In addition to that, if I had to choose between getting killed on the road and living on the sidewalk, I'd pick the sidewalk. Your mileage may vary.
riding on the sidewalk you still have to contend with people making lefts into you, and then you add the problem of people making rights into you because they dont see you up there. plus the constant problem of people pulling out too far from driveways waiting to get into traffic, which is sometimes an issue in the street but not as often