"Women who ride"... on the sidewalk...

[Deborajen]

Here's a great illustration of why it is not necessarily safe to ride on sidewalks

This accident occured yesterday between two bicycles, one was on a multi use trail and crossing the street (legally on the green) the other on the sidewalk and crossed his path perpendicularly.

[q] I was crossing with the green on the crosswalk going westbound to work, upon getting past the street another rider came down the west sidewalk going south, but she didn't stop, and there was a bus waiting on the southbound lane so she just "appeared"[/q]

A big part of this problem is that people on sidewalks seem to think that no stop sign specifically for them means it's o.k. (or even safe) to go - no need to look, no need to peek around a blind corner, etc. Then again, that's assuming the rider on the sidewalk was familiar with the intersection in the first place - Perhaps that rider didn't know the sidewalk was intersecting with a bike path and, therefore, needed a stop and a glance - ?

Sidewalks are just loaded with hazards and they're mainly built for pedestrian traffic which doesn't move very fast. Put a bike on it, the bike goes faster/can't stop as quickly/isn't as likely to be anticipated by car traffic, etc. - the cyclist really has to fend for him/herself. I don't have the answers, but I'll stick to riding on roads that have room for me and where I can ride like a slow car and be predictable to the cars.

Deb

[mimitabby]

When I choose to ride on a sidewalk, I am always going VERY slow.
I generally ride on sidewalks when there is not much of an alternative; like
going from King street to Jackson Via 6th, that one block is 1 way the wrong way; so I ride the sidewalk and cross Jackson via the crosswalk and from there
I get back onto Jackson into the street.

[Geonz]

Right... when comparing to Europe it's important to remember that Europe is older than we are... and their infrastructures less automobile-centric.

[mimitabby]

I'm not sure what you're talking about, Sue, where I've seen a lot of bicycling in Italy, the roads were VERY narrow, often without shoulders, without those nice little guardrails too.
The difference is NOT the infrastructure, Italy's infrastructure is absolutely impoverished compared to ours.
The difference is in ATTITUDE. The average motorist in Italy has at least one grandparent who rode his bicycle to work, and maybe still does.

Who's want to run over their own grandmother?