Do bicyclists belong on the roads or on the sidewalks?

[snugglesgold]

Cycling on the pavement (that's a British sidewalk) is illegal and stupid! The pavement isn't designed for it, there are no clear sight lines, people will pop out of their front doors or shops with no warning. As to those who say it won't hurt pedestrians too much, what if you hit a little kid or and o.a.p. I've been cycling longer than most of you have been alive and cyclists on the pavement piss me off! Be a safe cyclist stay on the road!

 

[Auxiliary]

I will not be restricted by something as trivial as roads!

 

[gl1koz3]

The roads just suck ass. Too many times I've witnessed a life or death situation... what can possibly go wrong on the sidewalk? Yeah, the occasional old people that just stop in shock and you slightly hit them. After they vent, you're good to go.

The car roads are just shit load of potential problems.

Also, if you use body language (i.e. turn and hold your head in the way you will be going; they avoid you almost by reflex then), then you're good to avoid ANY problems at all.

 

[Feriluce]

How about...using the lanes made specifically for bikes?! That way you dont have to ride on either the road or the sidewalk!

I say bike should be ridden on sidewalks, but you have to move to the edge of the street to pass pedestrians.

Also: I never hear of people in wheelchairs getting a ticket when using the sidewalks, what gives?

Because people in wheelchairs usually move at 30 km/h+ right? If you hit a kid on a bike while driving at a normal speed you'd probably kill it or seriously injure it.

 

[Wintermoot]

as long as you keep your attention on where you,re cycling you wont get hit by a bike.
also don,t they have cycle roads at the campus?

 

[Dys]

Unless bicyclists are contributing via registration fees to road maintenance, they should be kept the fuck off. Regardless of who causes a bycicle/car accident, the car driver is almost always 'technically' at risk, and the burden of dumbass bike riders with no regard for either the law or common sense is misplaced on motorists (who are already largely incompetent and struggle with simple concepts like indicating and merging).

So, naturally, since it makes sense for cyclists to use offroad paths, it is illegal for them do so on all but a few that are specifically designated. In fact, the Victorian state government is so devoted to keeping bike riders away from any sensible bike track that they are actively dividing up major roads (the kind that all but the stupidest of bike riders avoid) so they have bike lanes taking up half the road...Naturally the aforementioned stupidest of bike riders are far from capable of being able to keep themselves restrained to a single lain, and hilarity[footnote]This is a clever way of saying chaos.[/footnote] ensues.

 

[Shuswah_Noir]

As someone who spends a great deal of time driving, I hate cyclists. Not all of them break the rules and create danger. But I am always afraid of an accident, even with the ones who do the right thing.

I would much rather risk being hit by a bike on the sidewalk.

It's one of the reasons I don't ride a bike as well.

 

[Feriluce]

Unless bicyclists are contributing via registration fees to road maintenance, they should be kept the fuck off. Regardless of who causes a bycicle/car accident, the car driver is almost always 'technically' at risk, and the burden of dumbass bike riders with no regard for either the law or common sense is misplaced on motorists (who are already largely incompetent and struggle with simple concepts like indicating and merging).

So, naturally, since it makes sense for cyclists to use offroad paths, it is illegal for them do so on all but a few that are specifically designated. In fact, the Victorian state government is so devoted to keeping bike riders away from any sensible bike track that they are actively dividing up major roads (the kind that all but the stupidest of bike riders avoid) so they have bike lanes taking up half the road...Naturally the aforementioned stupidest of bike riders are far from capable of being able to keep themselves restrained to a single lain, and hilarity[footnote]This is a clever way of saying chaos.[/footnote] ensues.

I'm finding it hard to believe that it can in any way be hard to stay on one of these:

 

[Gentleman_Reptile]

I think you are absolutely right. The logic behind forcing cyclists to the edge of the road just perplexes me, so for safeteys sake, stick as close to the footpath as you can, and hop up on it if theres virtually nobody around.

I absolutely despise cyclists who have been doing it long enough to think they count as a vehicle and go so far as to ride their bikes on the street. Its just bloody dangerous, I dont care what the law says, people should know better. I was once going over a bridge at night in my hometown, a bridge that has a perfectly good pathway to use, and some asshat cyclist was on the road, forcing cars to swerve INTO THE OTHER LANE to avoid running him over. Just ahead of the bridge though, there was a set of lights that stayed red long enough for him to ride past me, allowing me to wind down my window and let him know what a fucking retard he was.

 

[Belated]

You bicyclists don't trust us cars? Well frankly, us cars don't trust you bicyclists either. Any second you could pull out into the middle of the street, or pull out across us when we get a green light. You could also come out of literally nowhere and still manage to find a way to get hit by us. I don't understand why bicyclists feel the need to ride bikes, when they've clearly already mastered the art of teleportation.

Personally, the bicycle path is the closest thing to fair that we can get right now. The sidewalk is too risky for pedestrians, and we don't want you in the middle of the street where we might kill you. The middle of the street is for real vehicles, so just keep in the bicycle path, watch the street really carefully, and wear bright, preferably flamboyant clothing so we notice you. And no, I don't care what the law technically says about bicycles and the street, nor do I care if it varies state to state. Bicycles don't belong in the middle of the road. Period.

And believe me, I understand. I've ridden bicycles before. I hate being in the bicycle lane. I'm scared to death of cars when I'm riding, and I'm not saying it's good enough. Not by a long shot. When I say it's the closest thing to "fair" that we can get right now, I mean to imply that we're still really far off. You bicyclists deserve much more breathing room than you have right now. But how exactly we could implement that without letting you on the main road is beyond me. Maybe some day we'll have an answer. Or maybe some day we'll have flying cars, and you can take the streets for yourselves.

