Quote Originally Posted by Maciamo
Bikes usually have bells, but many people don't hear it, especially if it's a busy street, they are talking or drunk (or both), or old people too. I also don't find it very polite to be ringing one's bell all the time.
I found bicycle bells to work surprisingly well, even with people on cell phones, at least where people COULD move. There are always instances in the heart of a city where you simply cannot move to one side or another as you walk. But there were cases where my friends and I would be walking and a crowd would be blocking the entire sidewalk. Our only course of action was to ring the bell of a parked bike, and it worked to perfection. I kept saying I was going to buy a bell just for the sake of moving people when I walk.