Originally Posted by Miele Man

Riding on a genuine sidewalk as opposed to a paved mup can be quite dangerous o the bicyclist. That's because parked cars between the bicyclist and the traffic lane(s) can hide the bicyclist from the view of any motor vehicle driver turning into a driveway of any sort. Also, most drivers when looking for traffic on a sidewalk are looking for SLOW MOVING pedestrians not a faster moving bicyclist. Plus, a motorist glancing at the sidewalk looking for PEDESTRIANS often will not accurately judge a bicyclist's speed if the motorist even realizes it's a bicyclist and not a pedestrian. Then there's the problem that many sidewalk bicyclists encounter at intersections of streets where both the bicyclist and the motorists have very poor sight-lines to see each other. When riding on a sidewalk it's highly recommended that the bicyclist DISMOUNT and WALK across the intersection. In most areas if a bicyclist on a bicycle hits a pedestrian with the bicycle it's considered to be a vehicle/pedestrian collision and is supposed to be reported to police as such. Another thing to consider is that many pedestrians upon leaving a store or otherwise moving across a sidewalk is NOT expecting a bicycle to be on the sidewalk and therefore said pedestrian is quite likely to step right into the path of the bicyclist.

Cheers