people more often ride against traffic on the sidewalk than on the road
There may also be a case of taking the sidewalknis done on my risky roads, that is difficult to control for.
In my case I ride one section against the road on the sidewalk because the alternative is to cross a road of 80kph+ traffic twice in 600m with a toddler. In the other direction we ride on the road because we don’t have to cross it, and the traffic is usually only doing 10 kph.
It’s situational surely, and I think an experienced cyclist knows when to take the sidewalk. But an experience cyclist also needs to know that sidewalks ARE NOT SAFE, they are just a less unsafe alternative when road conditions become intolerably unsafe, and they need to use even more caution than they normally do on the road when they take that option.
I agree, I’m just curious if you see more sidewalk riding because the roads are so unsafe, thus making the adjacent sidewalks unsafe, thus making sidewalks appear more unsafe than they really are.
It’s not an easy factor to tease out of the data; and frankly it’s a discussion that should be avoided because it pits cyclists and pedestrians into discussion about the sliver of space left over when tons is already given to motorists.
There may also be a case of taking the sidewalknis done on my risky roads, that is difficult to control for.
In my case I ride one section against the road on the sidewalk because the alternative is to cross a road of 80kph+ traffic twice in 600m with a toddler. In the other direction we ride on the road because we don’t have to cross it, and the traffic is usually only doing 10 kph.
It’s situational surely, and I think an experienced cyclist knows when to take the sidewalk. But an experience cyclist also needs to know that sidewalks ARE NOT SAFE, they are just a less unsafe alternative when road conditions become intolerably unsafe, and they need to use even more caution than they normally do on the road when they take that option.
I agree, I’m just curious if you see more sidewalk riding because the roads are so unsafe, thus making the adjacent sidewalks unsafe, thus making sidewalks appear more unsafe than they really are.
It’s not an easy factor to tease out of the data; and frankly it’s a discussion that should be avoided because it pits cyclists and pedestrians into discussion about the sliver of space left over when tons is already given to motorists.