Misdemeanor, and infraction, not a crime. Sorry I wasn’t clearer, good catch.
I am a little confused. Is this an intersection with dedicated left turn signal?
Part of the point of having foot traffic only on the sidewalk is that people don’t maintain course and speed. We stop abruptly, window shop, turn around, greet people we’ve met. People come out of doorways, open car doors, come from behind parked cars. If you expect that people will keep walking in a straight line and not change speed you’ve already lost the battle.
I bike in the city, I use the bike lanes or the street. I also walk in the city and use the sidewalks. I try to anticipate what people will do, but bikes on the sidewalk make it extremely difficult to do so.
Thank you. I’m not on a corner lot, but I do have a sidewalk in front of my house and a somewhat busy street in front of my house. A bike carries a lot more weight than a stroller (which spreads an infant’s weight over four tires as opposed to a bike which supports a full grown adult’s weight over only two tires, and that’s not including any weight difference between the bike and a stroller).
It comes down to this. You’re breaking the law. You’re making my life more difficult. I can kill two birds with one stone: stop you from breaking the law and make my lawn look better by reporting you. It’s a pretty simple answer.
You’re getting all bent out of shape because someone’s calling you on your self-justification. You know it’s illegal, but because you’re “respectful” it’s okay? If I say thank you when I mug you and take care not to hurt you in any way, is it okay then? I’ll also make sure that anyone trying to pass me on the sidewalk while I’m mugging you gets a clear path. I mean, I was being respectful. You’re breaking the law. Your self-justifications aren’t going to make what you’re doing any less illegal.
Oh, and I’m not a curmudgeonly man. I’m a 26-year-old woman. Thanks for that. I needed a good laugh today.
Hey, I never said it was okay, I said I do it, as respectfully as possible. And I never said you were a man either.
And I’m more than okay with you and your spy cam and police report, have at it. If you think they are going to do anything other than laugh their asses off at you, I believe you are mistaken.
Really, you’re equating me riding up on your lawn with being mugged? Really?
I wasn’t aware that “sir” meant anything other than “male person” … but I guess it does for you, huh.
I’m not saying that riding on sidewalk = getting mugged, but I was comparing the principle of it. Is it less wrong for me to mug you if I’m respectful about it? No. The respectful thing doesn’t make what you’re doing less illegal. It’s still illegal. That’s the point I’m making.
The trespassing is still illegal. Sure, maybe you’re doing to be respectful of the walkers, but you’re not being respectful of the property owners. So this whole “I’m super respectful when I ride my bike on the sidewalk thing” doesn’t fly. You’re not respecting the property owner, you’re not respecting the law, you’re not respecting the people you’re setting a bad example for, etc. Yeah, maybe you’re nice when you pass people on the sidewalk, but please. If I wanted to listen to people self-justify their bad decisions, I’d listen to the girl at work who keeps making excuses for why it’s okay that she blows her whole paycheck at the mall and then can’t afford her rent.
Here’s a big bite of reality for you, it’s not trespassing. In fact, you don’t own the property next to the sidewalk. The town/city does, it’s an easement. Which is what you’ll be informed of, when you call the police, to report this heinous crime. Exactly how do you expect the police to identify me from your spy cam anyway?
Unlike your friend I am owning my behaviour, see the difference? I am prepared to deal with the consequences. Have been for 25 yrs. So far, haven’t seen any.
Unless you count the likes of you getting your panties in a twist 'cause someone rode over a few inches of your lawn on a bike.
Sorry about the gender misidentification, my bad. But sometimes, on the intranets, it’s hard to see if you’re talking to a girl or a boy. Didn’t mean to wound you, promise.
Oh fer Og’s sake. You are completely missing the point no doubt because you have managed to read my post with no reference whatsoever to what I was responding to. Guanolad said that when he was on a path and knew a cyclist was coming he didn’t know whether he was supposed to go left or right or what. My response was consequently an answer to the question “if I am in a situation where I’m walking on a path and a cyclist comes along what should I do?” I simply gave him a pragmatic answer to that question. It was not in any way a comment on whether the cyclist should have been there in the first place.
Furthermore, if you cared to read on you would have found that as it happens Guanolad was, at least in significant part, talking about shared foot/cycle paths, where cyclists are entitled to be.
Last summer I was standing in our parking lot, not moving at all, and a kid on a skateboard rode it about a hundred feet straight into my ankle. I didn’t move because I assumed he was going to steer right or left, but instead he slammed directly into me, watching me the whole time. He didn’t seem malicious, it didn’t look like he meant to do it, and and he certainly can control the skateboard, so I don’t know why he hit me. He just sort of shrugged it off, like striking a human being wasn’t a big deal to him. Maybe he’s a sociopath.
Yo, ho, ho & a bottle of rum! We aren’t following the rules of the sea here. If I’m walking on a sidewalk, I might need to slow down or speed up. What if I arrive at my destination & need to turn? Should I keep walking straight ahead to avoid a bike I may or may not hear?
