Originally Posted by cooker

You can't do a controlled study where you assign matched pairs of cyclists to ride on the sidewalk or road, you can only infer from naturalistic data. It took about 10 seconds of bing searching to find this 1994 article which purporst to show higher risks of sidewalk cycling. I can't open it as I don't have a subscription to the journal.
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/conten...00003/art82242
However, here is one person's summary of the findings:
https://onelesscar.wordpress.com/2008...oad-bicycling/

for example: "The greatest risk found in this study is for bicyclists over 18 traveling against traffic on the sidewalk. Each of these characteristics is hazardous in itself; combined, they present 5.3 times the average risk."

Originally Posted by PaulRivers

I do whatever makes sense.

The thing to remember about a sidewalk is to act like a pedestrian on foot any time you intersect with a street or there's anyone else near you on the trail. If this is to annoying, then you should be riding on the street.

I ride the sidewalk when I cross a bride near my house that has on and off ramps from the freeway, as I personally find it absolutely insane to ride on the street through that mess of merging cars, stoplights, higher speed traffic, etc etc. I'd rather act like a pedestrian than be on the road there.

I'd also rather ride the sidewalk on a stretch of sidewalk that runs along a park by where I work than ride the road, because there's never anyone on the sidewalk (and if there is I slow way down to near-walking speeds when going by them), and there's no roads intersecting the sidewalk for about a mile.

On the other hand I definitely take the road when there's a sidewalk that actually has people regularly walking on it, or sidewalk where there's a lot of intersection. Though there I usually try to find low traffic side roads to take instead.

In order of preference, I'd say that generally I prefer -
1. Dedicated off-road bike path with few or no road crossings (well duh, lol)
2. Side roads with little or no car traffic, including bike...what is it called? The ones where they choose a low traffic road and stripe it and mark it as only local car traffic only
3. Sidewalks with pretty much no pedestrian traffic and no intersections
4. Roads with medium traffic but 2 lanes in each direction so cars can pass me - but pass me without doing that "wow that car is really close" thing

Honestly, I just won't ride on most other roads unless it's only for a short stretch to connect to something lower traffic. And I find most bike lanes to be hazardous - often it's cars on one side, parked cars with the risk of being doored on the other. They always seem to put them on high speed, high traffic roads, to.

I'd far rather ride on a low traffic side street than ride a sidewalk with intersections along a road, but sometimes riding on the sidewalk is a far better choice when using it as a short connection between 2 low traffic stretches of road/trail etc. Like I said above, I have 2 rules for riding on the sidewalk -
1. Act like a pedestrian when crossing a street
2. Act like a pedestrian when passing or coming up on people actually walking or jogging

If my choice is between a chaotic high traffic road or a sidewalk with a lot of pedestrian traffic or a lot of intersections - sorry, I'm just going to drive. It's not worth the risk for me.

Originally Posted by Don in Austin

WOW!! Someone who makes sense and takes into account specific conditions and practice appropriate safety procedures instead of categorically saying "Sidewalks are dangerous and not for bikes." Thank you!

Don in Austin

Originally Posted by Don in Austin

The link I was able to open contained nothing but speculation. Very few of those who are primarily or exclusively sidewalk riders are serious cyclists likely to have studied safety techniques. Many will fly through crosswalks, etc. without properly checking. Of course that is observation and speculation on my part, but when you compare two things and have absolutely no mechanism to control a HUGE variable the statistical conclusion is worthless. This quote may well be valid, however: "Keep in mind, though, that even if road cycling has a lower risk of accident, a collision with a car is more likely to be fatal or result in serious injury than a fall on the sidewalk." Perhaps that is why while we lose several cyclists every year here in Austin, Texas, I can't think of a single sidewalk fatality.

Don in Austin

Originally Posted by Roody

In this post, you write only of cyclist safety while ignoring the important issue of pedestrian safety. I have bee struck twice by adult cyclists while walking on sidewalks. How do you handle pedestrians, especially on those stretches of sidewalk where you guys say there are ALMOST never any walkers? IMO, bicycling on the sidewalk is analogous to motorists driving in the bike lane.

Originally Posted by Roody

In this post, you write only of cyclist safety while ignoring the important issue of pedestrian safety. I have bee struck twice by adult cyclists while walking on sidewalks. How do you handle pedestrians, especially on those stretches of sidewalk where you guys say there are ALMOST never any walkers? IMO, bicycling on the sidewalk is analogous to motorists driving in the bike lane.

Originally Posted by BezO

Riding on the sidewalk is legal in DC ...

