Why is it that a certain section of our exercise mad population think that it's perfectly ok to jog in the road rather than use the pavement? Seems a little odd to me. Especially when the chances of getting run over on the pavement are virtually nil.
Also, why do people who are pushing wheelchairs think that the safest way to get from A to B is to push their charge in the gutter? The 'pilots' should stop for a second and just have a look at the mask of fear etched onto the face of the person in the chair.
Sorry if I seem a little tetchy - been driving round the town centre all day. I live in a seaside resort, the weather's been lovely and it's flower show time. I'm a little tense. Now, where did I put those recreational drugs...
|
I believe that when jogging, the maintenance of an even rhythm and equal length of stride is important. This rhythm can be interrupted by having to change the length of your stride to mount or step off a kerb. Hence, many joggers use the road. I don't speak from experience I might add - I detest jogging and much prefer cycling, swimming or walking as forms of exercise.
With regard to wheelchairs, the same kind of thing probably applies - it's easier to maintain the same level in the road, rather than repeatedly mount and dismount the pavement.
Incidentally, as someone who has had to push wheelchairs occasionally, I might add that the 'tactile paving' so much in vogue for pedestrian crossings and kerb ramps is a total pain to negotiate with a wheelchair. Maybe another factor why some take the easy option and stay in the road.
I don't condone use of the road in the manner described, I'm just thinking of possible reasons for such behaviour.
Jon
|
Hi,
People jog on the road because the surface is softer than pavement so saves your legs a bit of hamering.
|
so we save our legs from a hammering..AND GET KILLED BY A CAR
what sort of dumb logic is that???
thats like the person who crosses a busy road between 2 pelican crossings cant be bothered to walk to 20 yards or so,,would rather get killed for the sake of a ten second walk
thats like the person who runs across the road while waiting for the pelican crossing to goto red...they cant be bothered to wait..they would rather be killed than wait
absolute stupidity in its highest form
while we are at it,,,what about the cyclists that refuse to use the cycle lane....idiots always have an excuse like
"i dont want to go up and down the kerbs"
for the sake of this they would rather be knocked off the bike
--
www.storme.co.uk
|
Hi,
I like my cars i'm also what you'd describe as' one of our exercise mad ' but where i live there aren't many pavements so i have to run in the road. I do run facing oncoming traffic but i dont run in the gutter i stay out about a drains width from the kerb this stops people thinking they can squeeze past you when theres not enough room and forcing you into a hedge.
Another thing i've noticed is a lot of male drivers think it's a laugh to shout comments at female runners however if you meet them again at traffic lights they don't say a word when they've got nowhere to run?
|
|
|
|
Quite a few years ago my dad and I were driving through Hillsborough shopping area in Sheffield (before the tram system). Suddenly and without warning a pushchair was pushed into the road from between a parked car and delivery van, followed by the face of a young woman peering to see if the road was clear. Dad hit the brakes and we skidded to a very abrupt stop, the pushchair hidden from view by the bonnet of his car.
The young mother simply looked at us and carried on crossing the road.
It took two or three minutes before my dad stopped shaking enough to drive on.
Kevin...
|
I jog. When there is a pavement I jog on it. Otherwise on the road facing the ongoing traffic. I've jogged for 28years..
There is , however, a hill on our road which has blind bends with 2metre high hedges and on the blind bends I run on the outside - becasue I can see what's coming towards me,
ALthough it's a 30mph limit and only wide enough in parts for two cars to pass and a 1in 4 slope, some muppets try to race up and down. I am an expert in removing thorns from my body having pressed into the side to avoid being hit:-(
Some motorists drive as if there is no likelihood of meeting a pedestrian on a road with no pavements. Idiocy.
Not as bad as the horse riders who also use the road and whose horses often react badly to traffic.
madf
|
If sombody moves out for me when i'm running i wave up to them however have you noticed when you slow down for horses they very rarely wave up?
I suppose there are idiot joggers,horse riers, baby buggy pushers and most certainly drivers wherever you go.
|
I dont drive on your pavement, so dont run my road.
|
|
Your road ? i think you'll find in the highway code that pedstrians have right of way. Also before you come back with i pay road tax blah blah blah i do aswell.
|
No they dont. Where does it say pedestrians using the road for jogging ro running have right of way?
|
|
If your on the road and not in/on a vehicle or on a horse then surely your a pedestrian regardless if your walking,running,pushing a baby buggy?
|
If you are on the road, not designated for pedestrians (shared zone, designated crossing) you dont have right of way over cars.
|
|
>>i think you'll find in the highway code that pedstrians have right of way>>
IIRC, you may be confusing this with the Highway Code's advice to give way to pedestrians if you turn a corner and they are crossing the road.
Otherwise, if pedestrians had right of way in addition to their use of zebra and Pelican crossings, there would be utter chaos....:-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
|
|
|
Nobody pays road tax ,roads are financed through general taxation and are the property of all .Excise duty which vehicle owners sometimes pay is to repair the roads and for the polution they cause.
|
>>Excise duty which vehicle owners sometimes pay is to repair the roads and for the polution they cause.>>
Most people refer to it as road tax.
In actual fact only about one-sixth of the billions collected through this tax revenue is actually directly used for building or repairing new roads.
Local councils are responsible for road works in their areas.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
|
|
Nobody pays road tax ,roads are financed through general taxation and are the property of all .Excise duty which vehicle owners sometimes pay is to repair the roads and for the polution they cause.
Not even that Andy. Though pollution is used as a smokescreen the reality is that VED is just an impost on the pleasure and convenience of vehicle ownership. Same applies to fuel duty.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I find horse riders pretty careful and in control on the whole, and they are courteous in acknowledging a bit of consideration; unlike a certain brand of presumably non-motoring jogger or runner, which adopts an expression of hate whatever leeway I give.
