Originally Posted by
PatrickGSR94
Those who say riding on the sidewalk is stupid/dangerous, or where it's supposedly illegal: what do you say about little kids riding their bikes on sidewalks, or what does the law say? Would you have them ride out in the street in traffic? At what age does it become stupid, dangerous, or illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalk?
I'm not saying everyone should always ride on the sidewalk, not at all. I ride in the road pretty much 100% of the time, but I have no problem with using a sidewalk in a heavy traffic situation.
Actually I was on a group ride a few weeks ago and was in the road the whole way, but was quite surprised about how many hipster fixie riders were all up and down, on and off the sidewalks, in the roads, back and forth, etc. Seemed very unsafe to me.
Here it is 16 years, at which time they can also take the helmet off. In my opinion the point where it becomes unsafe is more a matter of speed than skills, and only to a lesser extent judgment. Danger on the sidewalk comes in the form of cross-traffic and you really need to be going 8-10 mph (or less!) for the drivers to correctly judge and to have time to avoid them.
To be completely objective I think that on most streets it's safer for the kids to be following their parents on the street than both on the sidewalk. But the majority of drivers won't understand that so it could be asking for trouble.