It seems like there’s a consistent meme that riding bikes on a sidewalk is a Bad Idea. However, I haven’t done enough reading on the subject to get a clear picture why that’s the case. Anybody care to educate me?
Context for the question: I’m thinking of getting a bicycle to use for commuting. Where I live, it’s legal to ride bikes on the sidewalk, and there tend not to be too many pedestrians on the sidewalks. The distance to work isn’t that far, so I wouldn’t have to ride very fast. The area is suburbia, so there aren’t any buildings with doors opening directly onto the sidewalk; OTOH, there are plenty of driveways.
Hell yeah.
Cyclists travel around 10mph more than pedestrians. The sidewalk is meant to be a refuge for foot traffic from vehicles; in this context a bicycle is a vehicle.
Cyclists have no licence plates nor proficiency licence. There’s no way to identify a hit-and-run cyclist.
Cyclists don’t have insurance.
Pedestrians aren’t lit up at night.
That said, where I live - Oxford, England, a crowded city - and where you live, sound very different. Plus, it’s legal for you. But do please keep an eye out for pedestrians, and even if you’re on the sidewalk, light yourself up - for everyone’s benefit!
(I am a hypocrite, BTW: I cycle commute and do occasionally cycle on the sidewalk to get round obstructions, but only when there are no pedestrians around. I also jump red lights when it’s obviously safe to me/pedestrians to do so.)
I think it’s a bad idea also. Pedestrians reasonably expect traffic on a sidewalk to be moving with them at about the same speed, or towards them in clear view. In either case it is safe to stop or to step to one side or the other, for any reason.
I certainly wouldn’t ride a bicycle on the sidewalk. If there is any need to be on the sidewalk with a bicycle, one should be walking it.
I’ve been struck by a bicycle from behind while walking on the sidewalk, though fortunately with little consequence. A distant relative of my wife was not so lucky, and was killed by a bicycle while walking. Admittedly this is a pretty rare thing, but still, sidewalks generally aren’t set up properly to handle vehicular traffic, and even if they are, not all the pedestrians will be expecting it.
Riding on the sidewalk the same way you would ride on the street is a bad idea. Where I live, it is illegal if you are over 16, but people do it all the time and nobody really cares as long as they’re not being assholes about it. I alternate between sidewalk and street depending on traffic conditions, time of day, etc. On the sidewalk, I slow down to nearly walking speed if there are pedestrians and stop before crossing streets or driveways. When passing pedestrians on a narrow sidewalk, I say “excuse me” and walk the bike around them.
One of the big things you have to watch for (and one of the reasons it’s a Bad Idea) is cars backing out of their driveways. If I’m backing out of my driveway, I stop before I get to the sidewalk and look both ways. If I see someone about one house down, it’s reasonable to assume I’ll clear the sidewalk before they get near me. The problem is if they’re on a bike that probably won’t be the case. Basically, as a driver, I’m not expecting anyone on the sidewalk to be going that fast, when I stop again near the street, it is something I’d expect.
Also, Silvorange mentioned it being illegal if you are over 16, I think in my jurisdiction you can’t ride on the sidewalk if you have a bike with 16" or bigger wheels (I’m sure exceptions would be made for larger kids who ride bikes that big at a younger age).
Yes, it’s a bad idea.
It’s dangerous for pedestrians for the already-mentioned reasons.
It’s dangerous for the cyclist, too. For one, hitting anything on a bike can turn out to be very bad for the cyclist. Two, sidewalks aren’t maintained to be ridden on; they’re bumpy, they can have unexpected patches of gravel or sand or dirt or whatnot, which can be Very Bad on a bike. You’re also likely to hit the end of the block and be confronted with a six-inch curb.
Most importantly, cars that are driving on the road generally don’t expect bicycles on the sidewalk. You pop off the sidewalk at a cross-street and someone’s turning right onto that street, and yes they’re looking, but they’re habitually looking for pedestrians walking at 2 miles an hour, not a bicyclist moving at 15. That’s not going to end well for you if you’re on the bike (not to say it’ll be swell for the driver, either, but he’s rather less likely to die).
That said, I have occasionally ridden on the sidewalk, including one time when I had to ride on a heavy-traffic street without a bikelane, during rush hour…and ended up stuck behind a street-cleaning truck, which I just couldn’t quite pass, plus I had to turn right about two blocks later. Had there been pedestrians present, I wouldn’t have, but this isn’t a big walking area, and the sidewalk actually seemed to be the safest option available.
Depends on where you live. Where I live, downtown, it would be impractical and borderline impossible to ride my bike on the sidewalk. I’d be stopping my bike, “Excuse me,” ringing the bell, “On your right!” braking, “Pardon me!” nonstop. I struggle to find an upside for riding on the sidewalk through crowds of people. That’s why god invented bike lines, or failing that, riding between the right lane and parked cars.
