JRA - who exaggerates the dangers of sidewalk cycling? I rode on the sidewalk just the other day, to go back and find out what happened to my friend a block back. I rode on the sidewalk, at ped speed, of course, and even used a crosswalk. It avoided having to do two U-turns. Even Forester writes about using the sidewalk on occasion, and would certainly agree that "an experienced cycling riding at a pedestrian pace on the sidewalk is no more a danger to themself or others than a group of riders in a paceline". I certainly do.
You don't find it at least strange that the guru of vehicular cycling opposes defining a bicycle as a vehicle? How does that fit in to the lectures you give to cyclists on these forums about how cyclists will never get respect as drivers of vehicles if they don't act like drivers of vehicles?
The wording "act like a vehicle driver" is not coincidental. There is a reason it's not "be a vehicle driver", which a cyclist is not, since a bicycle is not (legally) a vehicle (at least in most states).
Never-the-less, I contend that a cyclist will never get the respect of a vehicle driver, from other drivers, if he does not
act as a vehicle driver. So, no I don't find it strange that Forester (or I) oppose defining a bicycle as a vehicle. It's your behavior -- acting as a vehicle driver -- that gets you the respect, not the bicycle.