 

[Gentleman_Reptile]

Cycling on the pavement (that's a British sidewalk) is illegal and stupid! The pavement isn't designed for it, there are no clear sight lines, people will pop out of their front doors or shops with no warning. As to those who say it won't hurt pedestrians too much, what if you hit a little kid or and o.a.p. I've been cycling longer than most of you have been alive and cyclists on the pavement piss me off! Be a safe cyclist stay on the road!

Please for the love of sweet zombie jesus tell me your joking.

 

[Nouw]

Don't know about the laws and such where you live but in New Zealand we have really big and smooth side-walks (trying to implement into all of New Zealand and so far loving them) that are designed so people can cycle more safely. There's also a small space for cyclists at the edge of roads and they're going to stay there for quite a while.

 

[Dieter Meyer]

Should stay on the sidewalk imo.

I dont know why, but I get really pissed off when I see them on the roads.

 

[snugglesgold]

Why would i be joking? Maybe you live in a utopia where the pavements are miles wide, and roads are a mad max nightmare of terror but in Britain the pavements are narrow and crowded and often hard to get by on foot let alone on a bike! In my country it's very dangerous to cycle on the pavement! Talk for your own country not mine, if it's safe and legal where you live fair enough but it isn't here!

 

[Fledge]

'Sidewalks' or PATHS have always struck me as more logical choice.

 

[DRobert]

Road.
I've read some people above talk about footpaths designed to accomodate cyclists. Such would be a glorious thing but, alas, where I'm from, they don't exist. Cycle lanes do and they're good but often too small or right on a tiny parking shoulder, meaning that if you ride in them you risk getting door'd. Sounds hilarious but can be deadly.

Anyway, so long as everybody obeys the road rules, cyclists are only going to hold you (you being person in the car) up for a matter of ten to twenty seconds.

On the other hand, if you ride on the footpath, you have to contend with:
1. People stepping out of shop fronts.
2. Generally poor quality pavement (designed for walking, not wheels).
3. People walking dogs.
4. People backing out of driveways.
5. Footpaths suddenly ending.
Really, you need to slow way the hell down to the point where you might as well just jog to work. Which will stop people using bikes. Which will put more cars on the road. Which will lead to more pollution and congestion. Also a less fit populous. Is that really worth it because some drivers can't wait ten seconds to overtake safely?

 

[Dogstile]

Depends on where you live. If the place is crowded, then hell yes you should stay on the roads. However, where I live the sidewalks are generally empty and the police typically tell us that if the way is clear ride on the path.

So the path it is for me

 

[RedRockRun]

They belong in hell for holding me up on two lane roads.

 

[Vrach]

Yeah I very much agree with you OP. I never ever felt safe driving on the street whereas I have no problem seeing bicyclists on the sidewalk when I'm a pedestrian. Being hit by a bicycle is nothing. Really, nada. Not to mention, it'd be pretty easy saying "speed limit on the sidewalk is 15 mph" or something. Not that you can really get over that on sidewalks, I usually move 5-10 mph at best. Not to mention, due to a bike's much slower speed and especially start speed, I always, always feel like a burden to the cars, especially if I have to stop for a red light.

That said, we need bicycle lanes and we need them everywhere. We have them here in Belgrade in a few places, though it's mostly confined to New Belgrade sadly (and thus completely out of my interest zone when driving to uni). It's basically a really thin lane, can take 1-2 bikes in it (and guess where it's located? That's right, on the sidewalk of course). You grab one of those and then you know you're on your own, no cars to hit you, no pedestrians for you to hit. Win win situation and all it really takes is a bit of a paint job on the sidewalk.

Cycling on the pavement (that's a British sidewalk) is illegal and stupid! The pavement isn't designed for it, there are no clear sight lines, people will pop out of their front doors or shops with no warning. As to those who say it won't hurt pedestrians too much, what if you hit a little kid or and o.a.p. I've been cycling longer than most of you have been alive and cyclists on the pavement piss me off! Be a safe cyclist stay on the road!

You do realise bicyclists can't get high speeds on the sidewalk right? Not unless you're utterly insane and have a lot of space to get velocity in (which you really, really don't). Also, we have breaks. I actually "hit" a little kid with my bike. I was going 30+ mph (which is about as fast as my bike will go really) and she was on roller blades going right at me. Just hit the breaks, even in that worst-case-scenario (high speed, other person moving towards you) I stopped just in time and barely touched her. She didn't have so much as a boo-boo, was perfectly fine.

That was on a bicycle lane mind you. On the sidewalk, as I said above, I'm confined to some 10 mph or so. It's not a matter of whether you want to go faster, a sidewalk with any people on it just won't let you, you have to slow down every few seconds. Now granted, if you have an empty pavement for some reason, you shouldn't abuse it cause as you said, people coming out of buildings and such, but that's once again something you can monitor and limit the bikes' speed on it.

Now, cars on the other hand are nasty fuckers. They're happy moving right past me (I'm talking about a meter between us) at 40+ mph. See, when a bicyclist moves past me (me being pedestrian in this case), he slows the fuck down unless he can get a really good distance going past me (and even then he's not moving more than 25 mph). Drivers don't usually give bicyclists the same treatment, oftentimes you'll get a car moving right past you, without slowing down and without taking care to move away from you a little bit.

So yeah, between the two evils, biking on the sidewalk is definitely the lesser one by far. But as I said above, we really need bicycle lanes, they make life easier for everyone.

 

[Meestor Pickle]

Footpaths dammit! I hate cyclists so much when they are on the road. Such a distraction.