Originally Posted by BurnMyEyes

On most days at work I take a walk to one of several restaurants nearby for lunch. It's in a very suburban area with arterial roads, business parks, and strip malls. A lot of roads don't even have sidewalks, or the sidewalk ends and you have to keep crossing the street.

Even when I have the crossing signal, I have to be ultra-defensive to avoid a right hook from all the idiots that don't pay attention to the crosswalk. Or when I'm crossing the other direction, I have to keep looking behind me, and sometimes stopping in the crosswalk because the people making their unprotected left turns aren't paying attention.

SUV's completely block the sidewalk coming out of parking lots, leaving me to either walk a few feet into the street (45mph traffic) or walk behind the car, putting me in the blindspot of the car entering the lot.

Recently I was crossing at the crosswalk (on the left side), with the signal, and there was somebody making a right turn. I saw him slow down for me, hesitate, and then decide he could shoot the gap and make his turn before I got there. He couldn't. I had to dive, slow-motion like in the movies to avoid getting hit. I remember the split second decision I made: "should I brace for impact and roll over the hood, or should I dive out of the way?"

It seems pedestrians and cyclists share a lot of the same dangers. I can see exactly why sidewalk biking is so dangerous. It's barely even safe to walk on some of them. You can't take the lane as a pedestrian, and you are always funneled through the crosswalk where at least one lane of traffic can hook you. A lot of people complain about how it's dangerous to ride a bike, but often times I would much rather be on one.