I’m fine and only my front wheel seems to be fucked. The lady stopped after hitting me and exchanged info.
I was riding on the sidewalk, going against traffic, when a sedan ran the stop sign. I thought I made eye contact and saw her stopping. I was wrong. Turns out she was doing a rolling stop and didn’t see me.
My resolution is to never go against traffic again, stay off sidewalks as much as possible, stick to bike lanes when available, stay on neighborhood roads as much as possible, and avoid collector as much as possible and arterial roads entirely.
Just a reminder to be safe folks.
by Helix014
31 Comments
in italy it’s actually illigal
I think the lesson here is that cars run stop signs and will hit you regardless of what you do.
It’s illegal in NYC to ride on the sidewalks
I know people will tell you not to ride on sidewalks, but this wasn’t your fault. Nor was it the sidewalks fault. Nor was it because you were biking.
Could’ve been someone walking or out on a run on that walk. The car must stop before passing the sidewalk and it didn’t.
I guess I’m always just baffled people get so worked up about sidewalks because road/bike lane/ or walk, be extra aware at every crossing. There are spots I don’t ride in the bike lane because cars dive into them to look before entering the driving lanes.
(Obviously don’t ride them if it’s illegal in your area. But even then if it’s the safer place to ride, use your discretion)
It’s legal to ride on the sidewalks in my state. The law also states a driver must come to a stop before a sidewalk crossing. They don’t, I try to take neighborhood roads. No bike lanes, so I’m stuck on sidewalks often.
I do ride on sidewalks, but it is usually only for a short distance because that is the shortest/easiest path to a particular destination. When I’m on the sidewalk, I ride SLOW, yield to pedestrians (including getting off and walking if necessary), and I assume that every driveway/curbcut will have cars that will not see me and proceed with extreme caution.
It looks like the cyclist in this picture was riding on the sidewalk in the opposite direction of the adjacent traffic. In this situation, the driver *might* look left briefly for approaching pedestrians, but 99% of their attention is going to be for cars coming from the left. A cyclist on the sidewalk going opposite the direction of traffic must assume that the driver will not look for them or will not see them and should either stop/yield to the car (regardless of who has the legal right of way), or proceed behind the car.
I ride sidewalks all day and will continue to do so until there is dedicated protected paths for bikes.
Yep, stay off sidewalks, or if you do decide to use a sidewalk, you have to by HYPER vigilant about motorists around you, and assume that they WILL NOT see you.
This is also an illustration of why 2-way separated cycle tracks are so dangerous, especially when riding the contraflow direction. Motorists simply are not accustomed to there being someone riding at bicycle speeds, coming from their right, when pulling out from a side street or driveway.
Hope you are okay. While driving I almost hit my neighbor because she was biking against traffic (the wrong way) on my left and I only looked right for approaching traffic. And a parked car blocked my sight lines on the left. Close call but would have been her error.
Saying you were wrong after someone ran a stop sign and hit you is peak Stockholm syndrome.
wait, so you were riding on the side walk and the car jumped the curb and hit you?
Or is this you riding on the side walk and getting hit when you happen to be crossing the street?
The distinction is important. You should always use caution when crossing a street. Being on a sidewalk that transitions into a crosswalk is no exception.
Riding in the street isn’t going to save you from someone that is going to run a stop sign.
always lots of opinions on this one. I am much more comfortable in the road. with sidewalks and even most mixed use paths, I’m always concerned I’m going to splatter some kid that comes out of nowhere.
glad you’re ok. I concur with the assessment of the tire…not full triangle, but well on its way.
Never trust a fart on a run or a car while biking.
Everyone learns those lessons. I am glad you are safe and okay, OP.
I’m sorry about the headache though!
I wish to some extent cars would run stop signs when they see me comming. Everytime a car and I meet at a stop sign even if they were there first they wave me through even though I’ve stopped as well so I’m stuck balancing there akwardly.
I think the bigger lesson is not to ride against traffic.
I feel like riding on the road or sidewalk carry similar risks. On the road your concern is being hit at higher speeds. On the sidewalk you have to be more careful of cars pulling out of driveways, side streets, etc.
I’m in FL, the infrastructure here is terrible and riding on the sidewalk is legal here… So I mostly ride on the sidewalk albeit very carefully. First, I don’t rush, I go at a steady pace and always look around, slow down before crossing any driveway or side streets. It takes me longer to get anywhere but it’s safe.
I already learned my lesson a couple of years ago, riding on sidewalks at road speeds… 💥🚲🙃
Sidewalk != Sideride
Nah. I always ride on the sidewalk now unless I have a protected path. Not worth dealing with distracted drivers. People are horrible at driving now. It’s wild how bad it’s gotten
I think the takeaway here is to watch out for intersections. The title makes it sound like the accident occurred on the sidewalk or on a driveway.
In most US states it’s actually illegal to ride on side walks, and you will not be legally protected if riding a bike on a sidewalk or in a cross walk, as those are for pedestrians.
Yesterday I was riding down the sidewalk at 7 am…. Nobody around except a sole vehicle driving down the road.
He took the time to roll down the window and yell
“F*CK YOU!” out of his window.
Nothing to do with sidewalks. Just another commute and reminder that some people are just angry for no reason. I have more similar stories.
Yeah if you have to ride on the sidewalk, every crosswalk should be treated as a stop sign. People aren’t expecting someone to come down a sidewalk at the speed of a bike. It’s dangerous for everyone
The other thing about sidewalks is they often have blind corners. My friend was in the hospital for a week and lost half his teeth after colliding with another bicycle around a blind corner. If I do it for some reason, I do it at walking speed and keep my head on a swivel.
I follow a couple rules to keep me from being hit: I am invisible, the car will absolutely not see me. The car will always break the law, cars following the law is the exception. There will always be a car driving too fast to stop around a blind corner. Cars will drive on the wrong side of the road. Cars will drive on the sidewalk. Stop signs don’t really exist, they are an illusion.
Riding on the sidewalk is okay if you remember these rules and go way slower than you would on the road.
PS: I really wish we would build our cities so these rules are all pointless. We’re living in a dystopia.
Is the lady paying damages? A rolling stop in a car is just running a stop sign.
I ran for years before starting cycling. My key takeaway was to never trust cars. It became more predictable for me to plan on stopping and letting cars go through at every intersection than to assume I have the right-of-way (even though I obviously did). For every nice driver that stopped and waved me on, there was 2 that pulled up past the intersection, 1 that blew the sign altogether, and 3 that would stop. Being consistent for myself made it safer more reliably, even If that’s not the expectation.
Hope you’re okay, OP.
The point is to be predictable if you’re not going to be hypervigilant. You ride on the street going with traffic because that’s where people expect to look for something going faster than like 3 mph. When checking the sidewalks people often only check nearby because there no possible way for a person to be so fast to be a concern by the time they expect to go, they pay more attention for other vehicles coming down the street at them. Sure, you check back to the right before you go, but that’s like is there anyone within like 10 ft about to step in front of my car, nor is there someone 100 ft away about to zoom in front of me.
As a pilot friend used to say before crossing a runway: I have clearance, but I’m still going to look, because there are graveyards full of people who had the right of way
If you’re on a sidewalk, most states require you to dismount to use a crosswalk. That makes you a pedestrian. You’re almost always safer “driving” your bicycle on the road.
I’m glad you’re okay OP. Stay frosty
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