Dealing with adult sidewalk riders: What is to be done?

There have already a couple of interesting discussions on this topic here. But one obvious question remains: What can we do about the problem of sidewalk riders?

Some have already suggested informal, individual ways of dealing with the problem, e.g. calling them out, not moving out of their way, telling them its illegal, etc. I myself employ most of these on a regular basis, but individual solutions aren't cutting it.

This is a serious problem. For starters, it's dangerous for pedestrians (and for the bikers too, incidentally). It's also frustrating for other bikers, who frequently have no idea what a sidewalk rider will do next (e.g. will they swerve out onto the street, then back to the side walk... will they cut in front of you when you have a green light accross the crosswalk? who knows...).

The problem is largely one of education, I think. Of course, there will always be that jerk that rides on the sidewalk anyway and yells "exSCUZE ME!" when you're trying to walk. But I think that 3/4 of sidewalk riders just don't know that its illegal, unsafe, and not the way to ride a bike in the city.

Any ideas about how to address this problem? Obviously this city has far larger fish to fry (e.g. fighting the punishing service cuts to CTA, school closings, layoffs of teachers and bus-drivers, TIFs, the deportation of fellow Chicagoans, etc., etc.). But this is still a problem that needs solving.

Any ideas?

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Permalink Reply by tzizzle on July 31, 2010 at 9:44am
I think this seriously misses the mark. First of all, sidewalk riding is ILLEGAL. And, I might add, it's illegal for a reason: It's dangerous. In point of fact, I had a friend that was hit by a sidewalk rider walking from a patio yesterday: this is not where bikes belong, and its not safe for biker or pedestrian.

First of all, bullying around pedestrians on a sidewalk is to treat people walking in the same way that jerk cars treat cyclists. Seniors should not have to worry that someone will take them out simply because they are too lazy to bother to learn the rules of the road.

Second, biking in Chicago is very safe. I just biked from Edgewater down to the near north side and back and had bike lanes the entire way. Riding on the sidewalk would have been impossible, dangerous for me, slow, and dangerous for pedestrians.

If you're too timid to ride on the relatively safe streets of chicago, stick to walking or taking CTA. I'm sure that riding a motorcycle has its risks, but it's not as though riding a motorcycle on the sidewalk is the answer. Just think about that argument for a second and you'll see that it is no more convincing than your own.

Cities are complex places with people going in lots of different directions in a relatively small space. We need to be able to coordinate our actions with respect to other people, and that requires that people follow enough traffic conventions that we can predict what they'll do. Sidewalk riders don't follow any rules, and nearly maim pedestrians in the process. This needs to end.

I agree with what some have said about educating car drivers. In fact, I'll concede that this should be the priority in terms of education. But sidewalk riders aren't doing us any favors. Cars need to know that they share the streets with cyclists, and they'll never learn anything if people barrel down sidewalks maiming children and the elderly because they can't be bothered to look at a map and determine where the bike routes are.

H3N3 said:
Maybe talk to them and find out why they ride on the sidewalk?
And-- if a cyclist takes to the street directly because you implored them to, and they get killed by a distracted or reckless or aggressive driver-- will you accept responsibility for their death? Before you push these indivduals out into the street it would be nice if our streets were less deadly places to bicycle.
Permalink Reply by tzizzle on July 31, 2010 at 9:49am
I like this idea. Lack of education is, it seems to me, the main cause of sidewalk riding. The city of chicago bike brochure with maps of bike routes actually has some really good info- but I would guess that very few people actually have a copy, and even fewer read it.

What if it were a requirement of getting a drivers license that one demonstrate pretty basic knowledge of how to ride a bike in a city? Or what if there were a campaign to force Chicago colleges to incorporate good bike behavior into their Freshman orientations?

Ideas?

bicycle_poet said:
There is certainly a lot of room for improvement in good biking behaviors from the cyclists in Chicago. Sidewalk bikers are only one of the symptoms that stems from a tremendous growth our city has seen over the past decade in uninformed, new cyclists.

Where do Chicago's new cyclists learn appropriate cycling behavior? The answer is: most don't -- until maybe they are lucky enough to ride with more experienced riders who can demonstrate good behavior.

If we want to reduce sidewalk biking, headphone biking, and other poor biking practices we all see everyday, we need to establish an education campaign that takes this on full force.
Permalink Reply by tzizzle on July 31, 2010 at 9:57am
I think you're confusing the issue. I agree with you that cars suck. If I had my druthers, there simply wouldn't be any more of them on the face of the earth. (see this).

But we're not talking about cars, we're talking about sidewalk riders.

