After reading this forum topic and commenting that the United Kingdom part wasn’t great because it didn’t consider the different rules in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, I wondered “what should the defaults actually be for England and Wales?”.
Of that table, I think that the rows down to living_street are correct, and of the remaining rows the columns across to moped are also correct. I decided to pick a couple of areas I’m familiar with (one urban, one rural) and look for examples in those areas without explicit access tagging. Based on that it should be possible to suggest some sensible defaults.
path
The default of no for everything through to moped is correct, which leaves horse, bicycle and foot.
path, horse, urban
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4E
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4G
Mostly these ways are foot=permissive, and there’s no horse signage. In some of the parks horses might be tolerated; elsewhere likely not. This suggests horse=no here.
path, horse, rural
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4I
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4H
Mostly these ways are foot=permissive or =yes, and there’s no horse signage. In some of the parks horse access might be =permissive; in most cases not. This suggests horse=no for these as well.
path, bicycle, urban
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4J
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4K
Mostly these ways are foot=permissive. In a large number bicycle access is explicitly disallowed.
path, bicycle, rural
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4L
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4M
Mostly these ways are foot=permissive or =yes, and on some (but not as many as the urban ones) bicycle access is explicitly disallowed. However there are also some designated “public bridleways” which should be tagged bicycle=yes but are not, perhaps because bicycle access is legal but implausible
path, foot, urban
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4O
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4N
Mostly these ways are foot=permissive. Some may be private
path, foot, rural
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4P
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4Q
Mostly these ways are foot=permissive. Some may be private
bridleway, horse, urban
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4R
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P52
There are only a few of these; most should be horse=yes (although perhaps slightly impractical), a smaller number horse=permissive.
bridleway, horse, rural
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4U
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4V
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4W
The vast majority should be horse=yes, a smaller number horse=permissive.
bridleway, bicycle, urban
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4X
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4Z
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P50
Most should be bicycle=yes, some =permissive.
bridleway, bicycle, rural
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P53
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P54
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P55
The vast majority should be bicycle=yes, a smaller number bicycle=permissive or bicycle=no.
bridleway, foot, urban
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P58
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P59
The few that there are should be foot=yes.
bridleway, foot, rural
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5b
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5e
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5f
All should be foot=yes I think.
cycleway, horse, urban
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5i
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5y
Mostly these ways are foot=permissive, and there’s no horse signage. In some of the parks horses might be tolerated; elsewhere likely not.
cycleway, horse, rural
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5v
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5w
Very few of these; those that there are are likely horse=yes or horse=permissive.
cycleway, bicycle, urban
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5x
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5T
Mostly these should be bicycle=yes; a couple perhaps =permissive.
cycleway, bicycle, rural
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5A
Very few of these; those that there are are likely bicycle=yes.
cycleway, foot, urban
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5S
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5U
Mostly these should be foot=yes; a couple perhaps =permissive.
cycleway, foot, rural
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5V
Very few of these; those that there are are likely foot=yes.
footway
Of the values on that line, I believe that defaulting to “no” for motorcar through bicycle is correct. That just leaves us “foot” to think about:
footway, foot, urban
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5F
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5G
Most of these are foot=yes; some are foot=permissive.
footway, foot, rural
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5H
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5J
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5K
Most of these are foot=yes; some are foot=permissive.
pedestrian
Of the values on that line, I believe that defaulting to “no” for motorcar through bicycle is correct. That just leaves us “foot” to think about:
pedestrian, foot, urban
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5M
The vast majority of these are foot=yes; the rest perhaps foot=permissive.
pedestrian, foot, rural
https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5O
This is basically not a thing in rural areas.
which means:
1 2 3 4 5 6
horse bicycle foot path no no permissive bridleway yes yes yes cycleway no yes yes footway no no yes pedestrian no no yes
What would be interesting to know is whether people agree - both in this area and in other urban and rural areas in England and Wales.