Got hit by a car on my bike yesterday

[Eden]

In my country the law is clear that if a cyclist wants to use a pedestrian crossing (i'm assuming a crosswalk is a pedestrian crossing with a traffic light coz i've never heard the term before), she has to dismount and push. Cars do not have to yield to a cyclist who decides to cycle across a pedestrian crossing.

The law is different here. Here mounted or dismounted a bicycle in a crosswalk is a pedestrian and a pedestrian in a crosswalk nearly always has the right of way. You just cannot cross against a signal or in an intersection that does not have a signal you have to be sure you don't step out in front of traffic that cannot reasonably stop for you. So you can't jump out in front of a car that is 2 feet from you, basically, but once you step off the sidewalk, legally all traffic that reasonably can, without endangering anyone, should stop to allow you to cross.

Now I won't claim that this is what actually happens.... (and I really hate right on red, because people are so busy looking to their left for traffic that they forget about looking right for pedestrians!)but as long as the OP was crossing with the light she was the one legally correct. Now, there's also a difference between legal and safe too though. Riding on the sidewalk is one of the most dangerous things that you can do for just this very reason. Most drivers a) are not really attentive enough and b) are not expecting something that can move as quickly as a bicycle to come off of the sidewalk into the crosswalk.