Bicycles do not belong on the sidewalk, period. Maybe small children still on training wheels but that’s about it.
Bikes don’t belong on the roads. They are for motor vehicles. Bikes stay on the sidewalk.
Bicycles should use the sidewalks. At least then they’d be used. The sidewalks in places I’ve lived have always been empty 99.9 percent of the time and I’ve always wondered, why waste the money and materials for sidewalks that are never used.
Much agreed.
I'm sick of idiot bicyclists buzzing down the side walk swerving in and out of pedestrians.
Bikes belong on bike paths/trails. If there isn't one, then too bad. I heard there's a nice one behind Howard Dean's house.
Depends on the traffic on the road, and the traffic on the sidewalk. All neighborhoods and times of day are not the same. It's a judgment call.
I do most of my riding on relatively quiet residential streets and avoid major roads whenever possible, even at the price of considerable detours. If foot traffic on the sidewalk is heavy, I stay on the street. I rarely ride in the central business district, however, so I rarely encounter heavy pedestrian traffic.
Any adult cyclist is going to prefer the street unless traffic is really bad, because it's much easier riding. The judgment call comes when you're riding with kids.
Current cities with their sidewalks and roadways were created to accomodate pedestrian traffic via the sidewalks and the roadways for vehicles. The sidewalks also accomodated the bicyclists who were primarily kids.
Unfortunately the cycling industry evolved along with the demands for adults to incorporate cycling into their own lifestyles and along with the lifestyle change came the road bikes.
As a result, the sidewalks were no longer able to accomodate today's exercise cyclist and roads were not altered to accomodate them either.....;......
So the exercise cyclist with his roadbike is now an intruder on the highways which were designed only for motorized traffic only..........