Too often, bicyclists feel forced to ride their bikes on the sidewalk to be safe. This is often illegal, and dangerous – not only for the bicyclists themselves – but also for pedestrians, people with disabilities, children, seniors and others. Yet, there are valid safety reasons why bicyclists choose to ride on sidewalks:
-
The traffic is too fast
-
The roadways are in bad repair,
-
There are no bike lanes, and
-
The lighting is often insufficient.
The new SafeTREC video, "Bicycling On the Sidewalk: Managing Safety for All," co-produced with Charles Brown, founder and principal of Equitable Cities, and Jonathan Ezer, founder of Kindea Labs, highlights how this creates a situation where the most vulnerable people must compete for the smallest share of the roadway. In addition, recent research shows that in many predominantly Black and Latino communities, there is:
-
disproportionately worse infrastructure,
-
disproportionately more traffic fatalities and injuries, and
-
disproportionately higher rates of citations and fines for riding on the sidewalk.
Informing transportation decision-making processes from a Safe System perspective
Watch the latest SafeTREC video to learn more about how to prioritize safety and ensure that roads are safe for all people that use them - whether they're walking, biking, driving, using an e-scooter, public transit or a wheelchair - by assessing our transportation decision-making processes and the resulting built environment from a Safe System perspective.
Funding for this video is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).