Originally Posted by
genec
Nice generalization. See any parked cars in the picture I posted? No. So that condition and rule doesn't apply everywhere.
Maybe in a downtown core (which I have mentioned as NOT a good place to ride sidewalks)... but this condition does not exist everywhere. So why act like it does?
Because it DOES EXIST in a LOT of areas where people do ride their bicycles on the sidewalks. Some bicyclists are idiots and will ride heir bicycles at speed on sidewalks where here are pedestrians or where pedestrians are liable to exit a building. the bicyclist zooming along the sidewalk can NOT see thos people! There have been instances where a bicyclist riding on the sidewalk has struck and KILLED a pedestrian. There have been such cases in Toronto Canada where a bicyclist riding their bicycle on a sidewalk struck and killed someone.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...nd_killed.html
In British Columbia Canada.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...rticle1315137/
Further reading.
https://nowtoronto.com/news/make-bik...n-the-suburbs/
Quote from that article: "Cycling on sidewalks can be less safe than riding on the road. Outside of the downtown, where getting doored is the biggest danger, sidewalk riding is the top cause of collisions with cars.
To understand why riding on sidewalks in the suburbs isn't as safe as it feels, you have to dig a bit deeper.
True, you won't get sideswiped or pushed into the curb by car traffic. So far so good – until you meet cross-traffic.
This happens not just at intersections, but at people's private driveways, shopping malls and industrial spaces. There, bike riders meet turning vehicles, and the risk of collision is high because drivers are more likely to miss cyclists scooting along the sidewalk than those on the road.
Cyclists are fast – faster than pedestrians – and thus surprise drivers by "appearing out of nowhere." Drivers turning at intersections are often too busy sorting out whether it's safe to turn to catch cyclists whizzing into the road from the sidewalk.
In fact, cycling on the sidewalk is a contributing factor in 30 per cent of car-bike collisions in Toronto, when cyclists cross a roadway or motorists exit a laneway or driveway.
Toronto's own collision statistics show that the danger is higher at intersections, where nearly twice as many collisions occur (52.8 per cent) than in the stretches between intersections (31.9 per cent). On the other hand, though, the report notes that "collisions in which cyclists were riding on the roadway tended to result in slightly more severe injuries than those in which the cyclists were riding on the sidewalk or within the crosswalk."
Cheers