Tell your kids to stop riding their bikes on the sidewalks. Sidewalks are no place for a bike. If you don’t want them in the street, take them to a bike path.
A sidewalk is no place for a bike.
I agree. Unfortunately most drivers don’t seem to understand that bikes are supposed to be on the streets! Have you ever riden a bike on the street in say… La? I currently live in Davis Ca… probably the most bike friendly town in the U.S, and it still scares me how often cars nearly hit me.
Rant review: .5 (of 10).
What age kids are we talking here? 6? Then on the sidewalk they go. 14? Off to the streets, to dodge my Trailblazer.
Geez squeegee, you’re feeling magnanimous today. I would’ve only given it a .3 me’self.
Lousy rant, lousy argument. Kids have ridden on the sidewalk (footpath) since Moses played centre-half forward for the Jerusalem U/18’s. It’s a tradition. Is the OP suggesting that we put 5 and 7 year old bicycle-riders out in the traffic to take their chances?
Fat chance. Put up with it, dude. Some things might suck, but that’s just the way things are.
And furthermore, you little loathesome pigfuckers who like to dominate sidewalks with skateboards: RIDE IN THE FUCKING STREET!
Most sidewalks around here are clearly marked as NO SKATEBOARDING!
They even have PICTURES if your lack of erudition is a reflection of your reading skills.
From now on if you go around me, coming inches from my body as you continue your conversation with the waste of flesh who’s doing this with you, I will let my cane fall in your way so I can see your worthless ass fly into the pavement.
If I’m going to have to risk falling because of you bastards, I will have my fun at your expense.
Great. A future Darwin award winner wanting to cull out his competition.
No, as I said:
Their parents obviously forgot to show them One Got Fat.
Yeah, dammit. Tell those lil fuckers to go back inside and play some more video games and watch some more Real World re-runs. The last thing I want to see when I’m driving my big ol’ car down the street is a fucking kid on a bike, exercising and getting some fresh air and taking up my goddamn sidewalk. What, that kid’s like seven or eight years old? C’mon! Plenty old enough to dodge SUV’s in the street! What, is he stupid? Doesn’t he like playing chicken with my Escalade? God!
No, I think every kid, no matter what age, belongs on the street. Where he can veer way too far out into the flow of traffic, and be totally oblivious to my car, so that I almost kill him. Yep. Every neighborhood has a nearby bike path/trail that parents everywhere can send their six year old kids to without worrying! I mean, you just have to remind 'em not to take candy from strangers and all that crap! Better the kid not ride his bike at all than take up the sidewalks I paid for! Didn’t they get that “I own them” memo? Do I have to put out more flyers? JESUS!
What’s the world coming to, people. I ask you.
Now, THAT’S a great post!
Hey asshole, how about learning a fucking thing about bike laws before ranting? I’m fucking sick of idiots too dumb to actually look up the fucking laws. In many places, you can ride your bikes on the sidewalk, because drivers are morons. Maybe not your location, but I bet you don’t really know for sure, and your blanket statement is bullshit.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it. Honestly, kids shouldn’t be riding in the street; it is “necessary in the interests of safety” that they not get hit by a fucking car because they’re just little kids and not too good at dealing with idiot drivers, or even always going in a straight line. Fuck, there’s places around here where I ride on the sidewalk because the cars are too aggressive and the potholes too numerous, and it’s perfectly legal.
I’m going to say this one more time, so that hopefully the next time somebody feels the need to bitch about bikes on the sidewalk, they’ll check their local laws first: in many places, bicycles are allowed on the sidewalk.
I don’t have a problem seeing kids riding or skate boarding on the sidewalks. I think they should be considerate of other folks who are walking. Unfortunately, kids don’t think about others unless their parents have emphasized this. I would guess that they are focused on fun more than being polite.
I live in a large city and it seems that there are fewer and fewer safe things for younger kids to do, independently. I think of how I grew up and I remember that feeling of independence and freedom I had. Kids today miss out on that. They have to be supervised and on a bike path or at risk on busy streets.
I don’t care what the law says about bikes on sidewalks, they are dangerous. These kids on sidewalks are out of control. It is very dangerous for children to ride on the sidewalk. These kids are going to hit someone. They ride with an almost total disregard for safety. They ride as fast as they can and then stop as fast as they can to “lay some rubber.” When they come to a corner they cut through people’s yards.
And, yes there are bike paths near where I live. Plus there is nothing to stop the parent from going with their child to the bike paths to make sure nobody harms them.
Just keep them off the sidewalk.
Rant review: -1 billion.
It depends on where you are if bicycles are permitted on sidewalks. Some places (such as this town) permit it when there is no separate bike lane or bike path, and the cyclist must exercise due care when riding on the sidewalk.
This is the problem, not the fact that they are on the sidewalks per se.
Exactly. Which is why the law in MA (and most places) also states that bikes have to yield to pedestrians and give some warning before passing.
But I’m fucking sick of morons who say “sidewalks are not place for bikes” like they have a fucking point. Sidewalks are sometimes the only place for bikes.
Oh bullshit. Kids have been riding around on sidewalks and skidding their tires for decades without a rash of pedestrian injuries, or injuries to the kids worse than they’d get from falling off a bike no matter where they were riding. Have they hit anybody, or do you just enjoy being one of those assholes who can’t stand to see a little kid have some fun? Skidding tires isn’t a danger to anybody, unless you’re managing to run very fast to be right behind them when they hit the brakes (in which case it’s your fault anyway for not maintaining a proper following distance).
In short: fuck you, it’s legal (in most places, check your local laws) so piss off you fucking whiner.
(for that matter, the closest I’ve ever come to hitting a pedestrian was on the fucking bike path, because peds are also allowed on it, and don’t understand the “stay right unless passing” concept.)
Shit, I should have made it clear that the first quote was from ruadh, and the others from Johnny McAsshole what can’t be bothered with the law.
Well, to be honest I’m not that bothered with the law either Myrr21 - I’m not even sure whether it’s illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalk here (Dublin). I just know that sometimes it is the only safe place for me to cycle, and when I do, I ensure I’m not putting any pedestrian at risk. If the kids that the OP complains about did the same, there would be no problem.
You might. Once. Then I will have some fun at your expense: watching you go to jail, and the subsequent lawsuit.