Many people don't like it when people ride bikes on the sidewalk, and say they should ride on the road instead. The law generally supports this.
But what about children?
Obviously, no one would think it's reasonable to have a four-year-old on training wheels, or a six-year-old who's just got her training wheels off, riding on the street, and only the crummiest curmudgeon would begrudge them use of the sidewalk. And obviously a 16-year-old should be on the road just like an adult, and if they were on the sidewalk everyone would go into Kids These Days mode.
But where's the dividing line?
I seem to recall that I was riding solo on residential side streets at the age of 10 or so, but I don't know when I started learning. I've never been fully comfortable with busier streets, although riding on the sidewalks of those streets would be terribly inconsiderate because the sidewalks are equally busy. (Unless you're in, like, Meadowlands, and then there's no one on the sidewalks anyway. But the SUVs would probably yell at you to get a car, because they're so threatened by non-cars. But I digress.)
Personally, I have felt threatened by way more cars while biking on the street than by bikes while walking on the sidewalk, so I have no problem with people biking on the sidewalk - so I'm inclined to lean in the direction of staying on the sidewalk for longer. But at what age does conventional wisdom imbue people with the responsibility of biking on the road at all times?
2 comments:
Or you can lobby your councillor to have bicycle lanes installed as much as possible. Everybody thought it was a dumb idea when I first proposed it, what 27 years ago here in Ottawa...and now, it is really common. All new construction has bicycle lanes built into it, and traffic calming has eased the pressure. There are also many bike trails which get you to where you are going, complete with lanes, stop signs and the whole bit.
Don't expect it to happen over night. Expect to write often, and get little to no feedback. But DO it. Heck, it was only 25 years ago that they started putting sewer grates on sideways so that the tires didn't catch in them!
Nah, I'm just pondering it from a theoretical perspective. I don't actually enjoy biking, it just was practical in my previous life. Now the subway goes everywhere I need to go, door to door practically, and I can read on the way, so if all goes well I'll never ride a bike again in my life.
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