Hi Ladyrae.....I too live in Austin. Sometimes I ride on the sidewalk and I am glad it IS legal in most of Austin. Be advised that when I ride on the sidewalk it is typically somewhere where the street traffic is extremely hostile and the sidewalk is not heavily used. I am more likely to be on a sidewalk where very few driveways intersect. I will yield to pedestrians, but will try to avoid sidewalks with significant pedestrian traffic. When I approach a drive I scan the parking lot AND I look over my left shoulder for any car that could turn in -- signals or not. It is claimed that sidewalk riding statistics show it to be far more dangerous than street riding. This is not because it is inherently more dangerous, but because a high percentage of sidewalk riders are the clueless type like you recently observed. Sidewalk riding on those sidewalks that are potentially amenable to cycling traffic is as safe or as dangerous as the rider makes it.

Don in Austin