Originally Posted by Miele Man

Sorry but that is a crock of El Toro Poo Poo! Taking the lane or riding away from the edge of the road most certainly makes you more visible to automobile drivers than does riding on a sidewalk where drivers are NOT LOOKING. At intersections drivers most often GLANCE at a sidewalk to see if anyone is approaching at WALKING speed. They are not looking for a faster moving bicyclist. To make it even worse, if a driver does see a bicyclist riding on the sidewalk and that bicyclist is approaching the intersect the BICYCLE IS OFTEN INVISIBLE due to its narrow frontal area and thus the driver thinks what he/she sees is a pedestrian and thus often turns or pulls out in front of that bicyclist. Even in an area where there are no obstructions between the sidewalk and the traffic lane the drivers are concentrating on what's in front of them on the road NOT what's on the sidewalk. To many drivers bicyclists who ride on the sidewalk and then onto the road simply appear to come out of nowhere!

Cheers