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news
“Schrodinger’s bike bell”: Cyclists “can’t win” as Guardian writer asks for “just one ding from speeding cyclists” but others cite pedestrian conflict; Tour Brown Under: Lachlan Morton confesses “I sh*t myself three times” on Ride Around Australia + more
SUMMARY
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Cyclists and pedestrians in Castle Park, Bristol (image: Adwitiya Pal)17 January 2025, 09:34
“Wheeled threats spoil serenity”: Guardian columnist wants “just one ding from speeding cyclists”, prompting discussion about shared paths, bells, and pedestrians “getting out of the way”
In the same week three cyclists in Adelaide were injured after hitting a wire trap strewn across a shared path, those very shared paths are now the centre of a raging online debate, with a column in Guardian Australia sharing (erm, no pun intended) a “petty gripe” with cyclists, or as they are described in the second paragraph: “wheeled threats” who can “spoil the serenity”.
What could possibly push someone to have such strong opinions about cyclists, you ask? Well, because according to the columnist, cyclists’ cardinal sin is not ringing bells when passing pedestrians on shared paths, turning “peaceful walkways into something more like racetracks”.
Viv Smythe, the columnist, however, specifies that it’s not all cyclists — it’s only the “subset who fly past pedestrians as if the shared pathway is a velodrome”. She adds: “It’s especially alarming when a cycling group whoosh-whoosh-whooshes past with never a bell sounded beforehand, nor a slowing of speed. Now I appreciate that they are forced to pursue their hobby in a city that hates cyclists. And that many cyclists believe pedestrians will respond poorly if they sound their bell as they approach.
“But I appreciate even more those cyclists who demonstrably know that the space is not for their exclusive use and take shared pathway safety seriously (unlike the retiree cyclist who berated my retiree husband for walking on a ‘bike path’).”
She ends the column describing her “favourite” kind of cyclists — “As they approach and slow for overtaking, the lead rider loudly calls something like ‘bikes coming through, six of us’ so pedestrians are alerted, and then as the first rider comes through they say ‘five more behind’, the next rider says ‘four more behind’ and so on, until the final rider says ‘last one’. We’ve been passed by several groups doing this now, and you are all awesome,” she concludes.
> Government rejects calls for cyclists to be required to use a bell
However, not many cyclists online seemed to agree with this sentiment of ringing their bells while passing pedestrians. Lawrence Davies wrote on Bluesky: “My wife stopped ringing her bell on shared paths when a guy started screaming at her for using it. Apparently the bell means ‘you need to get out of the way’.”
My petty gripe: I just want one ding from speeding cyclists. How hard can it be?
— Guardian Australia (@australia.theguardian.com) 16 January 2025 at 14:04
Another Bluesky user also seconded this opinion, saying: “Here's my experience: when I ring my bell on a shared path, I think I am saying, ‘I’m about to pass you.’ But what a significant percentage hear is ‘Get out of my way’, so they leap right into my path,” while one person wrote: “The people who write this need to go spend some time on a bike and experience how many people hear a bike bell and immediately jump into your path because they assume it means they're in the way and need to move.”
And then there was Lumberjack Wharfie (Bluesky username, of course), who replied: “Yeah buddy that’s nice and all until we get an article in the Guardian titled ‘My petty gripe: How dare you ding a bell at me?’”
So here’s my question to you, do you ring bells when passing pedestrians on a shared bike path, or do you rely more on your vocal chords to alert them that you’re coming through — or maybe you choose to do neither? Let us know in the comments what’s your usual go-to and why…
17 January 2025, 15:52
“Schrodinger’s bike bell”: Prof Ian Walker says “cyclists cannot win” in the to bell or not to bell debate
Professor Ian Walker, the environmental psychologist at Swansea University, most notably known for the studies involving driver behaviour when overtaking cyclists, has chimed in on the great old bike bell debate, writing: “Cyclists cannot win. For every ‘I want you to ring your bell at me’ there is an equal and opposite "How dare you ring your bell at me.’”
