Originally Posted by
Skipjacks
Right?
And blind adherence to bicycling laws that say I have to ride on the road with traffic would put me in mortal danger every day. While riding on the unused sidewalk reduces danger to a small fraction of what it is riding on this particular street.
The intent of the 'don't ride on the sidewalk' law was to make things safer. And 90% of the time it's probably a good idea to stay off the sidewalk. But riding on that one street makes things less safe. So I don't do it. That's not in compliance with the letter of the law but it's in full compliance with the spirit of that law.
When lawmakers create such a law they are not looking at every inch of the thousands of miles of sidewalk in the county. Sometimes the law makes things worse in spots, and blind adherence to such a law is nothing short of dumb. Why would I put my life in considerable risk to adhere to a law created with different situations in mind?
I understand and see your point but as someone that had a cyclists plow into me at a blind intersection it's hard to see many instances where that would be true. Drivers do not expect to encounter speedy "pedestrians" going the wrong way at intersections and rarely look for them before shooting into a gap in traffic. I can't believe the number of people that are ok with this behavior. I always follow the traffic lanes even on the busiest of intersections. If I were less competent I'd probably walk my bike though the tougher intersections. I'm over 70 so I must be doing something right.