While I agree that Eugene’s shared pedestrian paths can be made safer, it is simplistic to just blame e-bikes for safety concerns. I’ve had many close calls on the paths while riding my bike. Many pedestrians can be oblivious to other users of the bike path.

I’ve had the following experiences: A young girl’s father pushing her onto the bike path in front of my bike after, presumably, helping her to go to relieve herself in the woods. A mother pushing a baby carriage who was so engrossed in her phone that she pushed the baby carriage into the oncoming lane, forcing me to make an emergency maneuver (so much for the mama bear protective instinct).

I’ve also experienced many times when pedestrians aren’t paying attention to where they are in the path and stepping in front of bicyclists who are attempting to pass around them. This is especially bad with groups of walkers that take over the entire width of the bike path, sometimes without warning.

In all of these situations, the bicyclist is the one that people get upset with since it’s the bicyclist that’s going faster than the pedestrians. It’s easy for oblivious pedestrians to get frightened, particularly if they put themselves in harm’s way and the bicyclist has to stop very quickly.

Everyone can do a better job of improving their situational awareness and courtesy to other users of the shared path. Putting the blame on a subset of the users of the path isn’t the answer. We all need to do better out there.

Steve Webster
Eugene