Cyclists cannot win. For every "I want you to ring your bell at me" there is an equal and opposite "How dare you ring your bell at me"
— Prof. Ian Walker (@ianwalker.bsky.social) 16 January 2025 at 15:01
And the tweet Bluesky post has resulted in even more cyclists coming forward and narrating their confusing experiences after ringing a bell when passing pedestrians.
George Morgan said: “A lot of people seem to interpret a Ding as always equavalent of an angry Beep. And it sometimes is but it’s more often a friendly, ‘Hey, just letting you know I’m here’. But they assume it’s the same as a car.”
Walker replied saying: “Exactly. Which is one reason articles like that one are so unhelpful.”
But a few have also come up with solutions, so to speak, on how to avoid such conflict.
Fernanda Ferreira said: “My strategy as a commuter cyclist is to say ‘ding ding’ in the friendliest voice possible and follow up with a thank you. A lot of pedestrians seem to find the bell aggressive, which makes no sense but the passing situation doesn’t allow for a conversation about it.”
17 January 2025, 16:50
Tour Brown Under: Lachlan Morton confesses “I sh*t myself three times” on Ride Around Australia
450km a day for a month, sweltering heat and headwinds, and dodging kangaroos and truck drivers… with poo running down your leg.
Sorry if I might make anyone uncomfortable during their afternoon tea and snacks (I certainly don’t have any appetite right now), but EF Education-EasyPost rider Lachlan Morton has confessed that he “sh*t” himself three times during his 14,210km long Ride Around Australia.
In what I think is a more tasteful video from a pro cycling team for a change, the team sat down its riders (erm, no pun intended) for a confessional — don’t ask my why — however, most riders came up with boring, vanilla confessions.
“I watched the Tour de France Femmes but not the Tour de France for men.”
“My record in a coffee shop is four cappuccinos and three cookies.”
“One time in a coffee shop, I had four cappuccinos and four cookies.”
“I do face and nose masks with my wife.”
Boooooring.
And then there’s Lachlan Morton, who launches an explosive (no, really, it’s unintentional) confession straight out of the gate: “I’m Lachlan Morton. It’s been 18 years since my last confession. This year I sh*t myself three times on the ride around Australia.”
To be fair, I’ll give it to Lukas Nerurkar, who manages to hold his own (okay last one, I promise): “I had six cappuccinos and six cookies and I sh*t myself four times.”
But perhaps the most relatable confession, at least for your live blog host, came from team manager Jonathan Vaughters: “I’m JV and I’m a really truly sh*t bike mechanic. Changing a flat tyre during a training ride? I need other people to help me.”
Ouch, remind me never to do confessionals.
17 January 2025, 17:57
“Bicycle Redistribution Point”: Spoof sign highlights train station’s bike theft problem, as designer slams police inaction and lack of security for cyclists
17 January 2025, 16:17
Cyclist, NHS worker, and Sheffield bike lane guardian, Helen, better known as ‘CyclingInASkirt’ on social media, reaches “end of treatment” for cancer
It’s a sad day for regulars of cycling Twitter and the community in general, as Helen, who you might know better as ‘CyclingInASkirt’, has reached the “end of treatment” for cancer.
A Sheffield resident, Helen was a regular of this very niche corner of social media. In September 2023, she announced that she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and would be starting daily chemo and radiotherapy for treatment.
Unfortunately, this morning, Michael, her husband shared the following message: “As some of you may know Helen’s last scan showed that the cancer has grown and is impacting kidney function. This means we have reached the end of the road for treatment and are focusing on keeping Helen comfortable.
“The boys and I are heartbroken but also surrounded by so much love and care, and St Lukes Hospice have just been off the scale brilliant every step of the way.
“Apologies for the blunt nature of this message. I’ve been dreading sending it and feel like I just need to put out the bare facts for now. Massive love to each and every one of you who have followed Helen’s journey, I know she has taken great strength from your support.”
Love and support to Helen from all of us at road.cc.
