daihard
I only ride the sidewalk during afternoon "rush hour" when lots of folks are using the 2 lane street I ride on to get home.
It isn't crowded-but it has NO SHOULDER- just a 2-3" drop off to grass.
Lots of cars and pickups come thru-in bunches of 5-8-and they are in a hurry-some of the pickups have wide mounted tow mirrors
So if I see a group coming I cross the street cross the grass and ride the sidewalk for a couple hundred yards.
There might be 2-3 pedestrians on the 1/2 mile stretch-very few.
When coming to a walker-I just ride the grass-2" tires "MTB" so no big deal to ride on grass.
Guessing maybe I do 6-10 mph on the sidewalk- there are driveways(1 per block or so)- I bail to the grass-15' wide swath- when crossing a driveway-and make sure I KNOW exactly what is in driveway before crossing it.
Generally I prefer the street-smoother-but I use the sidewalk as needed.
Probably more bikes use the sidewalks than walkers-suburban area-lotta kids on bikes-sidewalks and streets.
No idea what the law is. I always use the grass when passing walkers-
JerseyJim- How can riding smart prevent you getting center punched from behind by a texting driver?? Yeah if you are smart enough to quit riding-otherwise..
Per unit of time-bike riding is the most dangerous thing you do-assuming you are an average sorta guy-no motor racing, cave diving sky diving etc