Joggers (rant)

My problem with it is that they're putting themselves in danger, yet if they stumble or just blatently don't care and run in to the path of a car (because half of them I see are not running against traffic), and the car driver hits them, it'll nearly always be the drivers fault. The pedestrian is never blamed as far as I can remember.

Also, the footpaths here are ALL tarmac, same as the road.

They do not all wear hi-vis clothing.

There's a herd of them out at the same time/place....very bloody dangerous when they think that there's safety in numbers and all run on the road.


Also, is it not against the law to walk on the road when a footpath is provided ?


In a quiet residential area, not a problem but on a main arterial road with heavy traffic and not a whole pile of room it's maddening and of course, dangerous.

Pique318 said:

My problem with it is that they're putting themselves in danger, yet if they stumble or just blatently don't care and run in to the path of a car (because half of them I see are not running against traffic)

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I take a risk assessment look at my routes. There are areas where you MUST run on the footpath, for safety's sake, and there are areas with wide roads, hard shoulders, quiet roads etc where you can run on the road without casuing anyone any hassle. Sometimes you no choice but to run with traffic but you need to be totally alert - I avoid these places like the plague.

Also, the footpaths here are ALL tarmac, same as the road.

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My local council doesn't do tarmac paths unfortunately.

They do not all wear hi-vis clothing.

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That's lunacy. I tell everyone I coach to wear some sort of Hi-Viz articles...yet some nut-cases insist on running in dark clothing, without hi-viz - all road users (motorists, bikers, cyclists and pedestrians alike) should remember that motorists rarely hit things they see. If you can't be bothered to make yourself visible.....then, imho, tough..!

There's a herd of them out at the same time/place....very bloody dangerous when they think that there's safety in numbers and all run on the road.

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Never heard of a group being called a herd.... usually a "pack" in runner-speak.

Also, is it not against the law to walk on the road when a footpath is provided ?

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Nope! Probably is if they're obstructing traffic, but, as a runner normally takes up less space than a cyclist.....

In a quiet residential area, not a problem but on a main arterial road with heavy traffic and not a whole pile of room it's maddening and of course, dangerous.

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Agreed 100%

What we all must remember, and pedestrians in particular - including runners, is that there are a lot of looney drivers out there ...and a lot of looney runners. Problem is when both types meet.

I really think you are kidding yourself with the risk assessments. Running on the road is just crazy. You really should find alternative routes, whether through parks or whatever. Running on the road is just asking for trouble.

Been running for 24 years. Rarely had any hassle. Running in a park in the dark is asking for trouble - you can't see anything - branches, debris etc. and are likely to run into lagerlouts, or their broken bottles!

Biggest hassles I've ever had were:
Once during a road race, a driver deliberately tried to buzz runners by driving right in on the hard shoulder, blowing the horn continuously - he got plenty of wallops in the side.
The other time, driver again deliberately tried to buzz a group out on a training run, the last few runners stepped in just before he "got them" and yer man clipped a bollard that had been hidden from view behind the runners

As I said before there are loony drivers and loony runners. both should be off the road!