Do you walk your bike at intersections? Why?
 

I don't think I've ever walked my bike across an intersection. I always ride across. I think safety manuals say to walk. Seems really silly to me.

If I'm being a pedestrian (crossing with the walk signal using the ped crossing), I get off and walk it. If I'm riding with traffic as usual, I don't.

KeS

+1 This ^

Why?

For the same reason I don't drive my car across pedestrian crossings.

KeS

You walk your car across pedestrian crossings??

It tends to be the law in most places that if you are using the crosswalk, you walk across as a pedestrian.

If you are riding as traffic, you ride across the intersection.

I have duck walked it once... It was my turn at the 4-way stop. Left foot on pedal at 10 o'clock and right foot on the ground. Transferred weight to the left foot to start moving and push myself into the saddle. Before the pedal made it to 6 o'clock... BAM! huge calf cramp that hurt so bad I nearly fell over. Got off immediately and waddled my way to the sidewalk.

If I'm on the sidewalk and getting ready to enter a busy street at an intersection, I'll walk my bike to the far side of the intersection in the direction I'm headed. That way, I get a better view of traffic coming down the street and at the same time avoiding cross traffic. If it's a calmer street, then I'll just enter the street mid-block.

I usually walk across them when I'm in ped mode. It's the right thing to do. As mentioned earlier it's generally not cool to ride in crosswalks.

Sometimes when I hit a red light when in vehicle mode I'll go ahead and switch to ped mode after stopping. Why? No reason really. I guess since I've already stopped maybe a nice stroll across the street might be nice to stretch the legs. If I get stopped at a light within a couple of blocks of my destination, I'll often walk the bike the rest of the way.

Those safety manuals you speak of are pretty silly. It's generally better to stay in vehicle mode and take a lane than to switch modes to get across a street.

I was reading and expecting you to say, "BAM! Got hit by a car!" A huge calf cramp, walking your bike? Seriously?

I was riding my bike when I go the cramp. I duck-walked it to the sidewalk only because the cramp set in.

Oh I have got cramps walking before. 60 pound pack plus another 25-30lb of equipment when it's 90-100 deg out does that to you after some 15 or 20 miles:)

+1

Any time you ride on the sidewalk (illegal in many places) you must stop, look both ways, and walk across each and every intersection.

If you ride on the road with the traffic like a proper cyclists, you don't have to walk across intersections anymore than you would if you were driving ... you're a vehicle of the road.

It is perfectly legal to ride a bike in a crosswalk in Colorado. I only walk a bike when I am with my kids.

That's good to hear. I've never been hassled riding in crosswalks. LOL, those tools walking their bikes across them are ignorant of the law. :P I feel safer riding at crosswalks: can get out of the way faster, higher field-of-view, take up less space, more intimidating to pesky pedestrians, ... :)

While the law is clear that cyclists are allowed to ride in crosswalks here (Washington state), I occasionally walk crosswalks when riding with my 9-year-old sons. Their traffic sense isn't yet good enough for some busier, more complex intersections. So we walk.

+2^^^^^

Pedestrians have a greater propensity for quirky moves, because they're not expecting anybody moving much beyond their own pace.

Example:

I don't know how many times walking with my wife and we're just strolling along talking when suddenly, she breaks for the right, "Oh, I meant to come over here at Zales, to look at Gina's engagement ring!" I'm like WTF!

Some elderly guy in an e-wheelchair, looks like he's headed over to the ramp at the corner of the sidewalk's curb, when he suddenly decides, that there's another ramp much closer to his destination, so he does a quick ninety, right in front of you. However, it's ok, because you're walking.

************** ***************
You're walking your kids across a busy downtown street. Your little daughter is holding on to your right hand and your nine-year-old son is holding her right hand. Your left hand is carrying a package. Here comes some guy on a bike riding your son's heels.....That would just piss me off!

- Slim :)

I do it occasionally when all the following are true:

-I have red light,
-There are apparently no cars coming into the intersection from the cross street, even a few pedestrians seem to feel safe crossing under red light,
-There is a NYPD car nearby.

;)

I'll walk my bike while winter commuting at one particular intersection. Partly because its a T-intersection and drivers don't have any reason to expect traffic coming straight through from my side while they are turning left. Also the road is narrow and I have to come to a near stop on the other side to make a 90 degree turn to get on the MUP. During the summer I don't need to do that, but the alternate routes are undesirable in the winter as they don't get plowed.

Typically I ride through intersections like a car, using left turn lanes etc.

I walk my bike at intersections. It's much safer to do so.
As a cyclist, it's best to ride as close as possible to the edge of the road, to avoid disturbing the motorists. This only applies where there are no bike paths, and there are none in my city. If I want to ride through an intersection, I have to switch to the correct lane. And the lane used for going ahead(instead of turning) is obviously not adjacent to the sidewalk. That's why I would rather walk my bicycle at intersections. There are exceptions, though-for example, when the sidewalk cannot be used etc. etc. etc.. Depends on the circumstances.

Nah, I just keep my hands on my brakes, go slow, and expect peds to do just about anything. Just today I scared the crap out of a guy that was walking along the trail then decided to do a hard left. LOL. Bet he looks in the future! I just swerved and avoided him.

Yet another argument in favor of riding across crosswalks. If you don't take the time to jump the curb, unclip, dismount, push the button, move your bike out of the way, etc., the green light won't last long enough to make it across and you'll totally be car bait. This happened to me today also, but thankfully I was riding across!!

Uh, nope!

Riding as close to the edge means having to veer toward traffic to go around parked cars. To a driver it looks like you are going to veer into their path, which will freak them out more than had you maintained a more consistent line further to the left.

When you encounter an obstacle and have to go "deeper" into the road, one solution is to look back and, when you are sure no car is coming, go around the obstacle and pedal further.

Man, you really are paranoid ;)

When making a "left" turn, and I couldn't get to the left turn lane, I used to sometimes walk my bike across the street the second time instead of riding. Now I just make sure to get into the left lane early enough.