In Downtown San Jose CA, with wide sidewalks and cars parked on the street- it is legal. However, in general, it is not legal, but the cops would not enforce it against young kids, of course.
Ah, you ride on the sidewalk, but what speed do you ride? The local multi-use paths here have a limit of 20km/h, and my average speed is somewhat greater than that (say about 30?). Heck, on a residential road, I easily move at the speed of traffic.
If I were to ride on the sidewalk, I’d have to worry about pedestrians moving in both directions. At 30 km/h (and many cyclists are much faster than I am) there is a huge difference between my speed and theirs. There’s also not much space for me to suddenly move out of the way on the sidewalks without risking a crash. Going on to someone’s lawn is fine, but on a bridge or underpass, there’s nowhere to go but into traffic.
To ride safely sidewalk, either I’d have to slow down to under 10 km/h, making my cycle commute unreasonably long (though conveniently less sweaty), or I’d have to run the risk of seriously injuring pedestrians. So I’ll stick to the roads, thanks. I even move to the left lane to turn left on more major (60km/h) roads without much trouble. If I signal (or just look pointedly), some car will let me move over. If anything, most drivers seem amused by me waiting in line in a turning lane, or at a stoplight. I act like a slow car, they pass me the first chance they get, and everyone’s happy, barring occasional jerks.
Well, I know there’s at least one of 'em out there now. I usually try to keep a live-and-let-live mentality, but sometimes I just want to… well, I’m sure you all get the idea.
And from when I was riding my bicycle to work several years ago, I almost learned the hard way that people in cars don’t seem to think that bicycles count toward the “left turn yield on green” rule. It’s hard to flip someone off when you’re trying to keep your bike under control.
I had a similar encounter with a pickup when I was a teenager in the New Orleans 'burbs. That fool refused to pass until I rode onto the curb. I distinctly rememberd someone shouting that I was in the way. :rolleyes:
BTW: riding on sidewalks is evidently legal around here. We have plenty of official bike paths, as well as unofficial but promoted by the county, some of which are sidewalks.
It’s legal here. Least ways, when I search the code for bicycles, nothing saying it was illegal to ride on sidewalks. It does say though that the bikes have the same rights as autos when on the roads.
It’s illegal in Ontariariario, that much I know.
A friend of mine got fined for biking on the sidewalk, with his child. Both should have been on the road. Even though the child was 5 and had training wheels.
I know this irks some parents greatly.
As someone who trains working dogs, I would much rather see your little whippersnapper on the road than running into me and the dog.
I was once working with a deaf 10 year old with Down’s Syndrome who doesn’t have a steady gait and his service dog. We were taking up the whole sidewalk - boy, dog, me, getting from point A to point B, signing at each other and the dog.
Some woman and a young child (maybe 6 or 7) came up behind us on their bikes. The woman screamed at me to keep the dog off the sidewalk so she could pass us by. I’m sure she saw the dog was wearing a coat AND harness. She decided to proceed ahead and ran into the back of me. If she had injured the dog, I would have killed her on the spot.
I just gave her hell, pointed out the law to her, and she just snarled back n’ sped on ahead with her spawn. Interestingly, I found out that day that Joshua knew how to sign the word “Idiot” and use it appropriately 
Out in Ottawa, the rule is that if your child is old enough to ride a bicycle to the corner store with you, he’s old enough to bike on the road. If you’re worried about safety, or feel the child needs to practice, then the cops will gladly point you to our Sunday Bike Days, where three huge parkways are closed to cars and turned into family biking zones. There, little Jimmy can learn to ride safely, and can learn the basics of sharing the road.
I’m all for bikers sharing the road with cars. It’s safer for all concerned. Now if only motorists would understand this, all would be well…
sigh
My point exactly, Elenfair.
As an interesting sidenote, apparently there’s a problem with those “Share the Road” signs. Seesm that several drivers think they are deisgned to be read by cyclists, not drivers. “Share the Road!” is apparently becoming the new “get of the road!” term yelled at bicyclists.
Avalonian, you are 100% correct.
Attention all: BICYCLES SHARE THE ROAD WITH AUTOS. You do not ride your bike on the sidewalk, PERIOD. It is dangerous and rude to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk. If you must take your bike on the sidewalk, you should get off and walk with the bike. The level of ignorance on this is astounding. If you think you are supposed to ride your bike on the sidewalk, you are just…plain…wrong.
In summary: stop it!
Thank you.
It’s illegal for anyone over the age of 13 to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk in San Francisco.
According to the Pittsburgh Police, riding on the sidewalk is only illegal in the shopping district of Shadyside, Oakland, Downtown, and the main streets of Squirrel Hill, and it’s very rare that the U Pitt police will cite anyone for riding on sidewalks around the Cathedral or the Student Union.
Except maybe not. From the Seattle Traffic Code
Hmmm… thanks for the cite, Pork Rind. I wonder if the cyclists I know who were cited got the ticket because of violating the code’s many conditions… I’ll have to ask them.