17 January 2025, 15:06
Women’s cycling team sports director banned for five years over “inappropriate” sexual and psychological behaviour towards riders
17 January 2025, 13:36
“It’s fair to say that Ineos don’t want to spend more money”: Ineos Grenadiers seeking a second title sponsor as team admits it’ll “take years before we’re back to winning Grand Tours”
It’s not unknown to any cycling fan by this point that the once world-beating squad of Ineos Grenadiers has been some way off the top in the last few years, failing to win a Grand Tour since Egan Bernal took the pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia in 2021.
With one of the team’s stars Tom Pidcock leaving on not-so-amicable terms to join Q36.5 Pro Cycling last month, it only looks like things will get more difficult before they get better for the British team — and the team’s new personnel, with Scott Drawer in his second year as the Performance Director, along with Zak Dempster and Kurt Arvesen coming in as directeur sportifs to replace the outgoing Steve Cummings, are not afraid to accept that.
Speaking to Cyclingnews, Arvesen said: “We need to come back and win bike races, start to win stages. Every race counts. It might take one, two, three or four years before we’re back, winning a Grand Tour, but I'm convinced we’re going to be.
“There are only three Grand Tours, there’s only only three winners, so it’s very difficult.”
But there’s still concern about team owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s commitment to funding the team — the British billionaire of course has another arguably more lucrative ‘sinking ship’ project to focus on in Manchester United with Portuguese manager Ruben Amorim at the helm.
Despite Ineos Grenadiers’ CEO John Allert confirming the team will exist until the 2028 UCI WorldTour and praising the owners for being “very passionate about this sport”, he confirmed the team was in fact, seeking out a second title sponsor.
“It’s fair to say that Ineos don’t want to spend more money,” Allert said. “So it depends entirely on what happens with this commercial activity. They very clearly do want us to be a super team and they know what it takes to be a super team. I'm not going to put a number on that, but it’s a number that's greater than what we're currently spending.
“You don’t need to be that clued-up to realise there’s a reason why we’re trying to bring other people on that journey with us. There’s value to be created for other brands and we don’t necessarily feel we have to, need to, or want to, go it alone.
“I’ve heard some bonkers rumours in the last couple of weeks about people buying us or investing in us or whatever else.
“We certainly have a commercial strategy that is an evolution of our strategy. We’ve appointed an agency and we're looking at commercial partnership opportunities, like most other teams are.
“It’s a very crowded market. We haven't signed anybody. I'm not aware of us imminently signing anybody.”
Drawer also spoke about the rapid pace at which the sport is changing, from the rise of Tadej Pogačar and other young riders to the growth of the big-budget super teams, and even new performance science such as the ability to ingest more carbohydrates during races and so race longer and harder.
He said: “Some of the most critical things that have probably shaped why we’ve reshaped ourselves are based on the changes that have really happened in the sport.
“I think the trends in racing, particularly pre and post-COVID have changed the nature of the type of cyclists that are now in the peloton. So we've restructured ourselves and set ourselves up to get ahead of that slightly for this year and for the future.
“Our motivation in our approach to racing is going to be very different, and then there will be a bigger investment in talent.
“It’s probably one that we've got behind the curve on, but one that we're really accelerating to get ahead of the curveball.
“You’ve heard some news, and there'll be a lot more news coming out around our importance in that space.”
17 January 2025, 13:23
“Finding a wolf in sheep’s clothing should not be a reason to attack sheep”
17 January 2025, 12:20
Team SDWorx is back… with the cringe-worthy cycling videos
The phenomenon of pro cycling teams and their obsession with making the most cringe-worthy, eye roll-deserving social media videos needs to be studied. Notable case studies can include Julian Alaphilippe channelling Celine Dion with bidons for microphone, and TBT-Unibet’s Eurotrash “bike reveal party”.
Now, Team SD Worx–Protime have submitted their entry to this lineage, with Marie Schreber, Julia Kopecky and Mischa Bredewold creating one of those “We are back baby” TikTok remixes with the M83 song Midnight City dubbed with audio from The Hangover.
