Bikes on sidewalks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bicyclists can’t ever win with non-bicyclists. We don’t want them on our roads or our sidewalks, but they’ve got to ride somewhere.

If you’re on the sidewalk you need to yield to pedestrians. That might mean stopping sometimes vs ringing your bell and riding straight at them. As long as you understand that you are fine.

God forbid a cyclist actually stop though - you'd think it's damn near impossible for them.

I'm so damn tired of people riding bikes on sidewalks - even when there's an actual bike lane dedicated to them! On mixed use trails, they rarely yield to pedestrians, and try to weave in between them.

And then they blow through stop signs and lights, not yielding to pedestrians crossing with the right of way.

F cyclists. I hate 99% of them.

And quit using high beams and flashing strobe lights in the early morning - are you trying to blind people? Because you sure as hell aren't trying to increase your visibility.

Mixed use trails = we bicyclists have as much right to use the trails as
You do.

So STFU about trails. We paid for those trails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bicyclists can’t ever win with non-bicyclists. We don’t want them on our roads or our sidewalks, but they’ve got to ride somewhere.

If you’re on the sidewalk you need to yield to pedestrians. That might mean stopping sometimes vs ringing your bell and riding straight at them. As long as you understand that you are fine.

God forbid a cyclist actually stop though - you'd think it's damn near impossible for them.

I'm so damn tired of people riding bikes on sidewalks - even when there's an actual bike lane dedicated to them! On mixed use trails, they rarely yield to pedestrians, and try to weave in between them.

And then they blow through stop signs and lights, not yielding to pedestrians crossing with the right of way.

F cyclists. I hate 99% of them.

And quit using high beams and flashing strobe lights in the early morning - are you trying to blind people? Because you sure as hell aren't trying to increase your visibility.

Mixed use trails = we bicyclists have as much right to use the trails as
You do.

So STFU about trails. We paid for those trails.

Stop giving us bicyclists a bad name, dirt bag. Share the trails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bicyclists can’t ever win with non-bicyclists. We don’t want them on our roads or our sidewalks, but they’ve got to ride somewhere.

If you’re on the sidewalk you need to yield to pedestrians. That might mean stopping sometimes vs ringing your bell and riding straight at them. As long as you understand that you are fine.

God forbid a cyclist actually stop though - you'd think it's damn near impossible for them.

I'm so damn tired of people riding bikes on sidewalks - even when there's an actual bike lane dedicated to them! On mixed use trails, they rarely yield to pedestrians, and try to weave in between them.

And then they blow through stop signs and lights, not yielding to pedestrians crossing with the right of way.

F cyclists. I hate 99% of them.

And quit using high beams and flashing strobe lights in the early morning - are you trying to blind people? Because you sure as hell aren't trying to increase your visibility.

Mixed use trails = we bicyclists have as much right to use the trails as
You do.

So STFU about trails. We paid for those trails.

You have as much right to use it - you do not have the right to be unsafe, or have shatty etiquette. Don't thread the needle. Slow down, obey the speed limits (mixed use trails), and yield to pedestrians.

Do you want people to stray into your cycling path? If not, stop using absurd blinking/bright lights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's a mountain bike they can go on the grass so you wouldn't have to move. The problem is you don't know if you should jump out of the way or stay put.

Just walk on the right hand side of the path rather than in the middle or side-by-side another walker.

I "take the lane" on trails, because it's safer - cycling aholes are less likely to thread the needle. As long as my entire body is in the right half, it doesn't matter if I'm all the way to the right or not. I care about my safety - I do not care if you have to slow down your ride or even stop completely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was hit from behind by a bicyclist once when I was walking on a sidewalk in Old Town Alexandria. She knocked me down, tearing my clothing and cutting open my knee.

She laughed - literally laughed - and kept going. I have loathed bicyclists on sidewalks ever since.

This is why adults riding bikes need to register their bikes with a license plate attached on back. Too many don’t follow the rules of the road like stopping at red lights. They don’t always stop when they cause damage or bodily harm. At least with a license plate on the back of the bike a person can write down the number.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh boy... getting popcorn... waiting for the hard-core Bicyclist rights people to attack in full force. They are even more fanatical than "the angry left lane of the road is only for passing" mob.

Shouldn't be controversial. Most sidewalks have room for both, if bicyclists are considerate and pedestrians are aware.

So by 'aware' you mean have eyes in the back of our head so we can see you coming by? I always liok around to be 'aware' but 9 tines out 10 a biker or scooter will whiz by me by inches having never said anything.

And how many times have they hit you? What’s that? Never? STFD.

Oh, oh. A defensive bike rider. Who could have predicted that!

