Bikes take much less space and they will go around people, it's not uncommon for roads to be shared for bikes and pedestrians at the same time.
On the other hand you risk getting hit by a car if you walk into the streets, thus the metaphor of falling down a chasm.
Bikes take much less space and they will go around people,
Well, I seriously doubt that bikes generally go "around" people. For pedestrians in a pedestrian environment, a bike is about as dangerous as a car is for bikes on a road.
you risk getting hit by a car if you walk into the streets
Just like you risk getting run over by a combat-biker in the pavement, the pedestrian zone in the city, or a pedestrian crossing. And don't tell me those things dont happen - I see them every day.
I don't know where you come from (I guess US?) but I live in a city that has a very long bike lane shared with pedestrian sidewalk and I take that road very often, nothing ever happens. Worst case scenario I just ring my bicycle bell and they move aside, which is a plus because I love ringing my bell :)
Worst case scenario I just ring my bicycle bell and they move aside
That's what I'm talking about: Bikers complain about cars, but totally ignore their relationship to pedestrians. "I ring my bell and let them hop away"...
Asking for room is OK. But the usual tone is "jump out of the way, or else!". Just today there was a letter to the editor in the newspaper about reckless bikers in a busy underpass here. Admittedly, this underpass is to narrow for it's use, but this women regularly observes bikers who speed up down the ramp to the underpass and basically plow through the pedestrian passage at full speed from both directions - and the passage is just 3m/10ft wide.
That sounds like really bad pathway design, I presume the underpass has a downhill entry and uphill exit, encouraging cyclists to gain speed on entry to make the exit easier
I would complain about that underpass rather than the people using it the obvious way
Actually, it does not encourage cyclists to speed down there. It is a pedestrian underpass, and the signs say that cyclists must dismount. But cyclists being cyclists, they don't.