Originally Posted by noonsun

I learned how to bike a few months ago because I'm a Boston college student who can't drive and doesn't want to spend hours per day walking everywhere. I am pretty okay at cycling now (and really like it! I'm really glad I learned), but I mostly go pretty slowly and very carefully in sidewalks because I'm scared as hell of the drivers in Massachusetts. I've been doing research and found out that sidewalk cycling is way more dangerous (in terms of accident frequency, not extremeness/deaths) than cycling on a road, but I'm really conflicted since I'm new-ish to riding. All my friends tell me to get off the sidewalks but I'm not sure at what point it is a good idea for me to do that since I am way, way less experienced than them, having only learned how to ride when I was 18 and all.

Basically, I'm afraid on sidewalks of pedestrian-related accidents/injuries, but in the roads, I'm just afraid of dying, due to reckless driving and (possibly) my own inexperience leading me to being unable to avoid dangerous situations. About a month into my biking-as-transportation experience, riding on the sidewalk of the Harvard Bridge (was way too scared to go in the bike lane there -- cars go so fast and so swervily, it's outrageous!), a guy once walked into my bike despite me telling him I was on his left, etc., making me crash into the railing and hurting my self-confidence (and hand -- I got an avulsion fracture in my pinky) really badly in the process. Of course it's super bad that he couldn't tell I was there and I got hurt, and I shouldn't have been in the sidewalk, it's for pedestrians, yadda yadda, but I shudder to think of what would have happened with a car having similar ignorance of my position, especially since I don't feel as nimble as some of my other friends -- like I would probably be dead or at least have way worse injuries. Do you guys have advice for me? How can I get really good at maneuvering properly/safely when all the places to bike are swarming with pedestrians and cars?