While on my night ride, at around 9:20 pm, I was riding down this longer hill that leads from my house to the center of town. As I was starting to flaten out after riding down this hill a person in a passing car yelled at me to "use the sidewalk dummy". I figured I was fine in the road. I had a flashing light on m seatpost for cars behind me, and reflectors on the front of my bike for cars comming the opposite direction. But the question remains, should I have been riding on the sidewalk? It was my understanding that it was illegal, or atleast frowned upon for bike riders to ride on the sidewalk.

Down here in Texas bike riding at night requires a head light and tail light that can be seen from 500 feet.
Don' t know what laws you have in Connecticut.

You are certainly not a dummy.

Riding on the side walk is dangerous and most likely illegal where you are, you could search for your local cycling laws to confirm.

You did good with the light/reflectors. I would say it's him. Besides, a bicycle is considered a road vehicle, no?

in CT, im pretty sure you were doing everything correctly.

They were probably just dicks, at least they didn't throw anything at you! :b

that is true! thank god for that!

You did nothing wrong. Riding on the sidewalk is illegal in most places. Stick with the road but invest in a light for the front. A reflector alone is not enough.

Check your local to state laws. In FL, a bicycle can take an entire traffic lane, but can also ride on the sidewalk, that is unless a city's ordinances prohibit the practice:

https://www.floridabicycle.org/rules/bikelaw.html

Its just another one of those drivers who think they own the road. Dont worry about it. Legally, you were clear.

Most drivers not used to cyclists think bikes are supposed to be on the sidewalk. At the last Critical Mass I was at back in CA the police told all of us(maybe 150-200 people) to get on the sidewalk, which is illegal.

I want to attend a Critical Mass.

We don't have a CM in Tucson as far as I know, but every Tuesday we have a mass ride with around 300 people.

Is CM still the last Friday in Denver? Anyone know?

I ride the road for the most part, until cars don't share it and then it's safer on the sidewalk. One of those "You can be right, and be dead right things ?"

You don't really believe that drive-by IQ analysis do you? I wouldn't accept legal advice that was offered out of a car window either.

It's technically illegal in the majority of the bay area to ride on the sidewalk.... but police majority of the time have better things to do and I think children & their chaperon are exempt....

But then again I was yelled at by some ***** in a late model beamer while I was on a solo with my orca. Ended up getting her attention and flipping her off when she stopped at a left turn light.

[rant]
Just make your own, just ride really slow in the middle of the lane, disobey traffic laws and yell a lot.

From my experience CM had done more harm towards cycling than good. Friend got rammed, cars buzzing as close as possible (like 6" from trailer with children inside), etc, etc. Pissing off motorists isn't the solution.

We used to treat it as a fun group ride and obey laws, then a bunch of anarchist/anti-everything people took over and made it into a protest/obstruction. I'm glad I quit going.
[/rant]

Sidewalk riding is about 50/50... some places it's legal, other places it isn't.


Riding on the road is legal in about 95% of places you'd care about riding. You can't ride on restricted-access interstate highways, for example, or some local freeways.


So unless your altercation with the driver occurred on the I-95 interchange, he was wrong.

the point at which i realized CM was for ******bags was the point at which i listened to some crazy idiot talk about how the government doesn't like cyclists because they want to keep people in their 'boxes' ... you have an apartment box and a work cubicle box and a car box and anytime anyone goes outside of their boxes the government gets all oppressive and fascist.

there's a point to which simplistic views of society and justice become self-serving and false, and CM crazies are about fifteen lightyears beyond that point.

that said, they're a great way to have fun with a bunch of cyclists and there are usually more girls on cm rides than on regular rides. mostly with boyfriends though, so **** it and **** CM.

i'm not bitter



edit: you were right to ride in the street, the sidewalk is far more dangerous for cyclists. when i'm driving i can't avoid sidewalk cyclists and i never hit anyone but i've come VERY close. street cyclists i've always been able to be safe near.

that said, if i'm riding my bmx bike and can't keep up with traffic i'll slow down and ride on the sidewalk.

whenever ppl piss me off while im riding, I kick it into high gear, ride up to the car and do a number of things depending on their offense:

a) ask someone to use their blinker
b) tell them to learn how to drive
c) kick the car
d) spit on the car
e) throw an orange at the windshield

^

Prime example of how other cyclists give the good cyclists a bad name...

Very good point. Only close call I've ever had with a cyclist while driving was when I was coming off a stop sign (at which I had stopped completely), and just as I started forward a cyclist cruised out from behind the privacy fence on the corner and across the crosswalk in front of me.

I'm sure legally he had the right of way as all crosswalk traffic does at a stop sign, but clearly he wasn't thinking things through... the reason it works for pedestrians is that they're moving slowly enough that I can see them approaching the crosswalk and yield.

If he'd have been on the road, even if he blew the stop sign, it wouldn't have been a problem because I'd have seen him coming.

everyone knows that bikes aren't supposed to be on the roads. DUH.

So i'm guessing you're a "good cyclist" because when someone tries to run you over you just sit there and take it.

In Washington State you are supposed to ride on the street unless you deem it unsafe, then you could ride on the sidewalk. But you also need a headlight for night riding! I've only had a couple people who don't know riding laws yell at me to get off the road. I stare at them for a while, raise my eyebrow and then ignore them.