2 cyclists pulled over by police on Cedar River Trail.

[XMcShiftersonX]

Speed isn't what hurts people, it's people not announcing themselves, or not giving enough space when passing other people, and people who don't understand what "on your left" means. Basically a lack of communication. I often slow down while passing people as a personal preference just to make sure they're not going to freak out. But, I think it's ridiculous to make people go as slow as 10 MPH on an open trail. I'm going to go the speed I'm comfortable with and have fun with, and that helps me with my cycling goals. What harm is it to a person if someone passes at 20 MPH but they let you know they're coming and they give you enough space? And who makes up the arbitrary number of 10MPH and decides that that speed is "safe" ?

-Jessica

[PamNY]

I disagree in the strongest possible terms. I have seen numerous accidents caused by speed on a multi-use trail.

To assume that everyone knows -- or should know -- what "on your left" means is unrealistic. What if they are hard of hearing or don't speak English? What if they haven't used a trail like that before? What if they are six years old and using training wheels?

Twenty mph in an area that's even slightly crowded is way too fast.

[Eden]

I have to agree with X - it was an overreaction and 10mph is a bit ridiculously slow and renders the trail useless to commuters, who will now be forced out onto a busy highway. Can you imagine if every time a cyclist or a pedestrian was hit and killed on the road if the city dropped the speed limit on that road to 10 mph.... like that would ever happen

This was a pretty freak accident. It probably was not due to speed, but as X said more to communication and the fact that the woman was a fairly fragile elder. The cyclist was an older man too and was also hospitalized with a head injury, so this was not a case of some racer boy running down an old lady.... It is tragic that she died. I would not want to downplay that at all, but I also think that its been misconstrued as some crazy reckless cyclist blasting down the trail and from all accounts that was just not the case. Heck, he may have not even been going faster than 10 at the time, as the trail was crowded... It wasn't the direct impact with the cyclist that caused the injury - it was the fall to the ground and even a small bump could have caused that.

Yes - in areas of congestion it makes complete sense to slow down - even under 10 mph if need be, but to limit the whole trail to 10 is a bit ridiculous.

[XMcShiftersonX]

That's exactly the problem Eden. In the particular situation that this speed limit change is in response to, the cyclists announced themselves, began to pass the lady on the left and she made a mistake, panicked and accidentally ran to the left instead of the right and into the cyclists. It was an accident, but the cyclists did the correct thing and speed was never mentioned as an issue. But the backlash of the incident has been the cyclists being portrayed in the way that you said. It is I'm sure very sad for the family and friends who lost their loved one. However, the response would not have stopped this accident from happening - instead I feel that it is the city's way of telling the community "we're doing something about the "problem." When they're really not. It's a lot easier to enforce a speed limit than it is to make sure people are staying to the right except when passing, passing only on the left, announcing themselves, being aware of their surroundings and the people around them. So, unfortunately the cyclists are being punished. And like one of the articles printed at the time of this incident said, this is the only major accident that has happened on this trail since it was paved, which is pretty impressive considering I hear about Burke-Gilman incidents all the time.

Also, I must say that even if not everyone knows what "on your left" means, I would hope that when they hear someone's voice coming from behind them, they would look before changing their direction. If someone says on your left, all you have to do is nothing really, just stay right where you are, unless you're blocking the whole trail and someone can't pass. If the person is hard of hearing, I would hope they would look around before changing their direction as well, especially in an area that's full of all sorts of different people - people pushing strollers, walking dogs, skateboarding, riding bikes, rollerblading, running, etc. I don't think it's asking too much to expect people to be aware of their surroundings, and responsible for themselves on the trails. It's not right to punish everyone for a few people's failures. There are signs up on the trail listing the rules of passing people, etc. But it probably wouldn't hurt to have more education around this I'm sure, and honestly I think it would be more effective for the city of Renton to spend their time on this instead of the speed limit.