And yes, sidewalk riding is dangerous. Pedestrians feel bullied in just same way that they do when cars don't yield for them. Moreover- cars, pedestrians and bikers frequently aren't expecting to see sidewalk riders, PRECISELY because they're NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE. Again, coordinating our actions in urban transit with other people requires that we have some idea what they'll do next. Sidewalk riders, flaunting every convention in the book, are unpredictable, and hence dangerous. And getting hit by a biker going at full speed can break your femur no problem. Of course cars are worse- but that's irrelevant. We want safe, walkable sidewalks, not ones that merely paralyze you rather than killing you.

Finally, all things considered, drivers in Chicago are about the best there are at present. This doesn't mean that they're great. Whether or not they like bikers, they are really used to seeing them on the road, and there are just so many of us they basically have been forced to adapt. Most cars don't give me hard time, and most of them allow me to merge when someone is parallel parking, etc.

Dan Korn said:
You say that it's dangerous, but do you have any evidence to back up that assertion?

Every single week, on average, one pedestrian is killed in the City of Chicago. Not by bikes, but by cars.

And not just on the streets, but on the sidewalks too, and even in buildings:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2518174,taxi-crash-downtown-7-ele...
http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/loop-crash-eight-people-...

Find me one instance of a pedestrian killed by a cyclist on a sidewalk in the last ten years and I'll eat my handlebars.

People love to rail against cyclists with all sorts of anecdotal stories about how they "almost" got hit by a bike, how they "could have" gotten injured or killed, how they are so annoyed about "reckless" cyclists. These stories are nothing but a shell of sensationalism with nothing at all substantive inside. It's bad enough to hear people dredge up this tired old BS to defend their own terrible driving habits in a pathetic attempt to somehow dilute the blame for all the automobile-related carnage on our roads. It's even worse when we do it ourselves.

Cyclists riding on sidewalks isn't a problem that needs solving at all. Please redirect your activism towards something that will actually save lives. Either that, or go yell at people for littering, because that does more damage than sidewalk-riding cyclists.
Permalink Reply by tzizzle on July 31, 2010 at 10:31am
That's really cute.

But your group description doesn't describe sidewalk-riders, it describes normal cyclists who sometimes ride on the sidewalk when they have no other choice.

The problem isn't normal cyclists who make an exception and ride on the sidewalk for brief periods when our infrastructure gives them no other choice.

The problem is when people make sidewalk riding a rule rather than a rare exception.

I've ridden my bike all over this city- all over the north side, in the loop, all over the south side, etc. Thursday I rode from Uptown to Little Village and back. I can't even think of a time recently when I had no other choice but to ride on the sidewalk. Not even when riding in River North or the West Loop. I know there are places in town that are bike un-friendly, and that sucks and we should fight to change it. But by and large- sidewalking should be really rare. Unfortunately, there are jerks who ride on the sidewalk on streets like Halsted and Damen... This makes 0% sense.

I'm carless and I plan to stay that way for the rest of my life. But I don't think there's anything wrong with calling out our fellow cycling comrades and asking that they help us start displacing cars on the street, rather than bullying pedestrians on sidewalks for no good reason.
Permalink Reply by Barbra Mann on July 31, 2010 at 11:21am
So you are telling me that from Kingsbury to Ashland on North Avenue I SHOULDN'T ride on the sidewalk with 15-20 lbs of groceries on my bike? Ummm, not gonna listen to you. Pedestrians can just deal with my polite announcements of my presence and move over a bit as I slowly and carefully pass them. Most pedestrians don't mind one bit and return my smile and appreciate my 'thank-you".
Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on July 31, 2010 at 11:26am
I used to ride on the sidewalk with groceries there myself when I lived on Pierce and Ashland; that's a perfect example of perfectly fine sidewalk riding. There's also a stretch of Roosevelt where I'll go on the sidewalk to get over to Whole Foods. No bike lane with cars going 35+ on either side of me and frequently cutting through the lane without signaling for me, thanks.

Spots like that are really pretty rare, and most sidewalk riding isn't done by parents shepherding children or in areas where it's actually unsafe to be on the road. I see a ridiculous number of U of C students cruising around on sidewalks, bullying children and old people out of the way. In Hyde Park! Of all places! That's the sort of thing that should just be made socially unacceptable.
Permalink Reply by Brendan Finucane on July 31, 2010 at 2:41pm
Bmx cyclists are another consideration.

I ride a bmx and also a road bike, and feel *much* more comfortable on the street on my road bike than on my bmx. Also, I feel more comfortable on the sidewalk navigating occasional pedestrians on a bmx then I do when I take my roadbike on the sidewalk. Why?

Roadbike:
1) Easier to maintain higher speed.
2) Difference between my own speed and automotive traffic not too great.
3) Less hairpin maneuverability.

Bmx:
1) Slower.
2) More maneuverable when there are pedestrians.
3) Feel bad in bike lane forcing passing cyclists out into traffic.
4) Easier to cushion sidewalk shocks by standing up.

