Don’t Ride Your Bike on the Sidewalk (A Public Service Announcement)

Yesterday saw a dad with trailer in tow on the sidewalk (presumably b/c the bike lane is “unsafe” i.e. near cars). I’m thinking to myself: “drivers won’t be looking for him and they sure won’t see that trailer.”

He’s riding parallel to me about 80-100 feet ahead and I’m trying to think of a non-nagging way to tell him to get off the sidewalk with his Inviso-Trailer and out where cars will see him.

As these thoughts pass through my skull he damn near t-bones a car pulling through a right turn — only quick brake work on his part saved his neck. Lucky for his kid that car wasn’t 1 second slower. And lucky for me that I didn’t have to tell him to get off the dang sidewalk.

The moral of the story

Don’t. Ride. Your. Bike. On. The. Sidewalk. I know it seems safer because you aren’t right next to the cars. But it’s actually more dangerous for exactly that reason.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled Internets.