Jogging toward danger in the bike lane

Over the past few weeks I have noticed that a surprising number of pedestrians have started using the bike lanes on Johnson Avenue in San Luis Obispo as a jogging path.

I don’t know that this is expressly prohibited, but it is certainly dangerously poor judgment, in my opinion, given the amount and speed of traffic on that busy street.

Isn’t that what sidewalks and jogging trails are for? The problem occurs when cars must pull into the bike lane to make a right turn and find themselves following a pedestrian. I recently found myself on the road behind a mother out jogging on Johnson with her baby. The cars stacking up behind me in the turn lane on a steep hill had absolutely no idea what was going on ahead. If one of those cars had rear-ended me it could have been fatal to the pedestrians. Meanwhile, a perfectly fine sidewalk sat empty.

Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. Can we please use some common sense?

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 7:28 PM with the headline "Jogging toward danger in the bike lane."