Advocacy & Safety - Crossing intersections

Greetings!

I live and ride in Warren Michigan (suburb of Detroit). In this state right turns on a red light are allowed unless posted. I try to minimize my exposure to cars by using a route that is sidewalk / shoulder / grass, and use intersections that minimize turning traffic.

but I do need to cross several 5 lane streets, I find that drivers either don't see me or don't care. Would it be better if I drop off the sidewalk and start the intersection crossing from the right turn lane?

Thanks,
Don

I would say that's a very bad idea. Motorists are not going to be expecting cyclists to be dropping off the sidewalk into the street. The best thing to do would (probably) be to learn to become comfortable riding in the street the whole way.

There are a lot of people who are adamant that you should never ride on the sidewalk. I think it's fine to do in certain circumstances, but you should certainly keep it to a minimum.

If you're on the sidewalk to begin with. To cross those big streets you should probably dismount, press the pedestrian crossing button, then Walk the bike across when the light says go.
Driver's *usually* pay attention to the crosswalks at least...

Note, Walk the bike through the crosswalk, Not ride. Drivers usually don't expect fast moving bikes in the crosswalk and will *try* to beat you around corners because they think you're slow. Results in getting hit.

Intersections and right-turning vehicles are the dirty little secret of European-style separate bicycle facilities and their nearest American equivalent, sidewalk cycling. I'll take my chances out in the street where I can be seen, thank you!

If you're on the sidewalk to begin with. To cross those big streets you should probably dismount, press the pedestrian crossing button, then Walk the bike across when the light says go.
Driver's *usually* pay attention to the crosswalks at least...

Note, Walk the bike through the crosswalk, Not ride. Drivers usually don't expect fast moving bikes in the crosswalk and will *try* to beat you around corners because they think you're slow. Results in getting hit.
Agreed. If you're riding on the sidewalk it's only safe to do so at a slow speed. You're obviously not in a hurry so might as well be safe and walk the bike across, making sure you only go when the pedestrian signal authorizes you to enter the crosswalk. The safest thing really to do would be to get off and walk at every possible conflict point with motor vehicles (all driveways/intersections) since most people aren't going to be expecting a vehicle to be traveling on the sidewalk.

FWIW on the sidewalk-style MUPs in my town there is a stop sign prior to every intersection, even shopping center driveways, requiring all people on the path to yield to the people on the intersecting road/driveway.

Earlier today I was driving a small pickup truck for work (not riding my bicycle...I'm sorry, lol) and saw a woman riding a bicycle on the sidewalk in the opposite direction of the traffic lanes closest to her. She approached the intersection ahead of me, where the signal was green for her direction and the oncoming direction. She disregarded the red hand "do not enter crosswalk" symbol and entered the crosswalk, passing left turning traffic on the left in a position nobody would be expecting her (especially with the speed she was traveling and the red hand displayed on the pedestrian signal). Luckily the middle aged woman in the Ford Expedition saw the crazy person on the bicycle doing this and stopped to let her cross. The woman on the bicycle, instead of going to the ramp at the end of the crosswalk, turned left out of the crosswalk, rode in the gutter for a hundred feet or so, then used a handicapped access ramp at a bus stop to ride up onto the sidewalk and continued on the sidewalk, this time in the same direction as the vehicles closest to her. Sorry for the long story...I guess my point is: Whatever you do don't do what that crazy woman on the bicycle did. The sad thing is she probably thought that was the safest way to navigate that intersection...

If the road is wide and/or clear enough you can safely drop off the sidewalk it is the place the ride.

As others have noted, my rule-for-self is that when riding on a sidewalk ride like a pedestrian -- at about the same speed as a brisk walker. This personal rule keeps me on the road unless the sidewalk is really the only safe option, I really want to go the wrong way on a one-way, or just feel like mingling.