Around here, that simply means cars usually won't be doing more than 55 to 60 mph.

The Burbs. Why is it that people that go for a walk in the 'burbs like to walk in the street instead of on the sidewalk? Walking dogs, walking with a baby stroller, etc. etc.

In my own burbs, one reason I have taken my bike on the sidewalk is due to oncoming car traffic on one side of the street and pedestrians taking up the other side of the street. With a clear sidewalk on either side. In circumstances like this, a sidewalk does become a sidebike.

To me riding on a sidewalk is a big no no. Other people may think it's okay. What I don't like about bicycles being ridden on sidewalks is that 1, the bicycle can be far less visible to motorists than if the bicycle is on the road. 1b, a bicycle on t he sidewalk is often totally out of a motorist's field of vision. 2. Bicycles being ridden on a sidewalk are often (too often in fact) being ridden at a speed far more suited to be on the road and thus are a hazard to any other sidewalk users. 3. many sidewalks have very poor sight-lines for a bicyclist approaching an intersections and driveways should be treated as intersections. 4. Riding into a major intersection from a sidewalk is very much like playing Russian Roulette but using a bicycle instead of a gun = your chances of being seriously injured are quite high. That's because you're often blocked for motorists' view by parked vehicles, motorists don't allow for the speed of a bicycle and motorists simply aren't expecting a bicycle to enter an intersection from the sidewalk. 5. Ride counter-flow to traffic whilst riding on a sidewalk great increases the danger level. 6. Then there's the possibility of hitting a pedestrian who steps out of a doorway onto the sidewalk. Plus, pedestrians are surprisingly unpredictable.

Those are some of the reasons why I avoid sidewalks when riding my bicycle.
7. Around here, in winter sidewalks are a LOT more treacherous due to snow and ice than the roads are. Snow melts in the daytime and the liquid freezes at night as the liquid has been trapped by a snowbank on the street side of the sidewalk and lawns on the building side. The sidewalk acts as a nice little canal. I find it far easier to ride on the roads than to ride on a sidewalk then. YMMV

Cheers

Sidewalk is further from the road and you can control road crossings at intersections (you have to clear yourself 100% of the time)

I guess it depends if we are talking big city side walks or sidewalks in somewhat more rural areas.

In general I avoid riding on the sidewalk. I won't feel bad about pulling onto it for a block if I'm stopping for a coffee or something and riding right up to it when the sidewalk isn't busy. If there are pedestrians around I stay off to be as courteous as possible to others.

Some years ago, someone riding a bike on a sidewalk actually hit and killed a pedestrian. The cyclist was charged by the PD. Not sure but it might have been vehicular homicide or something like that. In CT the law treats a bicycle as a vehicle. As such, you must obey all traffic laws and you are entitled to a lane. The latter does not apply to interstates or state roads since you are not motorized.

Local conditions can trump any general rule.

There's a lot of these threads as well as threads about MUPs. What's always obvious after a few heated exchanges is that people picture very different things when they are talking about typical MUPs and sidewalks. They vary like crazy, so we aren't really talking about the same thing sometimes.

By me it tends to be runners who do this the most. I don't understand it either. It's one thing if sidewalks are unshoveled in winter but even with sidewalks cleared a certain type of runner does it anyway. More "hardcore" if you're dodging traffic during your run maybe?

A lot of runners believe that asphalt is a better surface for running than concrete because it's softer. I find this pretty far-fetched because I really don't believe that asphalt deforms enough to matter, but I'm not a runner.

That's a serious reason people have? What kind of deformation does somebody expect under what, 70kg? If there's enough deformation to actually notice in your joints with that weight I'd expect a car traveling over it to deform the road like sand! Now that reasoning for running on grass I'd buy

That would explain it, though as a former distance runner I have to say distinguishing that sort of subtle variation in hard surface deformation was beyond me...

Google running on asphalt vs. concrete--you'll be amazed how much discussion of this there is.

Concrete is a much harder surface, but I don't see how that matters if your feet can't "bend" asphalt.

Your logic on cars vs. feet is a bit off, however. Cars roll, feet strike, so running imposes a multiplier effect in force per step while cars travel smoothly, plus the heel strike area is much smaller than the contact patches on 4 tires riding on the road. I think the relevant comparison might be a horse running on an asphalt road, but I know even less about horses than I do running.

Since I have been recovering from surgery following a sidewalk injury sustained while WALKING (did not fall), there's lots of reasons to get off the sidewalk.

But ironically, there's no, er, concrete evidence that concrete versus tarmac is more likely to cause injury. However, running on a poorly maintained sidewalk versus running on a well maintained road is far more likely to cause injury. (Well, ignoring those people behind the wheels at least.)

But the most common reason cited for training on a road is that you should train on the surface you are going to run on. Last time I checked, the Boston, Chicago and New York marathons are all ROAD races.

-mr. bill

Like most I prefer to stay off the sidewalks when biking. My mantra is to pick whatever is the safest for the conditions. 99% of the time it is the roadway. It would be impossible to ride 40 plus miles using only sidewalks anyways.

Like I said, I don't run, but the "asphalt is softer" lore is something I've heard from several people, and is a common assertion on the internet along with plenty of skepticism over whether it matters.

Any idea of what proportion of people running on roads are training for races? Just curious.

Well, maybe going around a very big block a whole lot of times.

Other than roadrunners are largely seasonal in Boston, appearing like clockwork sometime in January and then disappearing by late April. I don't know where they migrate.


-mr. bill

Starbucks.

In the older neighborhoods of this city they let the homeowners decide if they wanted sidewalks and curbs. The last house I lived in the sidewalk started and ended on the neighbor's and my property. It looked as crazy as it sounds. In the neighborhood I live in now there are very few sidewalks and most are not contiguous. I guess I could ride around the park over and over.

While there are exceptions, as a rule my feeling is if pedestrians have to AVOID or MOVE for the cyclist on a sideWALK, the cyclist should not be there. I feel this way as a pedestrian AND as a cyclist.

I remember the barbarian-like scourge of bike messengers on the sidewalks in Washington, DC.

Probably about the same percentage as bike riders training for races.

Back in my marathon running days, I could definitely feel a difference between running on blacktop and running on concrete.

As a general rule I prefer not to ride on the sidewalk for a number of reasons.

The first primary rule against that here in Tucson, AZ it's illegal to ride on sidewalks. Secondly, I will ride on sidewalks only if it's not safe to ride in a roadway. There is a section of Tucson where there is virtually no space for motor vehicles and bicycles at the same time . I could legally "take the lane" but during periods of traffic congestion I would rather ride on the sidewalk and risk a fine.

Again, it all depends on the area of time I'm riding, traffic congestion and the amount of pedestrians on the sidewalk.

We had that happen around my area too...People who ride a bicycle and hit pedestrians are not real cyclists, they're just an idiot on a bike...A real cyclist will take all necessary precautions to avoid hitting pedestrians...The main reason why these type of accidents happen is because some idiot on a bicycle passes a pedestrian too closely while riding at a high rate of speed.

I only do if it means avoiding a hazardous situation , and then only for a short distance. If there are pedestrians , I walk my bike.

Most neighborhood streets here are concrete. Nothing softer, just a more level, yet crowned, experience. Allows for shuffle feet running.

Still, runners ought to be able to make a decision to get out of the road when necessary due to traffic reasons.