In aus.bicycle on 26 Apr 2007 16:38:11 -0700
AndrewJ wrote:

I only use bike paths when I'm in a mood to go slowly, smell the
roses, and take my time. Otherwise I ride on the road. If I'm in a
hurry I take a train, or very occasionally drive a car.

I use the Cooks River path to get to a shopping area I use, and
sometimes to get to work when I am heading to Alexandria.

When we move to North Ryde, I'll be using paths to get to work for about
75% of the trip. Cos they are flat and I'm a real wimp!


It seems to me that most bike paths are unsafe at greater than 20km/
hr.


I don't usually do much more than that on the path. 25 is about my usual
speed unless there's people about or it's horribly bumpy. If there's
lots of bodies such as a Saturday afternoon I'll slow down because that's
only sensible but if there's no one about I'll go as fast as I feel like
which usually isn't that fast.

With seriously shared areas like Pyrmont Bridge I tend to 15-20 and
figure that's fast enough to safely dodge peds who can't walk
straight[1] but I'm one of the slow cyclists there...


Zebee

[1] most people seem to have a buffer zone, they'll move until they
have lots of room around them. So they'll drift across as soon as
they can, then drift back if the space on one side is getting tight.
Judging a particular ped's personal space and tendency to do this can
get interesting.