17 January 2025, 11:55
“I lost a little bit of confidence after the last two years and, well, I was finally racing like I was 18 again”: Daniek Hengeveld bags unexpected solo victory at first stage of Tour Down Under
The road racing season is underway, and we already have a breakthrough winner in the first stage of the Tour Down Under, with Daniek Hengeveld winning thanks to an ambitious solo attack with 50 kilometres to go and holding on until the finish line, foiling any chances of a bunch sprint at the end.
The 22-year-old Dutch rider was ecstatic to win in her first race with Ceratizit-WNT, joining the team after leaving Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL. “I lost a little bit of confidence after the last two years and, well, I was finally racing like I was 18 again,” she told reporters after the stage. “I was like — Oh, this is why I race. It’s really nice.”
“At the end, I just heard my sports director in my ear, ‘Come on, come on, come on’. It’s like, ‘Oh, f***, maybe they’re really close!’ I appreciate that he was still cheering me on because it gave me the extra watts.”
#TourDownUnder 🇦🇺 - STAGE 1️⃣ HIGHLIGHTS
✅ Solo breakaway day for Polites
✅ Daniek Hengeveld attacks with 48km left to go, surprising the opposition and surviving till the finish
✅ Ally Wollaston sprints to 🥈, Kathrin Schweinberger 🥉pic.twitter.com/mMFHjXvy6o— Domestique (@Domestique___) January 17, 2025
17 January 2025, 11:37
Bike maintenance brand apologises to Sir Chris Hoy and removes video linking cycling legend’s cancer diagnosis to rival chain lube after legal action threatened
17 January 2025, 11:01
Can’t stop the wheeling: Justin Timberlake surprises 200 cyclists by joining Portland Bike Bus
We didn’t see this coming, but as proclaimed by the pop star all the way back in 2006, transitioning from a noodly-haired boyband star to a buzzcut-donning pop sensation, Justin Timberland is bringing sexy back — or should I say SexyBike?
Taking part in the Portland Bike Bus, Timberlake showed up as a special guest to surprise around 200 people, including families and their children for a half-mile ride down Northeast Klickitat Street to Alameda Elementary School, bumping his hits like Mirrors and Can’t Stop the Wheeling. I mean, Can’t Stop the Feeling.
The group, which organises the ride every Wednesday, went viral in October when they posted a plea on social media for the Memphis crooner to join them while in town for a concert, racking up over ten million views on TikTok and Instagram.
Samuel Balto, founder of BikeBusPDX and a former physical education teacher, said he had extended the invitation to Timberlake because “he’s awesome”. “I grew up listening to him. He’s got a lot of generational reach — everyone knows who Justin Timberlake is,” he said.
“I think that Justin Timberlake joining the Bike Bus would set a great example for how people can get around — on a bike — for everyday transportation.”
Given Timberlake’s conviction of drink driving last September, maybe he should steer clear of motor vehicles anyway and give bikes a spin. If he wants to go faster still, he can always put on a skinsuit… and tie.
17 January 2025, 10:09
Remembering a visionary, an icon, a legend — David Lynch
One of the reasons I fell in love with cinema was the vivid, audacious, and surreal worlds conjured by the silver-haired filmmaker from Montana, completely reshaping how I viewed the art form. So when I saw the news of David Lynch’s death — after walking out of the cinema with a heavy heart thanks to the (really great) movie A Real Pain, no less — let’s just say your live blog host found it difficult to focus on the doughnut instead of the hole.
Lynch, who became a Hollywood legend with his boundary-pushing works like Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, and the TV series Twin Peaks, passed away last night, aged 78, after being diagnosed with emphysema.
So to celebrate and remember the icon, truly one of the best to ever do it, here’s an image of Lynch riding a tandem with his high-school sweetheart.
(@TheFilmStage on Twitter)
Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after completing his masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Cymru, and also likes to write about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.
Latest Comments
- Jem PT 7 min 10 sec ago
What's the betting that a councillor lives in one of the two houses alongside that disused path??
- edster99 15 min 36 sec ago
Are you my doppelgänger? I've had all these things happen to me too. There is definitely a case to be made for 5 or 10 yearly retests, with...