Ride your bike in the street; in the bike lane, if there is one. (We’ve actually got quite a few in my neighborhood.) If traffic is too scary, dismount & push the bike along the sidewalk.
Easement != public property.
I think you might need to review the actual purpose of an easement. While the municipality does indeed technically “own” that strip of property and are permitted to access it when doing maintenance on municipal infrastructure, it still falls within the homeowner’s property line. It’s up to the homeowner to maintain that stretch of grass, so you, the taxpayer, contribute jack squat to its upkeep and are not within your rights to use it as an alternative thoroughfare.
Would it be okay for me to let my dog take a dump on your lawn, then walk away because a) it was done respectfully and b) weren’t you going to spread manure on that patch anyways? How about if I walked over to your garden beds and cut myself a bouquet of flowers, because they were just going to die eventually?
It’s not your property. Stay the hell off it.
I’m not saying you can’t hop onto someone’s lawn if there’s absolutely no other alternative open to you, but for fuck’s sake, can’t you at least acknowledge that it’s destructive?
A good friend of ours was hit by a bichotic (a biking psycho) eight years ago, which landed her in the hospital and required back surgery. She suffers from permanent nerve damage pain in her face that nothing seems to alleviate. So yeah, it’s a Bad Idea.
I was not addressing who maintained it, only the silliness of thinking you could charge someone with trespassing on it, sorry if I wasn’t clearer.
No, I’m not going to admit it’s destructive. Would you go out and scream at a person in a wheelchair who rolled over the edge of the lawn? Find it destructive? Of course not. Because it’s not destructive. It’s freaking grass, not your mother’s heirloom quilt.
The example of a dog crapping on the lawn is a very apt one, in fact. It happens on my lawn, I’m sure it happens on yours. And it’s annoying too! There is even a law against it where I live. I see people do it, so do you. Am I going to call the dog police? No. And you know why? Because I don’t feel like being laughed at for being such a fussbudget. How are they going to identify the person or the dog? Is any court in the land going to assess some damage for a dog turd on the lawn? No, because it’s not destructive. (Unlike the example of cutting the neighbours flowers, which clearly is.) And while there is a law about it, it’s a misdemeanor, so involves only a fine and is exceedingly rarely enforced. As a thinking adult this is clear to me, so why would I waste my time and energy getting worked into a lather about it?
Is it annoying, yes, I’ve admitted that. Is it worth getting yourself all worked into a lather about, buying a spy cam, calling the police, charging someone with trespassing? I’ll let you decide.
I understand that people are pissed about bike riders on sidewalks but choosing this fine detail, a tire rolling over your lawn, as a hill to die on seems, well, ill advised. I get that it annoys you, but attempts to portray this little thing, as anything other than an annoyance, is foolishness and I think you know it.
And if it makes you feel any better, I routinely pick up shit from other dogs while I’m out walking mine. Maybe even from your lawn. I mean, I’m right there with bag in hand and I’m bending down anyway, if it’s within reach I’ll pick it up too. Maybe that evens things out for you, who knows?
Meanwhile, millions of others haven’t been hit by a bicycle being ridden psychoticaly, or otherwise, so, “swings and roundabouts”, eh?
And millions of cars haven’t been hit by people changing lanes without using turn signals. It remains a bad idea. On average, everyone is safer when bikes use the road.
That cannot be said with any authority because the alternative - ie. cycling on the sidewalks - has barely been practised.
This. My city not only explicitly allows bikers to ride on sidewalks, but encourages it in many situations, and requires it in others. I live in a small midwestern city where the main thoroughfares tend to carry significantly more traffic than they were built for. A bicyclist taking one of these roads is taking a bit of personal risk. However, sidewalks along these streets tend to not carry many pedestrians.
The truth is we live in a car-centric world, more and more. So often I’m riding in a car inching, dangerously past a cyclist while a perfectly good sidewalk is right there. And not a pedestrian to be seen for blocks.
I often ride across town to a friend’s house after 7pm, entirely on the sidewalk and never encounter a single pedestrian. (Granted I have chosen my route to avoid them, even which side of the street I choose.) At the same time here’s a university girl on the road with a city bus coming up beside. It’s so totally unnecessarily dangerous. You gotta know the bus driver would prefer she be on the sidewalk.
But she doesn’t want to piss off the fussbudgets who think cyclists should never be on the sidewalk.
I am firmly of the opinion that it would be safer for pedestrians and cyclists to share sidewalks, (new regulations and enforcement required, obviously), than for cars/trucks/buses and cyclists to share roads.
I use my bike for transportation and exercise. In either case, I’m going long distances and trying to keep my speed up. The sidewalk is simply not compatible with that. So, not matter what, there will be bikes on the road.
Haven’t we already provided data showing why your opinion is wrong?