sidewalks?
05-01-13, 11:32 AM
#1
It do, but it don't.
Thread Starter
sidewalks?
another newbie question...
if you are biking around town and you are on a street with sidewalks, do you take the street or the sidewalk?
if you are biking around town and you are on a street with sidewalks, do you take the street or the sidewalk?
05-01-13, 11:36 AM
#3
Senior Member
Street. It's generally safer, and in most places it's illegal to ride on the sidewalk. However this is rarely enforced, and as a practical matter there are times when you might decide you're safer on the sidewalk, at least for short distances. If you do decide to ride on the sidewalk, be aware that at intersections of all kinds drivers will not be expecting you and you represent a significant danger to pedestrians. So go very slow and be extra vigilant.
05-01-13, 11:40 AM
#4
Throw the stick!!!!
Nope.
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05-01-13, 11:51 AM
#5
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Unless your dad has just taken off your training wheels and is running behind you holding the saddle, no.
05-01-13, 11:58 AM
#6
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Always the street. Used to ride on sidewalks when I was in college and didn't know any better. Stopped doing that when a driver who wasn't looking for somebody on the sidewalk clipped my back wheel. Didn't go down but it was very close.
05-01-13, 12:12 PM
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Usually I'd take the street. Sidewalks are for pedestrians.
The exception is a place in my town where a MUP crosses the river and turns into a sidewalk on the wrong side of the street. I ride the sidewalk for a block until an area where I can safely cross over to the bike lane on the other side.
The exception is a place in my town where a MUP crosses the river and turns into a sidewalk on the wrong side of the street. I ride the sidewalk for a block until an area where I can safely cross over to the bike lane on the other side.
05-01-13, 12:22 PM
#9
It do, but it don't.
Thread Starter
it appears to be ok in my city to ride on sidewalks - feels wrong though. i moved here a couple years ago from a city that was very bike friendly (fort collins, CO) and this new city doesnt seem to be nearly as bike friendly or safe.
05-01-13, 12:26 PM
#10
Senior Member
If I'm on the side walk with my bike, it's generally because I'm walking the bike. Occasionally, I'll transition to/from riding if I'm somewhere that I'm locking up the bike and there's no one else around or if I'm somewhere that the only way to get where I'm going is by sidewalk (no roads like on a college campus), but that's just about it.
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05-01-13, 01:05 PM
#11
The Recumbent Quant
Come on, people?
Nobody suggested the OP should have posted in the sidewalk forum?
Nobody suggested the OP should have posted in the sidewalk forum?
05-01-13, 01:08 PM
#12
Senior Member
Eh, he's new here and many of us had this question when we first started. It's par for the course.
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05-01-13, 01:08 PM
#13
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Just as an aside, I'd say beach cruisers should be on the sidewalk. I can outrun them anyway...
05-01-13, 01:13 PM
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I think you were being flip, but the serious answer is that these are the worst. Hipsters ride these all over the sidewalks in Midtown between restaurants and bars. Most of them have handle bars that are huge (>50cm). More than once I've had some self-entitled jackwagon nearly run over my kids as we are walking. A pox on them.
05-01-13, 01:16 PM
#15
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I think you were being flip, but the serious answer is that these are the worst. Hipsters ride these all over the sidewalks in Midtown between restaurants and bars. Most of them have handle bars that are huge (>50cm). More than once I've had some self-entitled jackwagon nearly run over my kids as we are walking. A pox on them.
Of course, I kind of just don't like them in general.
05-01-13, 01:18 PM
#16
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05-01-13, 01:21 PM
#17
It do, but it don't.
Thread Starter
the training wheels and dad holding the saddle response is my favorite so far.
05-01-13, 03:01 PM
#18
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Here's my favourite, statistically you are less safe on the sidewalk than on the road.
05-01-13, 03:05 PM
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Our city isn't very cycling friendly, and our drivers are far from it as well So if I'm riding with my parents and just taking a slow stroll to eat or something, I'll take the sidewalk with them. It's actually safer than trying and failing to ride single file, while my mom swerves side to side on her beach cruiser that is apparently "hard to control". All other instances, I ride on the street. I've had more close calls on sidewalks than on the street, which has been about 0.1% of all my riding.
05-01-13, 03:07 PM
#20
Senior Member
If you don't feel safe on the road because of all the cars careening about at high speed, imagine how the 80 year old lady feels about all the bikes on the sidewalk!
05-01-13, 03:08 PM
#21
Senior Member
But of course you're right. Just not for this particular reason, for all the other ones.
05-01-13, 03:47 PM
#22
You Know!? For Kids!
https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/pu...s/dsd_a143.pdf
Wow, apparently you can ride on the sidewalk there.
Too much to chew through. Good Luck
https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs...15&ChapAct=625 ILCS 5/&ChapterID=49&ChapterName=VEHICLES&SectionID=59725&SeqStart=124000000&SeqEnd=125900000&ActName=Illin ois+Vehicle+Code.
Wow, apparently you can ride on the sidewalk there.
Too much to chew through. Good Luck
https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs...15&ChapAct=625 ILCS 5/&ChapterID=49&ChapterName=VEHICLES&SectionID=59725&SeqStart=124000000&SeqEnd=125900000&ActName=Illin ois+Vehicle+Code.
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05-01-13, 04:58 PM
#23
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https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/pu...s/dsd_a143.pdf
Wow, apparently you can ride on the sidewalk there.
Too much to chew through. Good Luck
https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs...15&ChapAct=625 ILCS 5/&ChapterID=49&ChapterName=VEHICLES&SectionID=59725&SeqStart=124000000&SeqEnd=125900000&ActName=Illin ois+Vehicle+Code.
Wow, apparently you can ride on the sidewalk there.
Too much to chew through. Good Luck
https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs...15&ChapAct=625 ILCS 5/&ChapterID=49&ChapterName=VEHICLES&SectionID=59725&SeqStart=124000000&SeqEnd=125900000&ActName=Illin ois+Vehicle+Code.
The main reason the sidewalk is more dangerous is that people are not looking for bikes to come off them. Drivers assume that if no one is in the crosswalk at any given moment, no one will enter the crosswalk before they can get through. They are also far less likely to notice your existence in general.
05-01-13, 05:35 PM
#24
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05-01-13, 05:39 PM
#25
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Riding on the road with traffic is safer than any direction on the sidewalk, riding on the wrong side of the road is more dangerous than the sidewalk moving with traffic, but riding on the sidewalk against traffic is more dangerous than riding in the road against traffic.
