Originally Posted by Sawtooth
yes, but.....placing all of the blame on the cyclist perpetuates the "I don't need to check the sidewalk" behavior of the drivers. This would not be so bad except that the law clearly expects children to use the sidewalk. This could easily result in tragedy when a family loses their little one because drivers have never been held accountable for checking the sidewalk.
First of all, children tend to ride slower than adults do, especially young children. So a 5-year-old on the sidewalk may be moving at the same speed an adult is walking at - and should be visible to a driver. As for faster riders, almost everywhere that allows riding on the sidewalk allows states that sidewalk riders either need to stop and walk across intersections or slow down to walking speed at intersections. Also if children are going to be riding on the sidewalk they should at least be riding in the same direction as traffic. You don't expect to have to check your blind spot for traffic on the sidewalk when making a left turn from the leftmost traffic lane for instance.