Joggers should be banned from paths and pavements

[BalancedIndividual]

As a car driver I find that the occasional cyclist breaks highway codes, cycles dangerously, or cycles without care and consideration. Key word being occasional, so no biggie. Just like how the occasional car diver is a .

But as a pedestrian going for a stroll in the park, the number of rude, selfish, careless and aggressive joggers i've seen is ridiculous high.

I see a jogger coming towards me, I walk to the side/edge of the path, but joggers always decide to keep running straight down the middle....

Similar to the above, joggers not keep a safe distance, and actually brushing past me.

And lastly, the worst offenders, joggers running side by side taking up the whole path, coming towards me, and giving me looks as if im supposed to jump out the way and off the path. ***

I honestly think legislation should be brought in to ban jogging on paths and pavements. Restricting joggers to grassland/cross country, outdoor tracks, private land, and the gym. The same way that cycling isnt permitted on pavements.

AIBU?

Late to the party, but

I always move for walkers etc if I'm running, but I daren't stop in case I cant start again!

Went for a run today. I know the sheer cheek of it along the local waggonways which is a wide path. We passed horses, cyclists, walkers and other runners. We moved to single file at the side of the path every person we passed and you know who were the rudest people generally? People walking who could not possibly move from 3 or 4 abreast to single file for the two seconds it takes to pass us but god those bloody runners using their feet on footpaths, what scum! How about we all make room for each other!

Joggers in the countryside who go for a run at 6.30pm . They should a) run FACING oncoming traffic and not dress in black but have lights, if it wasn't for their Nike fluorescent bits going up and down I'd never know they were there. They should also LOOK before stepping off the pavement to avoid walkers, and not assume the car / tractor they imagine is coming doesn't have a trailer behind - they need to actually check this before leaping into the road. And if they're running on a single track road with very few passing spaces, it is polite NOT to have music on in both ears so loud you cannot hear vehicles behind you and to just run past the passing spaces where a simple step sideward and keep running would have allowed the car to safely pass - there is one road here I regularly do 1.2 miles at slow jog pace lady runner oblivious and sometimes there's a line of 3 cars behind me.... the Yodel driver thinks but she can't hear her music is too loud. Don't like her choice of music anyway she is too fond of Maria Carey

Omg as a runner , and a very polite one who zigs from one side of the road to the other to allow other pedestrians space to pass, I was unaware how annoying I am! There really are some joyless fun sponges out there.

It’s the loved up hand holding couples that their relationship will spontaneously end if they let go of each other’s hands for 10 seconds to walk in single file so we can pass safely that I always eye roll at

WTF did I just read? You obviously live near lots of rude people. Running has kept me healthy during this pandemic and I always give everyone a wide berth and so do all the other runners I see. The real culprits who don’t are the couples who can’t bear to let go of each other’s hands and take up the entire pavement...!

Oh and while we're at it, new-to-cycling cyclists on single track country roads. If I stop in a wide bit to wait for you to go past the other way, PLEASE do NOT take your hands of the handlebars to thank me, I'm only doing what I'm supposed to which is give way. If you insist on thanking me then a simple nod will suffice like horse riders do. What I don't want to have to do is cringe while you (being an inexperienced worried cyclist, thinking that 6ft 10 inches isn't wide enough) wobble helplessly nearer and nearer my car one handed. One day you'll do more than clip my mirror with your shoulder.

‘Insist on thanking me’ 🤣🤣🤣

[quote PradaBallbag]@manymanymany jealous much?

No one has more right to the pavement than anyone else. What utter crap.[/quote]
Why would I be jealous of someone who is so stupid and obnoxious that they think it's ok to run and puff and pant around other people in the middle of a pandemic?! I cycle to a very big park where I run away from other people, or exercise at home thanks.

@manymanymany, Are you ok? I genuinely think you sound too angry and wonder what is really behind it

YABU

Have to admit that on my evening runs (illuminated to the hilt) I do see an awful lot of runners all in black. It's actually pretty dangerous. Mind you cyclists with no lights are a little tiresome too

I don’t illuminate but equally I don’t run in the road or just dash across it, I stop and cross at crossings. Cyclists in the road without lights at night have a deathwish

Haha I thought you meant jogging bottoms🤦‍♀️🤣

I think it's a case of some cyclists are arseholes, some drivers are arseholes and some joggers are arseholes.

