cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13118199

(Title shamelessly stolen from this comment in the crossposted !micromobility thread.)

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[–] 67 points 2 years ago (3 children)

People ride on the sidewalks for a simple reason: the roads do not feel safe enough for riding for them, because there are car drivers there behaving in a manner lethal to non-car drivers (and other drivers too fwiw).

All solutions begin with taking the lethal actor out of the equation. Anything else is needless victim blaming and can be dismissed without any more discussion.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    I used to cycle on the sidewalk, but my town started enforcing cycling in the bicycle gutter instead. I did that for a while, but then I got hit and run by a car. As a 16 year old. I don't ride my bike anymore unless it's a trail or something.

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  • [+] -2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    This is demonstrably dangerous at any kind of lot entry or any time cars can traverse the sidewalk path, because there should not be vehicle traffic moving in a different direction.

    It depends on the sidewalks. They should be on a different grade, and separated from the road by some distance. Although part of the problem is that SUVs jump kerbs more easily, and this type of "car" has become dominant in recent years.

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  • [+] 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    All of these issues are systemic issues and a failure of infrastructure. It's fine on an individual level to say that riding on footpaths isn't ideal, but ultimately people are going to do it no matter how much you call them out for it, if they feel it's the safer option than riding on the road. So if you don't give people a safe option to ride their bikes, then they are going to have to pick between multiple unsafe options, which is not ideal when you are trying to drive an uptake in cycling. And the most important way to make cycling and walking safer, is to increase their popularity, because it means there are less cars, and cars are a much more serious threat to pedestrians.

    Anyway, we are probably talking past each other a bit. I think that in the end you are talking about sensible individual choices (which is fine), but I feel that the majority of efforts and discussion need to be directed at governments if we want to make cycling so safe that even a 5 year can ride around unsupervised.

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