Wheels, leashes, iPods: Can't we get along?

Enough already about road hogs on two wheels. Let's talk about a new menace to public safety on Raleigh's greenways: reckless pedestrians.

Complaints about rude cyclists in last week's Road Worrier drew plenty of comments from bike riders, walkers and joggers who share our busy network of two-way, 10-foot-wide greenways.

This time, most of the gripes were aimed at callous heel-and-toe types.

"I have seen plenty of stupid walkers out there," Elaine Matson, who bikes on the greenways almost every day, said by e-mail.

"Large groups of walkers spread out along the whole paved area, yakking and not paying any attention to anything.

"Walkers with earplugs listening to music. I ring my bell, but I never know if they hear me. ... Older people with hearing problems that can't hear my bell, and then after I pass they yell for me to let them know I am passing!" Matson wrote.

And what about their dogs?

"Walkers with dogs on leashes 15 feet long and blocking the path for anyone coming either way, and not caring," said Paul Roberts, who rides around Lake Lynn.

"I give a warning in plenty of time," cyclist Steve Parker said. "But they are still trying to reel in the dog when I reach them. Some don't bother to pull in the dogs at all."

Carl Milligan carries bruises from a recent canine encounter. Other bikers have suffered worse injury, he said, on Raleigh's greenways and at Umstead State Park.

"A friend of mine almost died -- his lung was punctured, and they had to remove his spleen -- because a dog that was off the leash [attacked him and] wrecked his bike," Milligan said.

"Another friend broke his arm because of a dog off the leash, and the owner told him, 'Don't you know how to ride a bike?' "

That's mean.

For some greenway bikers, it might be a fair question. During his evening runs along a Crabtree Creek trail, Phillip Miller encounters cyclists who ride too fast and two abreast on the narrow trail, and they don't always warn pedestrians before they pass them.

"But the bikers aren't the only ones who need to be more safe on the greenways," he said. Some folks blithely stroll three and four abreast with their iPods cranked up -- deaf to the world.

"They are just asking to get hit by a bike coming the other way, especially on the numerous blind turns," Miller said.

Still, most bikers and walkers get along fine, says Victor Lebsock, the city's greenway planner.

"But there are inconsiderate greenway users on both sides of the issue," Lebsock said. The busier trails -- near Crabtree Valley Mall and on the loops around Shelley Lake and lakes Johnson and Lynn -- have more problems than the greenways in other parts of town.

The greenways have their own set of traffic safety rules, posted along with etiquette tips at trail entrances:

* Be courteous. Keep pets leashed. (There's no rule against very long leashes, but maybe there should be.)

* Don't block the trail. Stay on the right-hand side -- and that includes your dogs and toddlers.

* Headphone use is discouraged.

* Speed limit 10 mph.

* Yield to pedestrians. Bikers, skaters and skateboarders should approach pedestrians cautiously and slow down when there is limited vision.

Read the details online. Go to http://parks.raleighnc.gov, click the "Parks and Facilities" heading in the left-hand column, and find "Greenway Trails" on the drop-down list.

Police officers occasionally patrol the greenways on their bikes, Lebsock said. But as a practical matter, it's hard to enforce the speed limit, the yield-to-pedestrians rule and the requirement to keep dogs leashed.

"It's a two-way street," Lebsock said. "A greenway is not strictly for walkers. It's also for non-motorized vehicular traffic.

"Everybody should be considerate of other users on the trail. That has to be the message."