I was with DC in the park the other day and a jogger came ploughing down the path next to the play area where a woman and two DC were stood as one of the DC was tying his shoelace. The jogger said 'out of my fucking way' as she almost ran right into them. It's not like she couldn't see them before getting that close, she just didn't want to veer off the path.

Though not all joggers/runners are like this. Think you've just experienced a few annoying ones OP

I’ve been a runner for over 10 years and up until last year barely saw another person on the pavements at the same time as me. Now my usual routes are packed with dawdling pedestrians, children on scooters and walkers three-abreast completely unaware of their surroundings. Funnily enough when it’s raining or very cold they’ve all disappeared!

That's been my experience too @Catastrophie At the start of the first lockdown this time last year it was very clear that there were people "taking exercise" who had never done so before! If I went out early it was usually just us runners.

@Catastrophie

I’ve been a runner for over 10 years and up until last year barely saw another person on the pavements at the same time as me. Now my usual routes are packed with dawdling pedestrians, children on scooters and walkers three-abreast completely unaware of their surroundings. Funnily enough when it’s raining or very cold they’ve all disappeared!

This attitude is the problem - 'dawdling pedestrians'. There is no minimum speed limit on pavements fgs! Why not run somewhere else? The pavement is merely the primary means for people to get places on foot. They Are Not Designed For Runners. There are almost always other places you can run, so just go there if people walking irritate you so much. And if those places are a bit of a distance away, on yer bike!

[quote Fembot123]@manymanymany, Are you ok? I genuinely think you sound too angry and wonder what is really behind it [/quote]
Perfectly fine, just really tired of joggers (I note joggers here self-identify as runners ) and their heavy breathing and sense of entitlement, particularly around elderly people who may be anxious about COVID and have the right to move at a slower pace.

No one calls it jogging (except non runners I guess). You say “just going for a run”... oh and there’s parkrun and running clubs. Jogging isn’t really in the language anymore (hadn’t really noticed until I saw the word here).

I think it’s great people are going for walks and running when they never had. They should be encouraged. Sorry you’ve come across some rude people who also run but to blame all runners is a bit weird.

I’ve been a runner for over 10 years and up until last year barely saw another person on the pavements at the same time as me. Now my usual routes are packed with dawdling pedestrians, children on scooters and walkers three-abreast completely unaware of their surroundings. Funnily enough when it’s raining or very cold they’ve all disappeared!

This is what I'm finding. I've been running, walking a cycling my local cycle paths for years, in all weathers. As other runners will know, you get to know the usual faces that you will see, runners, dog walkers and so on, the elderly couple that sit on the bench and bid you good morning. Note cycle paths through the parks, not in the street. They are usually very sparse.

All of a sudden there are so many people.

That's fine, they are as entitled to use the paths as I am. But what I'm noticing is that the runners are usually solo or in a pair, usually very alert to what's going on around them. Most of the new walkers are in groups, walking 2, 3 even 5 or 6 abreast. Most refuse to walk single file for anyone else. They seem to have no awareness of what is actually going on around them. Standing talking and blocking the whole paths. Most will disappear once lockdown is over.

Most disappear on a cold or wet day.

Yet many will be on here disgusted at me running on paths I've used for years and wanting me banned from something I've done for years, because all of a sudden they want to temporarily use the paths and want me gone.

I went for a bike ride today, we are lucky here that we have a lot of cycle lanes. But what is happening is people are walking in the cycle lanes. Completely oblivious.

Yep @Januaryissodull and our local park run is closed as it’s at a National trust property. Running community is honestly one of the most welcoming group I’ve ever met.

Do any of you runners consider that you might be disturbing people, particularly those anxious about COVID? My mum and many of her friends stopped going for walks for a few months due to all the heavy-breathing runners coming so close to her. And so what if the pavements are more full than before the pandemic? For some people walking is the only exercise they can do at the moment, and as pavements are designed for walking rather than running, it's clear walkers should take priority. You can always go somewhere else to run, many walkers can't go elsewhere.

Group of 10 today. 4 dogs. All spread across the path. Very disgruntled as I approached (on the left) and a cyclist tried to get past behind them (on the left). And if we're going to get arsey, I didn't think 10 adults were allowed to mix within cuddling distance.