People get hit all the time by bikers. Where do you live?

How many time have YOU, personally, been hit by someone on a bike? You can answer, we all know it’s zero and you just want to complain about something.

I have to share the space with you ash0lws and doge you hitting me every day. I don’t have to wait until I’m hit or killed by one of you to earn the right to complain.

[Anonymous]

Trail-walkers with earbuds are the worst!

Why are you even on a woods trail if you insist on blasting music right into your eardrum?

Just stay home and use your treadmill if audio/visual is that crucial to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was hit from behind by a bicyclist once when I was walking on a sidewalk in Old Town Alexandria. She knocked me down, tearing my clothing and cutting open my knee.

She laughed - literally laughed - and kept going. I have loathed bicyclists on sidewalks ever since.

This is why adults riding bikes need to register their bikes with a license plate attached on back. Too many don’t follow the rules of the road like stopping at red lights. They don’t always stop when they cause damage or bodily harm. At least with a license plate on the back of the bike a person can write down the number.

Or just ban bicycles / e-bikes altogether !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh boy... getting popcorn... waiting for the hard-core Bicyclist rights people to attack in full force. They are even more fanatical than "the angry left lane of the road is only for passing" mob.

Shouldn't be controversial. Most sidewalks have room for both, if bicyclists are considerate and pedestrians are aware.

So by 'aware' you mean have eyes in the back of our head so we can see you coming by? I always liok around to be 'aware' but 9 tines out 10 a biker or scooter will whiz by me by inches having never said anything.

A considerate bicyclist wouldn't do that, and you sound like an aware pedestrian, but most pedestrians are not.

You and I would do well passing each on the sidewalk—I would slow down and alert you, you would be aware that you can't just wander everywhere.

I mean, these problems are not just rider-walker issues—people ambling around, obliviously wandering back and forth are a bane to joggers, and as a bicyclist who does not tear around at top speed, I also am surprised and brushed aside by inconsiderate bicyclists flying past me.

My point is that this problem shouldn't be that hard to deal with—if more pedestrians did what you do, and more bicyclists did what I do, we wouldn't have anything to complain about.

Well there it is

[Anonymous]

I'm more concerned about mopeds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:illegal everywhere

Sadly, it is legal in most of DC. In every other city I've ever lived in (proper metropolises in the US and Europe), sidewalk cycling is illegal.

I think it is a vestige of DC's decades of decline, when sidewalks were empty. The city dropped from ~800k residents in 1950 to ~500k in 1985 (or something). A DC whose sidewalks are filling back up should not allow cyclists to scatter pedestrians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:illegal everywhere

Sadly, it is legal in most of DC. In every other city I've ever lived in (proper metropolises in the US and Europe), sidewalk cycling is illegal.

I think it is a vestige of DC's decades of decline, when sidewalks were empty. The city dropped from ~800k residents in 1950 to ~500k in 1985 (or something). A DC whose sidewalks are filling back up should not allow cyclists to scatter pedestrians.

No, it's a vestige of DC's murderous drivers. It's been considered and revised in recent years, it's very intentional. It's permitted outside of the downtown area in places where there are not tons of pedestrians. But bicyclists are also encouraged to use the street when possible and safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bicyclists can’t ever win with non-bicyclists. We don’t want them on our roads or our sidewalks, but they’ve got to ride somewhere.

Do they though? Do they have to?

Are you suggesting we ban bicycles?

Bikes can’t win in DC. Not enough bike lanes to be actually bikeable everywhere, sidewalks are often narrow and crowded and you have to work around pedestrians. After years of living here I’ve just accepted it’s not the most bike friendly places, especially if you are anywhere in a suburb even a close in one like Moco.

[Anonymous]

As usual, the polluting, destructive, fatally dangerous car lobby is putting biking and walking against each other to distract from the real problem: too much of our land is dedicated to cars, squeezing the rest of us on top of each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:illegal everywhere

Sadly, it is legal in most of DC. In every other city I've ever lived in (proper metropolises in the US and Europe), sidewalk cycling is illegal.

I think it is a vestige of DC's decades of decline, when sidewalks were empty. The city dropped from ~800k residents in 1950 to ~500k in 1985 (or something). A DC whose sidewalks are filling back up should not allow cyclists to scatter pedestrians.

No, it's a vestige of DC's murderous drivers. It's been considered and revised in recent years, it's very intentional. It's permitted outside of the downtown area in places where there are not tons of pedestrians. But bicyclists are also encouraged to use the street when possible and safe.

So the biker's solution is to say "screw the pedestrians and the law, I need to ride my bike no matter what!!!"?