Billy Butlin was reputed to have said, whenever he felt like exercise he lay down until the feeling passed. I have as far as possible followed this principal, and am now 78 and still motoring strong! The last applies to Toad too.
|
Correction - principle!
Billy Butlin ran the company, so, he was the principal ;-)
|
|
|
|
|
>>Suddenly and without warning a pushchair was pushed into the road>>
This seems to be a common trait with young mothers throughout the country.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
|
|
|
I used to regularly push a relative around in a wheelchair at various cities along the med coast and in some places had to use the road as the curbs were easily over a foot high in most places! Coupled with that their driving and it wasn't fun for either of us!
Over here though - the pavements are much better than the gutter so would never consider going in the road if I'm not crossing. Not like the old boy going along in an electric wheelchair between the outside lane and central reservation on the dual carriage way that links the north and south terminals at Gatwick - madness!!
|
Well, that's got the natives suitably aerated!
When I talked about joggers using the road, I did mean when there was a nice shiny pavement for them to use instead. Obviously when there's no pavement it's a bit Hobson's choice.
My mum was in a wheelchair for a while and when I took her out for a trundle, there is no way that I would have even thought about pushing her in the road. And she never once asked me too either! Using the logic that you use the road so that you avoid kerbs and driveways and the like, shouldn't pushchairs use the road as well - or doesn't a baby's comfort count?
|
|
I can't understand why they want to run where they will be sucking in the greatest concentration of exhaust fumes as well.If(not likely) I were to take up jogging I would use the woods/park/canal towpath.
|
Hi,
I prefer to run in country lanes but to get there i have to run for 1 mile along a a road.
Running on canal paths and parks is fine but if your training for a race you want find hills on these and they are softer surfaces than road so come race day if all your trainings done a soft grass your going to find it hard.
|
Hold on a minute...Some contributors seem to think there are different classes of the population. Us drivers and those pedestrians, joggers, cyclists, wheelchair pushers etc.
Arent we all the same people who do different things at different times.
Most of us have cars, many of us cycle, walk, push wheelchairs, prams and do the things which are being condemned here.
A little tolerance and understanding is the way forward and not getting agitated because you have to slow down for a moment.
We should all try and protect each other and not pontificate who is in the right (or wrong).
|
|
Especially when the chances of getting run over on the pavement are virtually nil.>>
You must be joking? You've obviously not seen the number of cyclists riding on the pavements in my area of the country.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
"You must be joking? You've obviously not seen the number of cyclists riding on the pavements in my area of the country."
Probably 'cos they feel intimidated by the "my road" mob when they use the roads.
|
>>Probably 'cos they feel intimidated by the "my road" mob when they use the roads.>>
Someone like the cyclist riding on the pavement in the middle of a Saturday afternoon's packed town centre with a mobile phone clamped to his ear?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
|
No.
|
|
I ride on pavements ever since I spent a week in hospital having reconstructive surgery on my wrist after being hit in a cycle lane by a car driver who wasn't looking where he was going. On top of that, he tried to drive off after hitting me, but was fortunately stopped by a fantastic HGV driver coming the other way.
|
I've got a couple of friends who are traffic cops.
They tell me they don't, in the majority of cases, prosecute cyclists riding on the pavement as they consider it safer for them than being on the road, especially during the hours of darkness.
They cite the number of serious accidents involving cyclists and vehicles, particularly at night, that they have attended.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
PS
The fellow that devised jogging died at a comparatively early age.
He was jogging at the time....
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
Can speak from personal experience as I trained for a 10K run last year.
There is a whole industry making shoes to keep al your bits at the least damaging positions.
Leg and ankle and knee pains are considerably less when running on a flat surface.
Running along sloping pavements with the driveway cut-outs is indeed painful when you are an unfit overweight athlete.
But not a painful as being hit by a car.
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
|
|
|
PS The fellow that devised jogging died at a comparatively early age. He was jogging at the time.... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
He did indeed. He had an undetected heart defect, present from birth, and the general consensus was that he would have died much earlier if he had not been so fit.
|
|
|
|
|
You might change your mind if, like me, you were almost knocked down from behind by said cyclist - only sixth sense saved the day.....:-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
"Leg and ankle and knee pains are considerably less when running on a flat surface.
Running along sloping pavements with the driveway cut-outs is indeed painful when you are an unfit overweight athlete."
Sorry but i have to disagree with that.
I regularly run marathons and half marathons, and as such need to put in a fairly large number of miles when training for a race.
When i run in an area with decent paving (most urban areas) i find it easier to run on the pavement and deal with the obvious kerbs etc than run on a camber in the gutter of the road, avoiding drains and areas of broken road surface, as running ten miles on a camber WILL do you severe damage.
Ideally, i prefer to run on semi-rural roads with a pavement, as these generally have less junctions to cause you to break stride, and offer more pleasant scenery.
If there is no pavement, i have to run on the road. I don't feel like i'm trespassing on motorists land, although it can sometimes be a little scary. I always wear white, or reflective bands at night, and stay out in the middle of the lane whilst the road is clear, as this allows approaching cars the maximum chance to spot me coming. If a car needs to slow down to wait for the space to pass me, i wave or nod my thanks, and i'd like to think that the warm feeling they get from that makes up for their inconvenience.
It's a simple case of showing consideration for fellow human beings, both on the part of the 'intruding' pedestrian, and the motorist.
|
They are my legs so I should know!
The roads are indeed less cambered than the pavements in my locality and are a less painful option.Cars permitting.
Was a one off race so far- but very enjoyable.
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
|
|
|
|
|
|
