Originally Posted by
Hippiebrian
If you were on your bike, the walk light does not pertain to you. You are considered a vehicle, and the regular lights would pertain. Reason is, vehicles (bicycles included) belong on the street and not the sidewalk.
This incident does point out the dangers of riding on the sidewalk. Drivers are looking for pedestrians to cross at crosswalks and not bicyclists. Drivers are not prepared to deal with the comparative increased speed of the cyclist when they are looking for a slower pedestrian, making collisions much more possible.
According to this:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicy...dingtheLaw.asp It is totally legal to be riding on the sidewalk in Minneapolis. I do not agree with this
law and am in 100% support of bikes belong on the street. However, we are talking about the law (regardless of what we believe to be right or wrong), and that is what
prevails because you can get tickets/arrested/jailed (not that you will be in this situation...I'm just saying!) for braking the law. If we disagree with something we need to
contact our State Senators. Now, we got that out of the way I am going to just say I believe you should be on the street. Regardless of the law!
This is just my opinion and I believe the "almost hit by a car today" discussion could have been prevented by you. You could have A: chose to walk across the street through
a "crosswalk" or B: Road your bike through the intersection to reach your final destination! The "sidewalk cycling" discussion is here:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...walk-bicycling You have the final decision on what you feel you should do so I am going to leave it up to you to
educate yourself on the topic and make an educated and informed decision that suits you. Be safe!