Pedestrians Ignoring Bicyclists?

So I've never been an avid bicyclist. When I was a kid, I would bike alongside my mom while she would run her 5 miles every day. She liked me coming with her because I would keep her company and be another set of eyes on the road. She always stressed the importance of looking out for cars, especially because the majority of her 5-mile route was on the side of the road with very little separation between us and the traffic. And that was all I knew... until I began working in New York City.

New York City had all of these bike lanes and at first, I just saw it as extra space. I wasn't used to ever sharing the street with bicyclists and I didn't realize this was a reality. I'll be honest, for the first summer I worked in the city, I frequently walked in the bike lanes to be able to pass other slow-moving tourists/pedestrians in Midtown. I still do it when I'm absolutely desperate and need to walk fast, but I now realize how wrong and dangerous this is.

I work with a lot of people who ride their bikes to work every day - rain, snow, or shine. They often complain about pedestrians, not vehicles, and mostly they discuss the issue of pedestrians in the bike lanes. I rarely took part in these conversations because I was not a bicyclist and even worse, I've been one of those annoying pedestrians. But the longer that I've been at my job, working on designing bike lanes and ensuring bicycle safety, I have realized truly how important it is to be a safe/smart pedestrian.

As a pedestrian, I understand the common mentality that pedestrians typically feel, that they are able to walk anywhere and will be able to stop any traffic. Just look at how pedestrians in the city cross busy streets: they will walk when the light is green and cross 5 lanes of traffic even when vehicles are zipping by. They feel invincible and if they feel this way about vehicles, they definitely feel this way about bicyclists. Pedestrians walk in or cut across bike lanes because they feel that bicyclists, like vehicles, will stop for them and that it isn't a big deal. But this mentality needs to be broken because from what I've learned while working, bicyclists need a safe space and they never deserve their own right of way. Everyone in the city is typically in a rush, and if everyone feels invincible, Vision Zero will never work. So as a pedestrian, be smart and remember that you do not own the road. You're sharing it with vehicles, and now, bicyclists.