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A few years ago, on the first nice day of spring, my wife was hit head-on by a rider going way too fast for the narrow, shared path we were on. It was a bike/ped bridge crossing along a highway. We were plodding home into a headwind after a nice long ride.
The at-fault rider flew through the air and landed some thirty feet away (we'd check his garmin later to see that he was going over 30mph - slight downhill, tailwind). His bike bounced over the divider into the highway. He screamed. We'd find out later that he broke ribs, cracked his spine, and collapsed his lung.
Fortunately my wife made it through with only a thumb break - somehow - and yet, the other rider had recovered from his injuries before she did. But it was an incredibly traumatic experience, and one that was so preventable with just a modicum of respect for shared space. For the places where there's no need to go fast.
Anyway, my point is that this stuff makes me really angry. A MUP is a great way to get to wide open roads where you can open it up, but it is absolutely irresponsible and antisocial to let rip on them.
It also drives home to me how much we need more human-scaled space. How much we could benefit if there were less space devoted to cars and car storage, particularly in our cities, and more for the people who are walking, jogging, riding slow, or riding fast - so that we can get out of each other's way just a little bit more.
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