kids.
- Walking with pets on leashes.
- Walking with pets on extendable leashes.
This is even worse on places like the Strand MUP along the beach in Los Angeles; the pavement is just something to be crossed as you hang around at the beach, and crossing is not something to be done with any haste. People will drag a cooler along, stop in the middle and turn around to call out to their kids, carry on a conversation, and so on, not even realizing they're blocking a path of moving joggers, skaters, cyclists, walkers, and kooks.
We can't change reality, we can only mitigate by being careful.