I’m sorry, I’ll be riding my bike on the side walk. I promise not to race by you pedestrians, I will slow down and give you lots of room. I promise not to shoot through cross walks at the speed of light. I will be a pedestrian with wheels attached. Suck it up and deal already! My tiny self on my bike will not be killing anyone soon. I just can’t trust those fucktard drivers out there who seem to think roads belong to motorized vehicles only.
—Scared to death of traffic
This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2009.
Sorry OP but “a pedestrian with wheels” ain’t no pedestrian both by definition and the MVA. Riding on the sidewalk, no matter how carefully, does however make you a douche! Congrats
i agree with lovehatehalifax, though i also agree with OP, sometimes it is rather scary riding out there. i know, im a rider myself. however, not to be a douche, just cause the drivers are, i follow the rules as they apply to me.
fuck what you guys think, if the OP feels safer riding on the sidewalk, then do it, just don’t be an A-hole and be careful of pedestrians. As well, call and check out on the rules for riding on sidewalks because I seriously did see information regarding it on CTV news, and it seems as long as your bike wheels are a certain size i.e, not those ultra thin wheels used for bikes specifically built for speed…then you can…but maybe thats just in Toronto or something, I don’t know…but if you did ever get grief from riding on the sidewalks, then take it to court, tell the fuckers there that your safety is your number one priority, and if the city doesn’t want to provide a safe area for bikes to travel on, then you are sticking to the sidewalks and will be mindful of the pedestrians in doing so.
I hate people riding bikes on sidewalks, but it’s always for the reasons the OP mentioned. If everyone was as courteous as this person claims they will be, I would have no problems.
However, OP, wait until you get behind a few trios of 75 year old women, walking side by side at sub-human speeds. It won’t be long until you’ll be cursing slow walkers and envisioning yourself racing past them at terrifying speeds. At that point (and it will happen), you should really consider moving up and playing with the big kids.
By your rational, I can drive my car on the side walk because, I do not trust those other drivers.
Rafiki, I think the difference here is that your car weighs a lot more and is a lot more threatening then someone on a bike traveling at jogging speed. But thanks for the input!
I think it just goes back to the other argument, people need to be considerate if they are riding a bike, and if they are driving a car. And yes salizar, a car does a little bit more damage than a bike, not to mention, I really doubt a car would fit on a sidewalk
Remove the saddle and shove the pole up your hole
Just don’t complain if a real pedestrian clotheslines you when you’re biking on the sidewalk.
I think this argument has been going on long enough to conclude that when you are on a bike A) if you ride on a bike you will piss of motorists and B) if you ride on a sidewalk you will piss of pedestrians.
The world is full of assholes like basil there, as long as when you are on a bike and you are being considerate of all parties and not acting like one of the assholes, fuck what everyone else says.
This is the problem we have people who want to be both pedestrians and a motorist and it doesn’t work that way. You want to be on the sidewalk then get of the fucking bike. If you want to be a motorist then drive on the road and OBEY the rules of the road. In my opinion OP is the problem. OBEY THE RULES or you’ll only end uo pissing someone off. If you don’t feel comfortale driving your bike on the road then get off your bike and walk. If you run down a pedestrian they won’t care that you didn’t fee comfortable on the road.
If you choose to ride your bike on the sidewalk, you will be fined. It happened to a friend of mine, who normally rides on the street. However, while riding downtown one day he was nearly run over by a large truck, and rode his bike up onto the sidewalk to escape. He was promptly fined by one of HRM’s finest.
This city is far from being bicycle friendly, but rather than attempting to ride on the sidewalk or bitching about it online, why not get involved with those trying to enact some change?
The only real time I mind bikes on the sidewalk is when it’s some punk who pays no mind to the walkers, drives straight through a crowd of people walking. These same fools would be the ones getting hit by cars. I will share the sidewalk gladly if the bikers will share back. On the road the bike is the weaker one, on the sidewalk the walkers are. I figure if a motorized scooter/wheelchair can drive on the sidewalk then a bike can. Any age so long as the person is responsible. Been thinking alot about this since the helmet discussion.
