IF and I say IF again we as a society are going to have shared use footways where cycles and pedestrians and prams and dog walkers are allowed then why don't we just put up a sigh which says "This footway is a shared use facility - if you're going to cycle along it, please give way to slower people". That would save an absolute fortune on useless white lines, and indeed dangerous slippy white lines and intricately oriented tactile paving.
It would also require an attitude change. Which would be wonderful if extended - fast cars would then give way to slower cyclists and pedestrians.
I remember an article in some cycling magazine (I can't remember which, I think it might have been one called New Cyclist) back in the early 90s, which argued that a car driver seeing, for instance, a mother with small child and shopping bags waiting to cross the road in the rain, but not at an official crossing, really should stop and let them cross - not out of any legal obligation but simply because that is what a "decent person"* would do.
But we as a society are so far from that, that asking people to slow down because they share the road with others seems a little unlikely. But desirable. It could be tried, I suppose.
*I remember clearly the article used this phrase.
