Sometimes those bike lanes just end too, and you end up on a road like that. Say a prayer and go for it. It's like Lord of the Rings when they get to the evil forest, and its a choice of pushing straight through, or going 100 miles north or south to detour.
@GeniUs you came to this conclusion bc you're not a very bright person. There is significantly less potential for serious injury and death with cyclists on sidewalks instead of on busy streets with no dedicated bike lanes
@LeahLovee At least here within a residential area you can't drive faster than 50km/h (30mi/h), usually the limit is much lower like 30km/h.
I can cycle at both those speeds (of course, I can't maintain 50km/h for long; but 30km/h is absolutely doable), so what's the difference? Do car drivers have some unwritten additional privileges, or?
@Elessar the rule here is aged 12 and under are allowed on the sidewalk, which allows for plenty of kids that have long ditched the training wheels to go a normal cycling speeds instead of having parents walk behind them(not a 3mph pace). In practice, it's only enforced in busy downtown areas so it doesn't even matter to people anywhere else bc cops aren't going to waste their time enforcing nonsense rules
It's typically 1.0s before you see something and you slam on the brake pedal
Precisely why it's completely on the cyclist to not jump out at intersections. Yes, it means coming to a stop at intersections/crosswalks and killing one's momentum, something that entitled cyclists across this city and elsewhere balk at doing until they get sent over a hood or dragged under tires.
That's a tragic story regarding that old lady. Regardless, there's many times less potential for serious injury and death with two objects in similar weight colliding vs one object weighing several thousand pounds hitting a person. There's many times more cyclists dying regularly by cars on streets than anyone else dying from cyclists on sidewalks and it's not even close.
I'm not gambling my own life on other's people self preservation instinct because it's almost nil for too many.
But you'll gamble it by cycling on a road with no bike lane, amongst cars setting a pace that you can't keep up with, with drivers who might not see you or be paying attention
@Elessar literally right in front of me rn, two kids and a grown adult, moving at a completely unproblematic pace on a sidewalk
I'd rather people regardless of age take it to the sidewalk instead of thinking that going on the street is a bright idea. I'm not interested in sharing a lane with a semi truck or having cars zoom by me
@deadgerbil As far as I know there's only the 6km/h rule here. But the slowest user (pedestrians) are generally the ones that win a dispute in case of accidents, so it's risky still.
True about the intersections, but on a sidewalk there's even more of those (indeed: alleys, houses, garages, etc.), and consequently a higher chance of accidents. You trade a lower risk of crashing on something bigger than you (and not always, chances of smashing on a car leaving a garage/home aren't nil) for a higher chance of crashing in general, essentially. Also, pedestrians aren't the only risk on those.
I'm generally on the road, very close to the line that delimits the rightmost side of the lane. Cars can easily overtake me, if it's something bigger (a truck, a bus, a semi) I'll temporarily go right of the line until they pass: I've never slowed anyone down, nor felt at risk of being run over. If we manage to make it work on roads where typically there's a single lane per direction, it should be no brainers making it work in roads that have multiple lanes: they can use the second lane for overtaking safely instead of expecting the bike riders to be second class citizens.
Plus, short of cycling only within the perimeter of your own town/city, at some point you'll have to be in some high speed, no sidewalks roads. And even there, right side of the line until I find the first access to a secondary / non trafficked parallel road / path.
Agreed that risk zero doesn't exist, but if so, I won't take the option that'll also make me liable for the damage.
