Responsibility needs to be allocated according to reality, not historical sentiment.
Horses have priority over hikers and mountain bikers on trails because horses spook, and around here hikers defer to mountain bikers because a hiker can quickly stop and step off the trail, while the biker cannot.
Also, it's not true that the vehicle automatically bears no responsibility if they strike a jaywalker.
Really? Bikes should always defer to hikers. If you can't stop quickly enough to do so, you're being reckless, since you then wouldn't be able to stop quickly enough to avoid an injured hiker on the trail or an obstacle, or my 73 year old mother.
I don't know, maybe it's just a courtesy thing then, but either way that's what happens. As a mountain biker and hiker, when on foot I defer to bikes because that's what I would want as a biker, and that's what others do for me when I'm biking.
Horses have priority over hikers and mountain bikers on trails because horses spook, and around here hikers defer to mountain bikers because a hiker can quickly stop and step off the trail, while the biker cannot.
Also, it's not true that the vehicle automatically bears no responsibility if they strike a jaywalker.