- Shades 21 min 51 sec ago
There's a lot of LTN implementation (I just call it blocking off rat-runs that should have been done years ago) in Bath; anyway one is being...
- andystow 1 hour 6 min ago
We have a day for this, anyway. The Ride of Silence.
- mdavidford 1 hour 26 min ago
Of course it's not. Don't you know this is the communist wokerati of the Evil Cycling Lobby around these parts?
- Bmblbzzz 1 hour 29 min ago
The losers include drivers, but everyone living and breathing in the proposed area is a loser if it doesn't go ahead.
- Chris RideFar 1 hour 59 min ago
The title of this article states a causal relatioship between the variables of cycling and health. The research design only allowed for...
- adamrice 2 hours 18 min ago
Look, I'm glad the bus is ok, but the question all cyclists are concerned with is: is the bike OK?
- Steve K 2 hours 41 min ago
I think the main reason is "we have to so you should too".
- Jogle 3 hours 10 min ago
Is that Michael Green, Corinne Stockheath and Sebastian Fox? If you can get money per names on the ballot paper, I'm sure he can come up with a few...
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100 comments
Weren't lepers (the "unclean" of society) required to carry bells in medieval times? Maybe that's why the progressively challenged are so keen on them for cyclists?
I think they should get them to wear some distinctive clothing and headgear whenever they go out also - not everyone can hear them!
Shared paths are best avoided, although that's not always possible. Generally I'll ring my bell when approaching pedestrians. I haven't ever had anyone complain (I don't think a normal bell sounds in any way aggressive). Usually it works fine, but not always - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j-ZmKqIDgM
I prefer to tell pedestrians what I am about to do.
Also, how many road.cc readers are getting up a midnight to watch the TDU so do not mind knowing who won by lunchtime the following day?
I now say 'on your right' when passing, although didn't work so well with the ped who was walking in the middle of the road in a rural area - "use your bell" was the response !
I've had people complain that ringing a bell is rude and "excuse me" would be more polite. I've had people complain that instead of "excuse me" I should ring my bell. Whatever you do someone won't be happy.
I very rarely cycle on shared paths as I prefer the slightly more predictable behaviour of drivers over pedestrians.
And when I first started cycling my bike didn't have a bell so I didn't get into the habit of using one.
I then got an Air Zound for use against drivers, but again I rarely use it unless the driver has been exceptionally silly.
I hang a bluetooth speaker from my handlebars and with my phone in my pocket play music through it.
This is my recommendation.
Unless the music is vulgar, no one should be bothered by it for a few seconds as I pass.
You mean like The Rite of Spring, or something?
I used to whistle or hum the theme to Murder She Wrote when approaching pedestrians.
There are two objections to that, one is that whilst you can say that "no one should be bothered by it for a few seconds as I pass" more and more people seem to be choosing to play music on their bikes and it is pretty annoying if you're having a nice walk somewhere continually being disturbed by cyclists coming past playing music; the second objection is what about your fellow cyclists who have to put up with your choice of music considerably longer than a few seconds? Several times recently I've got stuck behind someone at rush-hour on the London cycleways who is playing loud music and personally I find it incredibly irritating even though I am a great music lover and keen musician. There's enough noise pollution without cyclists adding to it.
I've never started AND ended a cycling commuting journey at the same place and time as another cyclist so I'm not sure how frequently that happens (staying together for an extended period of time).
Either I'm a bit quicker or they are so it is usually only for a few seconds, a minute at best if stopped at a red light.
As I said, unless the music is vulgar (or exceptionally loud - unlikely to be an issue if on main roads with motor vehicles) I'd think this is a first world problem.
If you ride on the superhighways in London they are often so crowded at rush hour that you stay with the same group for very extended periods of time, so if one of them is playing music you have to suffer it. Dismissing antisocial behaviour, which I believe playing music from speakers when riding (or indeed when walking, sitting on trains, sitting in cars with the windows open et cetera) is as "a first world problem" is just silly, does it mean that we have to accept all forms of rude behaviour that aren't actually directly harmful? It's just bad manners to inflict your musical choices on others, I'm afraid.
