How to convince parents and children not to ride on the sidewalk?

[SMS]

In March, a 10 year old boy in the East Bay, riding his bicycle on the
sidewalk, was struck and killed when he rode off the sidewalk into an
intersection without stopping

I’ve had many close calls while driving in my own town, the most recent
yesterday afternoon. A mother and child, riding opposite traffic, on the
sidewalk, went through an intersection near my house without stopping.
Since I see this sort of thing nearly every day, I’m extra cautions
about looking for wrong-way bicyclists, and bicyclists on sidewalks, and
I stopped in time. I yelled at the mother about not riding on sidewalks,
but of course she didn’t understand just how dangerous it is to ride on
the sidewalk, mistakenly believing that it simply must be safer than
riding in the street.

Dangerous and illegal bicycling has reached epidemic proportions in my
town, especially among school-children riding to school. There is no
longer any bicycle education in schools; when the city cut back on the
number of sheriff’s deputies this program ended. Many roads used as
routes to schools have been made more dangerous by changes to traffic
controls and by changes to street parking. Uncontrolled intersections
and traffic lights that bicycles aren’t able to activate also have
contributed to a decrease in the bicycle-friendliness. Amusingly,
someone on our "Bicycle/Pedestrian Commission wanted to apply for LAB's
"Bicycle Friendly City" designation.

The problem is that we have a very anti-bicycle public works director
(though a very pro-bicycle mayor). Alas, the mayor can't do anything
about the city staffers that don't do their jobs the way she'd like,

Anyway, has anyone come up with any ways that they are able to get a
city to embrace bicycle safety, when the city really has no interest in
doing so?

[[email protected]]

On Dec 1, 5:06*pm, SMS > wrote:
> In March, a 10 year old boy in the East Bay, riding his bicycle on the
> sidewalk, was struck and killed when he rode off the sidewalk into an
> intersection without stopping
>
> I’ve had many close calls while driving in my own town, the most recent
> yesterday afternoon. A mother and child, riding opposite traffic, on the
> sidewalk, went through an intersection near my house without stopping.
> Since I see this sort of thing nearly every day, I’m extra cautions
> about looking for wrong-way bicyclists, and bicyclists on sidewalks, and
> I stopped in time. I yelled at the mother about not riding on sidewalks,
> but of course she didn’t understand just how dangerous it is to ride on
> the sidewalk, mistakenly believing that it simply must be safer than
> riding in the street.
>
> Dangerous and illegal bicycling has reached epidemic proportions in my
> town, especially among school-children riding to school. There is no
> longer any bicycle education in schools; when the city cut back on the
> number of sheriff’s deputies this program ended. Many roads used as
> routes to schools have been made more dangerous by changes to traffic
> controls and by changes to street parking. Uncontrolled intersections
> and traffic lights that bicycles aren’t able to activate also have
> contributed to a decrease in the bicycle-friendliness. Amusingly,
> someone on our "Bicycle/Pedestrian Commission wanted to apply for LAB's
> "Bicycle Friendly City" designation.
>
> The problem is that we have a very anti-bicycle public works director
> (though a very pro-bicycle mayor). Alas, the mayor can't do anything
> about the city staffers that don't do their jobs the way she'd like,
>
> Anyway, has anyone come up with any ways that they are able to get a
> city to embrace bicycle safety, when the city really has no interest in
> doing so?

perhaps the best thing is to meet with the local police chief and see
if it is possible to integrate bicycle safety in their public safety
campaigns and education

[Tom Keats]

In article >,
SMS > writes:
> In March, a 10 year old boy in the East Bay, riding his bicycle on the
> sidewalk, was struck and killed when he rode off the sidewalk into an
> intersection without stopping
>
> I’ve had many close calls while driving in my own town, the most recent
> yesterday afternoon. A mother and child, riding opposite traffic, on the
> sidewalk, went through an intersection near my house without stopping.
> Since I see this sort of thing nearly every day, I’m extra cautions
> about looking for wrong-way bicyclists, and bicyclists on sidewalks, and
> I stopped in time. I yelled at the mother about not riding on sidewalks,
> but of course she didn’t understand just how dangerous it is to ride on
> the sidewalk, mistakenly believing that it simply must be safer than
> riding in the street.
>
> Dangerous and illegal bicycling has reached epidemic proportions in my
> town, especially among school-children riding to school. There is no
> longer any bicycle education in schools; when the city cut back on the
> number of sheriff’s deputies this program ended. Many roads used as
> routes to schools have been made more dangerous by changes to traffic
> controls and by changes to street parking. Uncontrolled intersections
> and traffic lights that bicycles aren’t able to activate also have
> contributed to a decrease in the bicycle-friendliness. Amusingly,
> someone on our "Bicycle/Pedestrian Commission wanted to apply for LAB's
> "Bicycle Friendly City" designation.
>
> The problem is that we have a very anti-bicycle public works director
> (though a very pro-bicycle mayor). Alas, the mayor can't do anything
> about the city staffers that don't do their jobs the way she'd like,
>
> Anyway, has anyone come up with any ways that they are able to get a
> city to embrace bicycle safety, when the city really has no interest in
> doing so?

