Originally Posted by
SquidPuppet
^This one is a little strange for a couple reasons. First is the fact that the crash occurs in the street, not on the sidewalk. Second, they show the biker riding on the wrong side of the road. Why?
Usually sidewalk riders are also salmon (riding upstream), but I'll concede that that is not always the case.
Originally Posted by
SquidPuppet
If the biker is on the correct side of the road, then all the regular safety precautions and risks of crossing the road would apply. You don't just fly through an intersection when there is car traffic without yielding the right of way, regardless of if you are using the bike lane or a crosswalk.
If I'm in the regular lane moving with traffic then, yes, I do just fly through a (green light) intersection. The cars in my lane can't right hook me because they're behind or in front of me. If I'm in a bike lane then I have to watch for jackasses who don't check before turning right. (had this happen a few times) The more important point is that, on the sidewalk, every driveway and every parking lot have to be treated like cross streets. Plus, if your city sucks like mine, you'll find a lot of places without any sidewalks, or places where there's a frikkin' curb where the sidewalk crosses over a driveway.
Originally Posted by
SquidPuppet
Riding on the Sidewalk | League of American Bicyclists
^
If a bicyclist is invisible to a motorist while on the sidewalk, isn't that moot, as motorists don't belong on the sidewalk? When the bicyclist leaves the sidewalk he/she needs to take all the regular precautions of riding on the road.
Well, no, it's not moot. It's exactly the point. You're a fast moving vehicle in a place where other vehicle operators aren't looking for you - at all - and you regularly (every block or so) have to leave the sidewalk, enter the road, then re-enter the sidewalk. That's precisely why you're more likely to get hit there. Plus, you'll take a LOT a longer to get anywhere because you'll be slowing down every block or so, at least, to cross the street and get back on the sidewalk.
If you're going very slowly you can probably get away with it. If you're going my normal speed (and I ain't fast) - anywhere from 18-28mph(*) on my usual commute route - you'll get dead trying to ride the sidewalk.