An interesting side note is that while living in Osaka, Japan, which has an enormously high population (and pedestrian) density, I noticed that the majority of cyclists ride bikes with smaller wheels, more similar to bmx bikes. What's more, in my 2 years there, I rarely saw cyclists on the street. Those videos on youtube of fixed gear riders on the streets of Tokyo represent a tiny proportion of riders. It's just accepted there that sidewalks are for pedestrians *and* cyclists.
Permalink Reply by igz on July 31, 2010 at 4:30pm
whereas i dont subscribe to riding a sidewalk...this make sense.

so, lets revisit...

a stretch like North ave between ashland and kingsbury...hardly any pedestrians...a bit of an industrial corridor with few retailers. Stanleys attracts a few folks, Exit late at night, and the occasional guy walkin thru. that kind of scenario, really seems to be acceptable to ride on sidewalk. ( i do it every time...esp on the brige going east. and ESP going under the expressway)

but try the same on the other extreme...a sidewalk on N Michigan ave. NOPE. dont do it.

Moral of the story...USE COMMON SENSE

Barbra Mann said:
So you are telling me that from Kingsbury to Ashland on North Avenue I SHOULDN'T ride on the sidewalk with 15-20 lbs of groceries on my bike? Ummm, not gonna listen to you. Pedestrians can just deal with my polite announcements of my presence and move over a bit as I slowly and carefully pass them. Most pedestrians don't mind one bit and return my smile and appreciate my 'thank-you".
Permalink Reply by wig [ isaac ] on July 31, 2010 at 4:34pm
well said.....

H3N3 said:
Maybe talk to them and find out why they ride on the sidewalk?
And-- if a cyclist takes to the street directly because you implored them to, and they get killed by a distracted or reckless or aggressive driver-- will you accept responsibility for their death? Before you push these indivduals out into the street it would be nice if our streets were less deadly places to bicycle.
Permalink Reply by Liz W. Durham on August 1, 2010 at 5:07am
I have been following all the comments on this thread...
I have to chime in...
"Cycling on the sidewalk isn't dangerous to pedestrians, it's dangerous to cyclists."
It IS dangerous to pedestrians! I have seen pedestrians get knocked out of the way by cyclists coming from behind them. And yes, of course it is also dangerous to cyclists when coming off curbs or entering onto the road. Also, as has been pointed out, in Chicago it is illegal.

"biking in Chicago is very safe" "drivers in Chicago are about the best there are at present"
Are you nuts!!! I have had cars purposefully cutting me off, people yelling out their windows at me (because I transport a young child and ride on the streets). And yes, there are also aware, conscientious drivers too.

I would think that as cyclists we have an obligation in how we ride. Just as we expect of motorists. And of course there are exceptions, times when sidewalk riding makes sense. I do like the idea of education for motorists and for cyclists. And common sense...common sense is a good thing to...guess that is a bit harder to teach.
Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on August 3, 2010 at 4:12am
You just should not ride on North ave.

There are these really nice streets a block north and a block south that act as wonderful alternatives...

For the record I never ride on certain parts of North, Western, Ashland or Irving and will ALWAYS take a side street and parallel them instead of taking the sidewalk. In my opinion justifying taking the sidewalk instead of just cutting over to a safer street is a just a method of justifying a sense of entitlement and laziness.

Barbra Mann said:
So you are telling me that from Kingsbury to Ashland on North Avenue I SHOULDN'T ride on the sidewalk with 15-20 lbs of groceries on my bike? Ummm, not gonna listen to you. Pedestrians can just deal with my polite announcements of my presence and move over a bit as I slowly and carefully pass them. Most pedestrians don't mind one bit and return my smile and appreciate my 'thank-you".
Permalink Reply by igz on August 3, 2010 at 6:57am
yeah, but Stanley's...

maybe laziness is the excuse, but to go all the way around, just to get back on to north ave again after ashland...seems much, especially since there are hardly any pedestrians walking under that 90/94 overpass.

notoriousDUG said:
You just should not ride on North ave.

There are these really nice streets a block north and a block south that act as wonderful alternatives...

For the record I never ride on certain parts of North, Western, Ashland or Irving and will ALWAYS take a side street and parallel them instead of taking the sidewalk. In my opinion justifying taking the sidewalk instead of just cutting over to a safer street is a just a method of justifying a sense of entitlement and laziness.

Barbra Mann said:
So you are telling me that from Kingsbury to Ashland on North Avenue I SHOULDN'T ride on the sidewalk with 15-20 lbs of groceries on my bike? Ummm, not gonna listen to you. Pedestrians can just deal with my polite announcements of my presence and move over a bit as I slowly and carefully pass them. Most pedestrians don't mind one bit and return my smile and appreciate my 'thank-you".

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