What Matters To You
Get off the sidewalk
By Tecumseh MacGuigan
Despite it being the middle of
winter, I see cyclists riding every day,
which is great. I am an avid cyclist
myself and if the weather allows, my
wheels are spinning. But there’s one
thing that makes me cringe: riding on
the sidewalk.
Bicycles are vehicles under the
Ontario Highway Traffic Act which, like
cars, prohibits them from being driven
on the sidewalk. But everyone breaks the
law, right? Singing “Happy Birthday” in
public is technically illegal but doing so
never hurt anybody. So why is riding on
the sidewalk so bad?
To start, it’s incredibly dangerous,
not just for the person on the bicycle, but
also for drivers on the road and
pedestrians on the sidewalk. Riding on
the road gives a cyclist maximum
visibility; when cars are in front of and
behind you, they are forced to take note
of you and anticipate your movements.
But a car on the road may not even
notice a cyclist on the sidewalk and
when a 4,000-pound car turns right at a
corner and hits a 30-pound bike they
didn’t look for, the car wins.
Similarly, in residential neighbourhoods
a car pulling out of a driveway might not
see a cyclist riding along the sidewalk
and the cyclist may not have the reaction
time necessary to stop a collision.
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Meanwhile, on the road, even if a driver
didn’t immediately see the cyclist, the
chances for either party to maneuver out
of the way are much greater.
There is also an increased risk for
pedestrians. A cyclist on the road will
only have to worry about pedestrians
crossing the street, but on the sidewalk
pedestrians are everywhere, and each
one is a potential crash. Similar to cars
turning out of driveways, pedestrians
can seemingly pop out of nowhere. With
bikes traveling at speeds up to 30 kph, a
hit against a pedestrian can be fatal, as
evidenced by the death of a 75-year-old
man in Manhattan in 2014.
A common argument for riding on
the sidewalk is the inability to keep up
with traffic on the roads. It’s
understandable to not let your
six-year-old ride on the road; it’s
another thing entirely when you are an
adult. There are some roads that are
terrifying to cycle on, like Tecumseh
Road, but if you don’t feel competent
enough to ride on it, there are a plethora
of other, less busy roads to use.
If you honestly