What are your opinions of biking on the sidewalk?

A few people have been telling me I shouldn't ride on the sidewalk so I wouldn't run over pedestrians... but... I don't have to run people over? They're easy enough to avoid. If need be, I just swing out on the street until I pass them and get back on the sidewalk. See, the reason why I bike on the sidewalk is because.. I don't want to get run over by a car. If for some reason I take a spill, or something goes wrong with the bike, I'd rather wipe out on the sidewalk instead of the street right in front of an incoming car... So... to people who tell me I HAVE to bike on the street, I ask you this one question... DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE?!

I ride my bike on both the street and the sidewalk. Depends on my mood and number of cars traveling the street I am on.

Technically, bikes arent supposed to be on sidewalks. Many roads now have bikes lanes, but bikers are supposed to be able to bicycle on the road. That's why they have all those hand signals and such.

You mean to tell me there isn't a bike lane on the street where you bike?DroidPhysX

There's a bike lane for a reason. :x

I'm not a bicyclist but I prefer to see them on the sidewalk. It's really annoying trying to avoid them when you're driving especially on a road that doesn't have a bicycle lane. JML897

[QUOTE="DroidPhysX"]You mean to tell me there isn't a bike lane on the street where you bike?JustPlainLucas

There's a bike lane for a reason. :x

Steameffekt

I'm not a bicyclist but I prefer to see them on the sidewalk. It's really annoying trying to avoid them when you're driving especially on a road that doesn't have a bicycle lane. JML897

If I see a someone riding a bike on a sidewalk, I smile. If I see them riding on the road, but there's no sidewalk, I curse. If I see them riding on the road when there's a sidewalk, I make an example. :P

If you bike on the sidewalk, you're pretty much evil.Allicrombie

If I see a someone riding a bike on a sidewalk, I smile. If I see them riding on the road, but there's no sidewalk, I curse. If I see them riding on the road when there's a sidewalk, I make an example. :P

Legendaryscmt

If you bike on the sidewalk, you're pretty much evil.Allicrombie

I do it when there is no biking lane and when the street I am going through has too many cars.

As a long time biker I tend to stick to the sidewalks as it's not against the laws in Los Angeles County but mainly for reasons of safety as over the years I have been attacked many, many times whilst riding in the side of the road. I consider having bicycles in the road to be such a point of danger for both the rider and an impediment for the driver that if I had my druthers I would make biking on the sidewalk compulsory.

what is worse a bike rider hits some one walking or a car hitting a bike riderkbpyrokb

Go on the road. If the cyclist gets hit, then that's one person injured/killed. If the cyclist hits a pedestrian, it's two people injured/killed.

I bike on the sidewalk. Due to the fact that my area has a bunch of road raging freaks on the roads.

Go on the road. If the cyclist gets hit, then that's one person injured/killed. If the cyclist hits a pedestrian, it's two people injured/killed.

ROFLCOPTER603

I bike on the sidewalk. Due to the fact that my area has a bunch of road raging freaks on the roads.

IBullseye

I feel like it's fine, you just gotta be careful.

I bike on the road and just act like any vehilce i can normally go pretty fast, the city i live in isnt that busy really.

I voted the last one just because it made me lol.Sunsha

I totally agree, apparently the sidewalk is worse but I am terrified when biking on the road. There is absolutely no bike lanes where I live, which is quite a big city.

Depends on how busy the road is, how fast the cars are going and if there's a lot of people on the sidewalk. Generally where I bike the roads aren't that busy and the cars don't go very fast, so biking on the road isn't much of a problem. If there are cars around I prefer to bike on the sidewalk though, it's almost always less crowded and I'm less worried about colliding with a pedestrian than colliding with a car.

No, but even then, a bike lane doesn't provide you with that much safety. Drivers tend to drive too close to the lanes, or cut people off. Overall, the sidewalk is the safest place for a biker. JustPlainLucas

There are so many cyclists here and virtually no bike lanes. It is annoying as they have to legally ride on the road here, and not on footpaths.

It's really dangerous as if I come up to a cyclist, I have to overtake him leaving a metre between my car and the cyclist. However, to do that I have to go into oncoming traffic. It's either risk my life to overtake the rider, or risk a fine (impeding traffic flow) and abuse from other drivers by riding behind a cyclist ... I've had so many near misses from coming around a corner at 95k's an hour (not speeding, doing under the limit) and having to swerve to get between a cyclist and oncoming traffic.

Get bikes off the road I say ...

I don't really mind, I usually just make way for cyclists on the sidewalk.

We can't win. If we go on the roads the cars get angry. If we go on the pavement peds get annoyed. I do a mix of both. Most of the time i'm on the road, but sometimes i come off fora little bit to avoid big junctions and complex stuff that would cause me to feel unsafe or annoy cars.

bikes should be ban, because people get hurt on them, and that drives up healthcare costs.surrealnumber5

Or ban cars, that way everyone can cycle in safety and get fitter doing so and reduce health care costs :P