If you’re in the middle of the burbs where there are hardly any pedestrians, have at it. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to safely ride my bicycle on the sidewalk, but when I did, I would arbitrarily choose between riding on the street or the sidewalk. It didn’t make much of a difference considering there weren’t a lot of cars or pedestrians around.
Yeah, you can’t be riding your bike on the sidewalk if you’re over the age of 12. At best it’s discourteous to pedestrians, at worst it’s dangerous for the reasons already described. Some commutes in the US sound like hell for a cyclist, but the OP is describing a short surburban route. Surely no hardship to ride on the road?
Generally a bad idea - However, there are sitations where it is apprpriate. Near me the official way to bike across the busy bridge with no shoulders is the sidewalk, also, a section of the (generally off road) bike trail is also on the sidewalk.
Brian
Where I live it’s illegal past the age of 12, and besides, I wouldn’t recommend it. As others have said, you could be travelling anywhere from 15-30km an hour at a time when many people are backing their cars out of driveways. I don’t know about you, but even as a pedestrian I can surprise drivers who weren’t paying a lot of attention - and that would be even worse on a bike. Plus pedestrians have no expectation that bikes will be on the footpath, and won’t react to you in time - I have this experience even on bike paths.
You’re a vehicle, ride on the road and obey all road rules so you are entirely predictable. Always expect drivers to be unpredictable, even when you have right of way. Light yourself up like a christmas tree and plan your route carefully, and you should be just fine.
I am exclusively a pedestrian. I don’t drive or have a bike.
I hate it when a cyclist is coming up behind me. I have no idea what I am supposed to do, go left or right, because each cyclist is going to do their own thing depending on other obstructions like trees and lampposts, and often I don’t even know they’re there until they appear in my peripheral vision, which freaks me out.
Thanks for the input. For those who have commented about it being illegal, in my area it is, in fact, actually legal for adults (yes, I checked), with a legalese caveat that roughly amounts to “don’t ride like an asshole.”
So I’m primarily concerned about the safety or best-practices concerns related to the activity.
The drivers around here tend to vary between being aggressive and incompetent, so I confess I’d be a little concerned about riding in traffic–yeah, I see people doing it every day, but I also know some people who’ve been nailed by cars. If this were an urban area I wouldn’t even think about riding on the sidewalks, but since it’s suburbia I was kinda thinking about giving it a shot.
There’s a reason they don’t call it a sideride.
I walk to and from work. Bike riders on the sidewalk generally frighten the hell out of me, particularly when they’re coming up from behind. I’ve never been hit, but whenever one zooms by I think to myself, “If I had just been a few more inches to the left, I’da been a goner!” I also tend to meander as I walk (not on purpose; it’s just something I do). So if a biker is expecting me to stay to the right when he gets to me, he might be expecting wrong.
If you must take the sidewalk, at least get on the road when you’re passing a pedestrian. If you can’t do that, slow down to a jogger’s pace and give sufficient warning so as not to startle them. A good “on your left” is all it takes for me to scooch over.
It depends on the situation. I avoid the sidewalk when there are a lot of pedestrians, but I also consider my own safety and see no reason not to use the sidewalk when there aren’t many pedestrians but there are a lot of cars. But then, Arizona is not a pedestrian-friendly place in the first place, especially Tucson, where I rode most.
I generally don’t have a problem with kids riding on sidewalks, but a when adults do it I get upset. Heck a few months ago I was walking and a guy blazed by me on the side walk…the killer part was that there was a bike lane on the street.
It’s easy: don’t do a damn thing. You are not required to take evasive action and doing so only creates a problem for the cyclist who doesn’t know what you are going to do. Just maintain course and speed, as nautical people say. If you do that you won’t get hit and if you do, it will always be the other guy’s fault. If you move, you not only vastly increase your chances of being hit, but you might turn a situation where you are well within your rights into a situation where you are to blame.
Hell, I get this two or three times a day on my walk home from work-and this on a road with, yup, dedicated cycle lanes. There is literally no excuse. OK, maybe if you’re bleeding from the eye sockets and on your way to the ER. Or a fourth grader.
Okay. I’ll do that, then.
Where I grew up in NZ, nobody rode on the footpath, it’s drummed into you from age three not to do it, and most people stick to that. So I didn’t encounter this issue back home.
Here in Australia, lots of people do it, and there are heaps of cycle tracks that double as footpaths. I am still mystified by it all. The cycle path rules aren’t laid out upon entering the country, unfortunately.
I think the most dangerous part about bikes on sidewalks is riding across crosswalks so fast, so cars don’t have a chance to see you. In a situation where a car is making a right on a red light, and there is a green light for the pedestrian crosswalk, a pedestrian coming from behind the car will go slowly and the car will have a chance of noticing them. A bike flying up the sidewalk and across the road even with the walk light will come up so fast that a car driver won’t have a chance to see them (even if they’re looking, which the majority of drivers I would say aren’t). This also holds for paths that cross roads - yeah, it’s a crosswalk, but the physics don’t disappear just because someone in the crosswalk has right of way.