Why do they do that? Sidewalk bicycling

August 31, 4:53 PMTulsa Alternative Transportation ExaminerEd Wagner

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There's a study from Toronto that states fully 30% of bicycle/motor vehicle collisions involve a bicyclist on a sidewalk or in a cross walk. In Toronto, it's illegal to ride a bicycle on a sidewalk when the bike has wheels greater than 24 inches in diameter. This language can be found in other areas too, as local governments allow children to ride on sidewalks, but try to discourage adults from doing so.

Now, why would they do that?

Wachtel and Lewsiton (ITE Journal, 1994) found that cyclists aged 18 and over going with the flow were 30% more likely to experience an intersection crash on a sidewalk than on a roadway; for cyclists under 18 it was a 20% greater risk. Moritz (Transportation Research Board, 1998) found that experienced cyclists had much higher crash rates when traveling on sidewalks than on roadways or shared use paths in separate rights-of-ways (see Table G). This data did not indicate what percentage of the sidewalk crashes involved cyclists going against the flow, but if we apply the 27% figure from our local data to Moritz’s rate, it drops the sidewalk rate to 344 crashes per million miles, still 13.8 times higher than for Major Streets without Bicycle Facilities and 21.5 times higher than Bike Lanes. Moritz’s exposure rates include all crashes, including those not involving motor vehicles; however, he did split crashes into “Minor” and “Serious,” and the proportions of sidewalk and roadway crashes did not differ significantly between the two groups. Orlando Bicyclist Crash Study

This illustrates the real danger of sidewalk riding, yet many people believe they're safer on a sidewalk. Most municipalities prohibit sidewalk riding in the downtown area, and some restrict the practice to children. Yet people persist in riding on sidewalks. Here are some common problems:

• Most crashes occur at intersections, and when you look at a sidewalk, every doorway, driveway, and ramp onto the road is another intersection.
• On a sidewalk where cycling is permitted, cyclists must yield to pedestrians. Some places require a cyclist to give an audible notice when overtaking. A bell is a good choice, as is "Passing on your left!" Be aware that pedestrians can change direction in the space of a single step, so be alert when overtaking and keep your speed low.
• Loose dogs are a problem everywhere, but on a sidewalk you may be within biting distance even when a dog is on a leash.
• Children's movements are unpredictable whether they're walking or riding. They have poor awareness of overtaking bicycle riders, so be vigilant around them.
• Every driveway is another intersection. Every doorway and intersecting sidewalk offers another opportunity for conflicts with other traffic, whether that's another cyclist, a pedestrian, or a motor vehicle. When we multiply the intersections, we multiply those opportunities.
• Finally, one of the worst practices is to ride the wrong-way on the sidewalk. "Oh, but I can see the cars coming!" the inexperienced cyclist thinks. Here's the hazard - drivers simply do not see you. As drivers, we're conditioned to scan for potential traffic conflicts coming from particular directions. Unlike a camera, our eyes do not record everything in the visual field. Seeing requires that our brains process that visual information, and in doing so, it disregards anything irrelevant. Cyclists coming from the wrong direction on a sidewalk are irrelevant, because our conditioning does not expect vehicles (or sometimes even pedestrians) coming from that direction. "He looked right at me and pulled out in front of me!" Yes, he looked, but he didn't see.

At Least 64.1% of All Bicyclist-Motorist Crashes Involved an Unsafe Choice on the Part of the Bicyclist
Unsafe choices include basic violations of traffic laws such as cycling on the roadway against traffic, violating stop signs and red lights, failing to yield when entering the roadway, driving while intoxicated, and not using lights at night. They also include cycling on the sidewalk against the flow of traffic. This last behavior is not illegal, but it increases the cyclist’s crash risk at least threefold over traveling with the flow. Cyclists driving against the flow of traffic place themselves outside the normal scanning patterns of motorists and are particularly susceptible to crashes at intersection and driveway crossings.  Orlando Bicyclist Crash Study

If there's a common theme here, it's this - cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles. In a nutshell, that means we reduce our risks by adhering to the same rules of the road as any other drivers.