There aren't any cyclists up here (last Wednesday I went 12 miles up to Lancaster and didn't see any cyclists until inside the town - and that was the masked crim on the illegal electric motor whose picture I have shown on here) so this problem doesn't arise. However, I would undoubtedly be annoyed by people with speakers hanging from handlebars telling me I 'shouldn't be annoyed' by their choices of dire music. I would be thinking 'bugger off, or use earphones!’
I remember mentioning quite loudly to someone listening to music on a speaker on a bus about this amazing new invention, that they called "Head. Phones." (with air quotes, for emphasis). They didn't appreciate my point, unfortunately… I don't think they'd realised that people existed outside of their little bubble of existence, as if everybody else is just an NPC.
On the one hand, I think that there's plenty of noise pollution already, so we don't need people to be blaring out music.
On the other hand, these people are sharing their music/culture etc. so even if we can't stand that particular choice, it's not necessarily rude of them from their point of view.
In summary, I wouldn't want to ride next to someone blaring out pop tunes, but it could be quite fun if it was a decent choice of music.
(What does snap my cranks is live music in a pub as I have enough trouble following conversation in a noisy place as it is, but invariably live music is cranked up so loud that I can't hear a thing. Also, it's invariably poor quality covers of popular hits - I'd rather they just had a jukebox for that kind of thing)
Who gets to decide what is a decent choice? One man's meat et cetera…
In all honesty I don't think that people playing music on their bikes think that they are sharing their music and culture, I'm afraid most of the ones I see are just rather sad exhibitionists (often accompanied by a "wacky" hat and fairy lights wrapped around the frame) saying look at me, I'm so crazy and wild and I love music so much I can't even do without it on my bike...not, perhaps, stopping to think that if you really love music you wouldn't insult it by playing it on a tiny crappy Bluetooth speaker in the middle of traffic noise with wind rushing in your ears...
I get there's a performative aspect and some of the dress is ... questionable. One might question this on safety grounds also.
A million years ago, as a London courier, I had a bell that ran off the front wheel, it had a trigger on the bars and like a dynamo contacted the tyre. It was loud, but I realised so very aggresive. Now I use the little brass ones from Lezyne, just because the sound is so gentle, but the best is just a "Good morning/afternoon"
I would just like to point out the irony of the headline claiming cyclists are spoiling the serenity by... (wait for it)... being too quiet.
One of the most humanising aspects of being a cyclist is that, unlike motorists, we aren't sworn to silence and need to communicate everything through an ambiguous system of honks and flashes. So I just say "heya, excuse me", it's worked pretty well so far.
The classic "I want cyclists to do what I want because I am clearly right". As everyone else is saying, you can't please so many people. Bells annoy more people than they placate. A bell to most people is "get out of my way".
On shared pathways around me I reckon about 70% of pedestrians are in the bike lane. If you say anything as you are about to go past people you will usually get one of a few reactions. If you're lucky they just acknowledge you and stay the course. If you are unlucky they will act shocked and angry or my personal favourite, move into your way when they were fine before.
If they are blocking the path I obviously slow right down, communicate and pass when they have moved over. If they are clearly walking to the side, aren't showing any signs of meandering or changing direction and there is plenty of space I will just go past them saying nothing as its by far the safest way unless I want to overtake at 5mph and make the overtake take 3x as long.
Am I the only one to think that this is utterly insane?
No.
If pedestrians are that interested in whether cyclists are about to pass them, then they can be attentive to sounds and possibly even look.
It's certainly extreme. That said, if it's a narrow path and a group of cyclists is a bit strung out, then calls of "there's a couple more still coming" or "that's all of us" can be sensible.
Give a meter of safe clearance or stay behind till you can pass safely, if its what we want and expect on the roads why is it so hard to grant the same courtesy to pedestrians?
For a start, the speeds involved are a lot less and obviously due to cyclists not weighing 2 tonnes, any collision will be far less harmful. Also, a lot of shared paths are only a metre wide, so it's hardly possible to provide a meter space.