Originally Posted by Don in Austin

WOW!! Someone who makes sense and takes into account specific conditions and practice appropriate safety procedures instead of categorically saying "Sidewalks are dangerous and not for bikes." Thank you!

Don in Austin

Originally Posted by PaulRivers

Hey, thanks! It's nice to see other reasonable people on the forum as well. :-)

For people looking to boil it down to an angry saying, it could be "It's only ok to ride your bike on the sidewalk if you're going to act like a pedestrian at every intersection and every time you're near anyone else on the path." But sometimes that's absolutely an acceptable tradeoff. For short stretches where the road is chaotic and terrible but there's some pedestrians on the sidewalk, I'd rather walk my bike or bike *really* slowly. For long stretches where there's no pedestrians and no intersections, it can make sense to ride at high speeds on the sidewalk rather than the road (again - if I did run across someone walking I would slow way down, I'm talking about completely empty stretches).

Originally Posted by Don in Austin

Sometimes I come up behind a pedestrian on a sidewalk and don't want to slow to a walking space so I just ride off in the grass and giving them several feet clearance.

Don in Austin

Originally Posted by Don in Austin

Perhaps that is why while we lose several cyclists every year here in Austin, Texas, I can't think of a single sidewalk fatality.
Don in Austin

Originally Posted by Roody

I have been struck twice by adult cyclists while walking on sidewalks.

Originally Posted by 91MF

maybe when you sidewalk riders are old and you are out for your 4pm stroll back from seniors discount dinner you are struck by a MTB on the sidewalk and break your hip. then you can use one of those motorized little scooters.

they are allowed on the sidewalk.

Originally Posted by Don in Austin

The link I was able to open contained nothing but speculation. ...

...This quote may well be valid, however: "Keep in mind, though, that even if road cycling has a lower risk of accident, a collision with a car is more likely to be fatal or result in serious injury than a fall on the sidewalk."

Don in Austin

Originally Posted by LiteraryChic

Alright, I have a funny question - sort of - for you guys. I live in Ann Arbor, and frequently see people riding in the bike lanes, on the side of the road, in the middle of the road, on the sidewalks etc. Basically, they ride anywhere and everywhere. Well, I am in the middle of reading Bike Snob: Systematically and Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling by Bike Snob NYC, and he mentioned about people riding on the sidewalk, how he dislikes them, how other cyclists dislike them, how pedestrians dislike them etc. This is a great read, by the way, funny, yet informative. Next up, is the sequel, The Enlightened Cyclist: Commuter Angst, Dangerous Drivers, and Other Obstables on the Path to Two-Wheeled Transcendence.

My question is this: "How do others feel about riding on the sidewalk?" I will admit, since I am relatively new to city cycling, and have ridden on the sidewalk, due to nervousness about riding on the streets (my own inexperience/stupidity - with my disablity/minor balance issues - & drivers).

Answers? Thoughts? Tips? Suggestions?

Originally Posted by cooker

We had a relevant sidewalk fatality here a couple of years ago - a wrong way cyclist crossing a mall driveway entrance.


I have been knocked down by a sidewalk cyclist - a girl of 13 or so. I was in glass bus shelter, but one wall was covered with an ad, and that's the side she was approaching. My back was facing out and I stepped out sort of backwards, while rotating to my right to see if the bus was coming, and she hit me from my blind side just as I completed my 180, so at the last minute I saw her coming from my right. It was a narrow spot of sidewalk as there was a lampost at the curb, so there was about a 3 foot wide passageway between that and the bus shelter, so she had no place to swerve to, and she was riding too fast to stop. She hit me with her handlebars mainly, but I think also lightly with her helmet, so she must have pitched forward a bit on the bike too. She wasn't hurt. I'm a big guy and hard to knock down. Had I been an old lady, I might have died. Most annoyingly, somehow I ended up breaking the plastic buckle on my London Fog or similar raincoat belt. I don't know how you replace that. Anyway, that was a couple of raincoats ago.

Originally Posted by the sci guy

so what's the proper answer? ride whatever route and path serves you the best, and gets you from A to B in one piece.

Originally Posted by cooker

We had a relevant sidewalk fatality here a couple of years ago - a wrong way cyclist crossing a mall driveway entrance.

Originally Posted by wolfchild

I remember few years ago there was an incident where a 15 year old kid on a BMX bike collided head on with a 56 year old lady and knocked her down. She hit her head on the pavement and died. Is that the one you're talking about ??

Originally Posted by Consularrider

But not in the central business district.