Originally Posted by
AlmostTrick
It doesn't sound nutty to me.
Doesn't sound nutty to me either. The only child cyclist fatality that I can remember in our town was specifically a result of the opposite instruction given here - i.e. for those 12 and under to ride on the sidewalk. As a result, a student at the elementary school on our street was riding on the sidewalk into a crosswalk and wasn't seen until it was too late by a school bus driver. A hedge limiting visibility was also a factor and was chopped down the next day.