Go Avalonian!
Around here, we don’t have many sidewalks, so I generally get “Get off the road!” Presumably, they want me to either ride on people’s lawns, or not ride at all. Doesn’t matter to them, as long as they get to where they’re going without being inconvenienced in the slightest.
Well – actually – I should point out that “Get off the road” is what they say when I can hear them. Notice to people who yell from moving cars: 75% of the time, you’re going so fast when you pass that all I hear is a loud voice and I can’t make out the words. I have to laugh at that.
Is it only in my area that moms with preteen kids are among the worst offenders at swearing at cyclists? My God, women, what the hell are you teaching your kids? You want them to drive with such rage when they get their licenses in a few years?
I remember riding my bike on evening walks with my dad when I was about eight. I would pedal along with my training wheels (didn’t get rid of those bad boys till I was about 11…), Dad would walk or jog on the sidewalk. Happy days.
I remember learning to ride my bike on the residential sidewalks in my neighborhood. Understand that these were not sidewalks per se; they were not alongside the road – they were long paved strips in front of the houses just before the big long strips of shared green space. Navy projects, yo. 
I never completely understood why bicycles were illegal on the sidewalk until I started babysitting. When I was taking a baby around the block in a stroller, I was utterly terrified that someone was going to come rocketing around the corner…
That being said, I really want to slug about 75% of the cyclists in Austin. The other 25% are upstanding individuals, stopping at stopsigns and signaling turns. I love these people and encourage them to breed. But the vast majority of the cyclists I see treat the street like one huge sidewalk – driving in my lane when they have a bike lane, running stopsigns and red lights, TURNING IN FRONT OF ME WITHOUT WARNING OMIGOD PLEASE I’M GOING TO CRASH –
screech!
Anyway.
These would be the people who would get squooshed under my wheels. Then they would be paraplegics and sue me and my lawyer would say that I wasn’t breaking the law and then Critical Mass would take a baseball bat to my car and it isn’t even paid off yet…
pant pant pant
When I bike to work, (almost 3 miles), I bike along a street that has a maximum speed limit of 35mph. A large part of it has a speed limit of 25mph. In addition to this, it runs through three school zones w/ a speed limit of 20mph. At no point is there more than three blocks in a row before either a stop sign or stop light. For about a mile of it there’s actually a decent sized paved shoulder, ( 3 feet wide maybe).
I get the hollering regularly. People will drive by and all I can make out is, “Sidewalk,” even if i’m comfortably on the shoulder.
The only excuse that i’ve been able to come up with for them is that they’re morons.
There is a sign in Fairbanks (Alaska) telling bicycles to use the sidewalk, not the road.
Not sure if it is supposed to be limited to that particular stretch of road, or if it’s a public service announcement though.
I first started riding my bike to school by myself when I was in 4th grade. Of course I rode on the sidewalks then, the cars whizzing by my elbow scared me to death. My parents told me to always make sure to use arm signals and call out to warn pedestrians, though.
I didn’t ride my bike to school in middle school, 'cause the school was too far away. When I did start riding to school again, the summer between 8th and 9th grade, I tried to keep on the road as much as possible, although some mornings I was just too tired to ride in a straight line, and I’d get on the sidewalk so I didn’t ride out into traffic. Oddly enough, there was never a problem on the ride home, even though that side of the road had no sidewalk and very little curb. Still, it was great when I finally discovered a mostly-offroad route to school.
When I was living in Austin in the late '80s, a coworker one day got a call and had to go rushing off to the hospital. Her BF was out riding his bike on the shoulder of a highway, minding his own business, but some drunken assholes who’d gotten a head start on their weekend fishing/drinking trip decided he’d make a good target for some practice throwing unopened beer cans.
They broke his jaw.
And why? Because – remember, this was some years back – he was wearing BICYCLING SHORTS. At least that’s what they were yelling at him about before they started throwing their beer cans.
Anyone who commutes to work on a bicycle gets my respect!
One thing that you have to understand is that sometimes (not always mind you) despite the fact that there is a bike lane, there are some very, very good reasons that cyclists do not use it.
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It is very often in the “dooring zone”. Car doors from parked cars open right into the lane. The number of car drviers/pasengers who check before openeing appracohes zero,
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The bike lane is very often used as “free parking”. Or has a bus that must stop in the bike lane to pickup/discharge passenger. This does not fill a cyclist with a feeling of sancticy of th ebike lane.
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Cars crash, break windows and lose other debris. some drivers just litter Guess where that stuff ends up: The bike lane!
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On many roads, it is the edges that decay first. Bike lanes often have the worse potholes, broken asphalt, etc. It may be stuff that heavy weight cars just pour over, but I’ve got balance issues to deal with.
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Some driver feel that when there is a bike lane, bicycles must stay in the lane, even if they want to turn left or somesuch.