Originally Posted by
CrankyOne
A bit of over-reaction here? There were 743 people killed riding their bicycles in the U.S. last year. If I remember correctly all but 2 were killed by cars. I don't believe any were killed by pedestrians or other bicycle riders.
4,735 pedestrians were killed by vehicles last year, 4,734 by cars, 1 by bicycle.
I can ride on the sidewalk where I am much less likely to be killed or the road where I'm more likely to be killed? Is my riding on the sidewalk a danger to pedestrians? Not even in the same ballpark as the danger of cars to me on the road.
I have no problem riding on a sidewalk if I judge it to be safer than a road. Did you see the cars in the background of the video? I'd have likely been on the sidewalk as well.
The problem here appears to not be a blanket problem of riding on the sidewalk but of riding too fast for the conditions and of a road improperly designed to not include safe bicycle facilities.
All I saw was a few cars driving slowly along a residential street, no particular danger to cyclists. What I did see was a stupid cyclist riding far too fast along a sidewalk where there was already one pedestrian(the child's mother). This numbskull showed total disregard for safety. He should have been riding at a walking pace if he wanted to ride there.There is no overreaction, there is only revulsion for an idiot who shouldn't have been there in the first place. As a sometime pedestrian I have a real problem with idiots on bicycles who ride along at speeds that put me in danger. Whenever I see them I brace myself to knock them onto the ground. A cyclist on the sidewalk anywhere there are pedestrians around is a public danger