Staying behind until you can pass safely is entirely possible though - the problem is when pedestrians spread across a path and aren't aware enough of their surroundings to let cyclists get past.
How can that work when lots of shared paths are just pavements barely more than 2 metres wide (and often less) with a line of white paint and the peds are invariably in the middle? The attached photo is from one of the better bits in Shrewsbury (on NCR81) last month, which I generally avoid because so many people walk/jog across most of the whole thing. Despite repeated requests the council won't clear the leaves for another month or two.
Here is street view of that stretch in November, and another street view a mile further south near 2 secondary schools, which is unuseable between 8-8.30am and 3-4pm due to the sheer number of pupils, unless you like to practice trackstands. It's the same on nearby Bank Farm Road.]
While I agree that the onus is on the cyclist(s) always to slow down and be considerate, there do seem to be a large number of people who think we are encroaching on a pedestrian-only area that they should use as they wish.
I have found that a cheerful "Hi there" greeting when approaching from behind seems to be the best option.
Yes - have had people shaking their fists (or just shaking) at me for riding in a very clearly labelled shared use path - one in fact built as that from scratch I think, not converted footway.
People are always going to spread out - "side-by-side travel" is a human fundamental behaviour (and should be facilitated for cyclists too!). Plus in most places in the UK pedestrians will far outnumber cyclists.
The solution is very clearly marked separate areas - except where there will be very few cyclists or pedestrians *. But that would mean taking from road/parking space in most places! So we can't do that, because there is lots of demand by motorists, and there isn't much demand by cyclists, because few people cycle because ... (self-reinforcing cycle continues)
* This clearly can become "the norm" like in NL. And is then self-reinforcing (with a reasonable number of cyclists). If you're in the right place you can move unimpeded on a bike / without cyclists close-passing you as a pedestrian. If you're in the wrong place you have those issues plus you'll also have others clearly telling you you're wrong!
Sadly you are on the button. Drivers have been told over and over again that they can expect priority, whether that's in busy town centres or country lanes with no footway. Advertising and lobbying by car companies has a lot to answer for.
Politicians, including local councillors road planners and so on all think it is in their and our interest to put car drivers' expectations (I don't want to use the word 'needs') first and foremost; and that there is no real desire to cater properly i.e. fairly for other road users.
I'm reminded of the phrase "You can't justify a bridge by the number of people swimming across a river"; and another - "Build it and they will come" e.g. Paris:
https://www.ecf.com/en/news/ambitious-plan-will-make-paris-a-100-cycling...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198224001076
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/9/e007593.abstract (also summarised nicely at https://www.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/blog/2015/09/08/build-it-and-they-will-come/)
This last one, a BMJ open article from 2015, demonstrates that the environment will change behaviour far more than 'encouragement', free coffee or other so-called inducements to cycle, as discussed on here last month:
https://road.cc/content/news/council-reward-cyclists-free-coffee-311897
Necessary but not sufficient.
In places like the UK the feedback loop between "demand for driving" and "provision of roads, parking, (lots and lots of other things also)" is generations old.
Driving has displaced other modes in most places (pushing some to near-extinction eg. transport cycling). In in fact has displaced the *idea* of these other tools in people's thinking!
So to effect any significant change now it will take a whole series of "heroic" changes working together. It's not just that "cycling must be provided for":
a) Serious alternatives to driving are needed - which is public transport, walking AND cycling made so they can work together. b) Driving has to be made (a bit) less attractive - noting that this is the current "default" for many. The car is already paid for, there's a smooth "fast road" (in fact a network) between you and the parking right by your destination. It's just sat there waiting for you...
The latter is *hard* - politicians are understandably wary of not just saying "No" but saying "we will have to take away..." There's your opponent's open goal, right there!
But the latter has to happen else a) we can build, but mostly they won't come - like Stevenage or Milton Keynes they will drive, because it's easy. b) without taking resources (space, funding) from motoring we simply won't be able to provide those other options - because mass motoring is a profligate consumer and inefficient user of those.
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