Pedestrians sharing with cyclists

"Let op! Voetgangers op fietspad". It's so unusual here that there is a special sign to warn cyclists when pedestrians will be using the cycle path in any numbers.

This is the only one of these signs that I've seen so far, and I found it about 35 km east of here.

There have never been pedestrians on this cycle-path when I've ridden in this direction, but they are apparently quite numerous when there is a football match in progress (the local football stadium is to the right of the water).

The Dutch don't do "shared use paths", where pedestrians and cyclists are expected to use the same path. It was made quite clear to us on the 2006 Study Tour just how much of a problem this caused in one place in Den Haag where it was tried.

You do find remote paths in the countryside with very light use by pedestrians because distances are long, but you don't find areas with heavy pedestrian use where pedestrians are mixed with cyclists.

Why does the UK persist in forcing pedestrians and cyclists to share, even though it continues to cause such problems ?

Surely the fact that shared use paths are universally unpopular, and that these paths always cause conflict ought to have made planners twig that it doesn't work. Pedestrians and cyclists are not the same. Is it just cheapness ? It's obviously cheaper to build one path than two. When cycling is so undervalued as it is in the UK, perhaps the planners are oblivious to the effects of making cycling less appealing. The continued underfunding is also not helping to provide good quality.

Planning "Shared Use Paths" is a continuation of planning for very low cycle usage, rather than planning for cycling to grow. If you want cycling to grow, you need to provide space for cyclists. That means properly segregated and good quality cycle paths which are not shared with pedestrians, which allow direct and convenient journeys to be made, just as you find virtually everywhere in this country except at this spot.

I'm always on the lookout for unusual signs, such as the equivalent of Cyclists Dismount, which I've still not found.