Do you always stop for pedestrians at a crosswalk?
I consider myself a fairly cautious and considerate cyclist and generally follow traffic laws when out riding, but had an interesting encounter with a pedestrian yesterday near the end of my ride yesterday.
I was on a main residential road without stop signs, but crosswalks at each intersection. I was cruising at a moderate speed of about 16mph. I was coming up on one intersection at the same time a pedestrian was approaching the crosswalk. We got
there simultaneously and I proceeded through. As I did, she said a very sarcastic “thank you.”
I generally yield to pedestrians, by slowing down and going around them. In this case, I felt I didn’t have much time to slow, down shift, and cycle the chain. With the timing of it, I really would have had to unclip and make a full stop, but I didn’t and juust continued on through. She was still at the curb as a passed by and she made her comment.
I’ve been almost hit in NYC by cyclists who blow thru lights, sometimes going the wrong way, but this wasn’t a case like that, not in my opinion at least.