I find that a minority, when hearing that, instinctively take a step left before realizing that they need to move to the right.
I find that a minority, when hearing that, instinctively take a step left before realizing that they need to move to the right.
WTH kind of “trails” do you have over there? I thought we were talking about like trails in the woods/mountains, maybe a gravel road at best…?
To defend the comment, I’m including paved trails designed for non-car traffic. So there is a 3+ m wide paved trail for large parts.
This appears to be a cultural/language thing (I’m not from the Anglosphere), I just didn’t have any concept of a “paved trail”, it immediately seemed like an oxymoron to me.
What would you call a paved surface that is dedicated to non-car traffic?
Pavement? Path? Footpath? Biking path?
In my language we use the literal translation of “road” also for paved surfaces not meant for cars. We use “walking-road” to emphasise the fact when it’s in a place where it might be confused for a car-road. We also have “bike-roads” that are paved/marked like a road but dedicated for bikes only.
I think I just immediately associated “trail” with “hiking trail” or “bike trail” which I associate with more rugged terrain and not paved paths.
I did say “pavement markings or signs”, and this was meant to cover both types: here in California, a “trail” can refer to anything from a minimally-improved dirt route through the forest no wider than a person, to an asphalt-paved multi-use facility with smaller versions of the familiar traffic control signs.
In the context of OP’s question, I didn’t specifically discuss narrow, single-track trails because there’s no possibility of a bicyclist squeezing past a pedestrian without it being a very obvious negotiation of space.
But there are plenty of regional trails which reuse the alignment of an old fire road or railroad. So the prospect of riding a bicycle on dirt in a 3-meter wide dirt corridor is not unheard of. So to come across a pedestrian is also not abnormal. If the weather is good, all walks [no pun intended] of life will make their way to enjoy the outdoors here.
Regional recreation areas will post their trail rules at the trailhead, and periodically along the trails. Some rules are obvious, like not littering. Others are not: horses sometimes get priority over both cyclists and pedestrians, because in areas with lots of horse riding, the horses could get spooked and bolt.
This appears to be a cultural/language thing (I’m not from the Anglosphere), I just didn’t have any concept of a “paved trail”, it immediately seemed like an oxymoron to me.
I’ve come across trails with priority markings, but in my country most trails don’t really have any kind of marked “trail head” at all (apart from the ones very near major cities) like you commonly have in the US.
Ah, I see. American English seems to use trail for almost any path that isn’t meant for vehicular traffic. Note that some historic routes through the West were inconsistently named in the 1800s, so the Oregon Trail was indeed through unpaved wilderness, but the Mormon Road was also unimproved.