ditto.. I have narrow paved paths from my house to the community pool, library, etc..and wobblers on bikes almost run one of us down each time we are out there. We actually have a plan for what to do if one hits one of my family...wife continues on home with (hopefully) not seriously injured kids and gets the phone number and checkbook handy for the bail bondsman. :) The road will be the least of their dangers. I use the road.

I actually had a driver yell at me "get in the road" because I ride one half block of my commute on the sidewalk to avoid where the trolley tracks join the road. This was in the waterfront entertainment district at 7 in the morning--the sidewalk is 15' wide and there are no pedestrians (or joggers!) for at least a mile.

Not everything is cut-and-dry and don't assume that a sidewalk cyclist is a bad cyclist.

Ah... I've found my next commuter...

My First Aerospoke!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg

Did I mention I drive on the sidewalk sometimes? Not very far, thank goodness I have a horn.

With cars lots of people don't use turn lights when they should, or check their mirrors, or even cut off cyclists.

Everybody loves to make excuses for their bad habits that are ultimately selfish.

I wonder if people who go out of their way to judge others are ultimately selfish, too.

I know I am.

That make two of us at least :)

Observations are observations.
I'm not saying you're a bad person because you're selfish so it's not really a judgment.

I'm just saying you're selfish and full of it :thumb:

Make that 3. :thumb:

I once had a friend who told me what he had learned from a psychology class. Everyone is selfish, think about it, the one who donates a check to charity does it because it makes them feel good to do so, its nice that they do it but they would not do it if it did not make them feel good. Many more examples exist, but this is not that thread... :D

And just to keep on topic... May the selfish sidewalk riders and selfish road riders know that they have something in common... :lol:

There is a bike lane part of my commute. Going west the first 1/4 mile is suicide and there is not a cross walk available for over a half mile to get me to that side of the road where there is sidewalk. No cross walk at the interstate. No continuous side walk on that side of the road till the interstate. It is a suicide lane for a bicyclist with the way they drive here. I had three near misses the first 5 days I rode that section and was in the bike lane. No more. If they will make the people exiting the why come to a stop and make a right on red it would be fine but they don't want them stopping because it back up onto the hwy.

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...cl=1&encType=1

The problem is the bike lane jumps across a lane that joins to the right and it is a uphill climb to just beyond that point. In fact its mostly a uphill climb for the mile before that lane so I am a putting along at 7-10 mph till I reach that crest just beyond the dangerous point.

That lane is an exit from the hwy. There is a sign that says keep moving to the drivers and the driver do at..... 60mph and try to jump three lanes of traffic to make a left at the next light just a few hundred feet down the road. They are looking for a gap not the bicyclist at the end of that concrete gore. It is a never ending line in the morning. That leave me committed to the side walk on the south side of the road till I can clear that intersection. The ride home I'm bike lane all the way. I can make great time but again there is a dangerous area where people get in the right lane that is for getting on the hwy and they try to beat traffic when it is backed up and jump across that bike lane despite the solid white line. Normally I can time it so I can make that stretch between lights and avoid being caught out there when they are pulling that crap.


Principle is all fine and dandy till you are a Quad or dead. ;)

most people around here ride on the sidewalk in the wrong direction with no helmet or anything.

I will admit my riding is 30% sidewalk 70% road. but im new to riding again, so sometimes i just feel more comfortable on the walk on certain extremely busy roads.

i agree though its bad, but if your going to do it at least go the proper direction and dont go very fast.

I can see how you are more likely to be in an accident on the sidewalk, but are you more likely to be crippled or killed on the road? On my commute, the deserted suburban sidewalk is safer in many areas. Sure I have to watch out for every driveway and side street, and some of them are obstructed view requiring me to slow way down until I can get a look. But I get to mitigate the risk on the sidewalk by altering my speed, my attentiveness, my preparedness to avoid. On the road, I can just hope for the best.

The road is smoother, faster, less obstacles, but is only worth it in areas where the car traffic speed is low (less than 30 mph), at least that is MY commute. Some commuters think my choices are due to a lack of experience, but I notice that 6 roadies are dead in chicagoland already this year, and that was just till mid June! For the rest, I sure hope that reflective triangle on their back emmits some sort of force field to protect them.

I used to believe that more accidents happen on mups and sidewalks but it seems like all the accident threads are about accidents on the road. I know around here all the deaths are road riders.

I have noticed that a lot of places, even seemingly inappropriate ones, have these white lines on the road that they call "bike lanes". They are really places for debris or glass and usually go nowhere. I've seen these in small towns that have not seen a bike commuter in, well never.

I think it's great that this is provided but I think the motive is really a federal handout, not a way to assist bicyclists. Maybe with the gas prices people will start using them. I don't mind riding on the road when I am riding on my faster road bike but when the lane is narrow and there is not shoulder it almost seems like suicide.

I am glad that for the time being it is practical for me to commute and run errands on any bike I feel like riding. If I am slogging along at 9 miles an hour I don't feel worthy of riding on the road.

What I don't understand is why more people around here are not doing something other than driving. I am lucky enough to live in an area where stores and work are all within short riding and walk distances. Yet my neighbors will hop in their cars to go up the street to pick something up from the drug store. There is the "white line" and unused sidewalks, it is pretty risk free no matter what you are riding, and it's actually faster! There is the heat but it is actually less hot for me to go to where my bike is locked up and ride home, than walk out in the parking lot and sit at the light. You don't have to ride fast, the trips are so short it's really a moot point. There are no hills to speak of and little wind. You can practically coast to where you want to go if for whatever reason you cannot ride faster.

If people have not gotten out of their cars by now I don't see them ever getting out.

Come and spend a week in Santa Fe , Capo

By the end of the week you will be riding wherever you feel like you won't be murdered.

I have a five mile commute. The last 1/3 of a mile or so I do on a sidewalk. They're sidewalks upon which no pedestrians travel, ever. The road it rides along is essentially a three-lane highway with no shoulder.

I ride on the sidewalk there, and I'm okay with that. :)

I rarely rode the sidewalk in my old town because there were barely any walks to speak of. Now I'm in a town with walks everywhere, and it's like night and day. And you know what? I haven't seen a single cyclist since I've been here riding on the road. They all use the sidewalk network. Who am I to be different, and start riding everywhere on the road?

I see more cyclists per day here than I did in possibly a week where I used to live, and the upper portion of this town has the same population as the entire town in which I used to live.

You can argue that the difference might be due to a different outlook on cycling here or more fluoride in the water, but I'm 100% convinced it's due to large numbers of people feeling they won't get run over if they use the walks instead of playing chicken with two ton vehicles on the road. Not everyone feels like becoming a statistic for cycling awareness. Most just want to ride.