Originally Posted by
gmt13
As a pedestrian, I have been hit a couple of times this past year by cyclists. The seem to have a bizarre notion that they can come up behind me at 10+ mph and I will be completely aware of them and their intentions, and then react accordingly. On my bike, I will almost never ride on a sidewalk. but if I do, I will slow down. If there are pedestrians, I would dismount and walk.
In your situation, I would have probably did the same thing. If traffic was severely backed up, I would be a bit nervous about unpredictable frustrated drivers. Best to get in front.
One of the roads I use for commuting has a sidewalk on one side only. The sidewalk has a painted stripe down the center. One side says "Bikes Only". The intent was for this 3 foot wide strip to carry bi-directional bike traffic while keeping the pedestrians safe. Talk about good planning.
-Gary
Gary,
I think that that meets the definition of a MUP (Multi Use Path). Down here they're working on widening the sidewalk to turn it into a MUP. The problem is that some sections of the sidewalk presumably because light poles, etc. the original sidewalk cannot be widened so the trail ends right before those sections and than picks up again after is able to be widened.