You ride your bike on the piece of sidewalk I’m walking on, and you’ll learn what made Dick “Night Train” Lane famous on the old NFL: the clothesline.
Stay off the goddam sidewalk, moron. It’s not called a “sidestreet”.
I ride on the sidewalks for the same reason(there is no fucking way I’m sharing the Forest Hills Parkway with cars). If there’s a lot of people on the sidewalk, I just hop off and walk with my bike. I’m still moving!
This very afternoon we’re driving along in rush hour traffic. The drivers are all aware of each other but the 3 guys all wearing helmets and riding single file on the shoulder of the highway were aware of themselves and nothing more. Sure, they use hand signals and are following the traffic rules BUT… these idiots breeze past all this stopped traffic not realizing that the drivers have made a gap for left turning cars. If all 3 of the bikers hadn’t also turned down that street all three of them would have been taken out by one car given the right-of-way by the stopped traffic. Sure, stay on the sidewalk but be sure you’re going 5kph and not 35 like these idiots… oh and watch out for those nasty bylaw police looking out for the kiddies and pedestrians who belong on that sidewalk… complain to your MP, make a difference for yourselves, bikers.
Has anyone seen the cops ride their bikes all last summer?
The bike cops are around. I see them in the mornings handing out tickets to desperadoes making illegal left turns that are only illegal between 7AM and 9AM. There’s justice for you. But it makes a buck for revenue-crazed HRM.
start an organization of people who are pro-bike road riding. DO something about it, it might take awhile, but at least it’s something. And if the city dear say it’s money that stops them, cut a deal with them, say hey, we will organize this much money if you put in the rest….those are just quick thoughts and don’t know if they would work, but just stop bitching and DO something.
FYI: If anyone is into meeting fellow cyclists and taking over the road, Critical Mass meets on the last Friday of every month in Victoria Park to go for a ride. It’s basically just for fun, but there are those involved that are politically motivated and attempting to raise some awareness of bicycle-related issues. Regardless of your motivation, I can tell you it feels pretty awesome to take over the flow of traffic with a massive crew of cyclists.
Nowhere near as awesome as when they scatter like mice when I blast through them with my diesel-spewing truck… idiots.
Congratulations on being a douchebag, Keith. I hope you and your unjustified arrogance are very happy together.
Keith, make a fucking choice, you intolerant fuck. Where do you think bicycles belong? You’ll attack them on the sidewalk AND on the road?Just because you don’t ride a bicycle does not mean they get banished from both places.
This is a multiple-choice question…A or B, dumbass.
@ no dogma, pehaps the critcal mass riders should make a choice, Share the road? or take it over entirley?
My comment had nothing to do with law-abiding cyclists. It was to do with this:
“…there are those involved that are politically motivated and attempting to raise some awareness of bicycle-related issues. Regardless of your motivation, I can tell you it feels pretty awesome to take over the flow of traffic with a massive crew of cyclists.”
You get that? “Politically motivated” and “take over the flow of traffic”. You ever seen these clowns? They are a traffic hazard and act like a bunch of asshole lemmings. Sharing the road isn’t what they have in mind. So I follow their lead and also refuse to share.
No, Keith, I have never seen “these clowns”. I have only ever heard of Critical Mass as bicyclists who ride in groups. If you are suggesting they also ride illegally (and after checking Wikipedia it seems SOME of them do) then fine…they are clowns. That would make you not an intolerant fuck but just someone with anger issues.
I mean “blasting through them”…? Do I really need to give the ‘two wrongs’ spiel?
By the way, ‘taking over the flow of traffic’ could simply mean trying to outnumber cars for a short burst, and there is nothing inherently wrong with anything just because it is politically motivated. …but if it means disobeying traffic laws, then that’s a different story.