In Vancouver, cars aren't allowed to stop for any reason
on the perimeter streets around many public schools.

This has the effect of dissuading much motorized traffic
volume in school zones, thereby enhancing the safety of
pedestrians & cyclists in those areas. That said, I think
the main problem with motorized traffic in school zones is
not so much the volume of it, but the prepondency of drivers
to stop in the middle of the streets in order to pick-up or
drop-off their kids, effectively double-parking (if there's
also on-street parking) and obscuring sightlines for other
drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists.

Perhaps this could be one part of a multi-pronged approach
in your city. Note this isn't biased toward just bicyclists,
it's good for all human-powered traffic.

Sometimes we have to be a little underhanded to sneak
bicycle-friendliness past anti-bicycling city planners.
And we should remember that pedestrians, wheelchair users
et al are our allies. And we should especially remind our
civic govt's that ultimately we are /all/ pedestrians, so
what's good for pedestrians is good for everybody, especially
business. After all, nobody ~drives~ into a Safeway or
Wal*Mart or dry cleaners or Subway or Bon Ami or Sizzler,
unless there's something seriously wrong.

So, what's good for wheelchair users is also often good
for bicyclists.

If people were kept in their cars and shot through a city
like a bullet through a rifle barrel, without being able to
stop, get on their feet and buy stuff, Business would suffer.
Then The City would suffer. I'd remind your city gov't and
any local Business Improvement Associations of that fact.

Anyway, here's the long-&-short of it: people /are/ going to
ride on sidewalks. You can't stop it, any more than you can
order the tide to turn back. All we can do is to deal with it,
do our very best to not to clobber anyone or get clobbered ...
and do what we can to make traffic a less lethal environment.

If you're worried about cyclists getting hurt, that's one thing.
But if you're annoyed by cyclists "misbehaving," that's quite
another thing. But I think the former is the case, and you just
don't want to see anyone get clobbered.

But you can't look out for everybody unless you're a superhero.

Oh, well.

You /can/ possibly persuade City Hall with your input,
and some bulletproof arguments. The System can work,
when you manipulate it right ;-)

Some jurisdictions have [by-]laws which allow certain
wheel-sized bicycles (12", 16" or 20") to be ridden
on sidewalks.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

[Tom Sherman[_3_]]

Tom Keats wrote:
> [...]
> Some jurisdictions have [by-]laws which allow certain
> wheel-sized bicycles (12", 16" or 20") to be ridden
> on sidewalks.[...]

Why would anyone want wheels bigger than that, anyhow?

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
LOCAL CACTUS EATS CYCLIST - datakoll

[Tom Sherman[_3_]]

SMS aka Steven M. Scharf wrote:
> [...]
> Anyway, has anyone come up with any ways that they are able to get a
> city to embrace bicycle safety, when the city really has no interest in
> doing so?

See <http://linux.stevens-tech.edu/kmh/spike.bike.all.txt>.

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
LOCAL CACTUS EATS CYCLIST - datakoll

[bluezfolk]

On Dec 1, 5:06*pm, SMS > wrote:
> In March, a 10 year old boy in the East Bay, riding his bicycle on the
> sidewalk, was struck and killed when he rode off the sidewalk into an
> intersection without stopping
>
> I’ve had many close calls while driving in my own town, the most recent
> yesterday afternoon. A mother and child, riding opposite traffic, on the
> sidewalk, went through an intersection near my house without stopping.
> Since I see this sort of thing nearly every day, I’m extra cautions
> about looking for wrong-way bicyclists, and bicyclists on sidewalks, and
> I stopped in time. I yelled at the mother about not riding on sidewalks,
> but of course she didn’t understand just how dangerous it is to ride on
> the sidewalk, mistakenly believing that it simply must be safer than
> riding in the street.
>
> Dangerous and illegal bicycling has reached epidemic proportions in my
> town, especially among school-children riding to school. There is no
> longer any bicycle education in schools; when the city cut back on the
> number of sheriff’s deputies this program ended. Many roads used as
> routes to schools have been made more dangerous by changes to traffic
> controls and by changes to street parking. Uncontrolled intersections
> and traffic lights that bicycles aren’t able to activate also have
> contributed to a decrease in the bicycle-friendliness. Amusingly,
> someone on our "Bicycle/Pedestrian Commission wanted to apply for LAB's
> "Bicycle Friendly City" designation.
>
> The problem is that we have a very anti-bicycle public works director
> (though a very pro-bicycle mayor). Alas, the mayor can't do anything
> about the city staffers that don't do their jobs the way she'd like,
>
> Anyway, has anyone come up with any ways that they are able to get a
> city to embrace bicycle safety, when the city really has no interest in
> doing so?

Why can't the teachers give a class on bicycle safety? It seems to
me
that Sherriffs deputies should be out enforcing the laws. I would
think a cirriculum could be obtained from the AAA or some bicycle
organization.

Eric

[[email protected]]

On Dec 2, 8:52*am, bluezfolk > wrote:
> On Dec 1, 5:06*pm, SMS > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > In March, a 10 year old boy in the East Bay, riding his bicycle on the
> > sidewalk, was struck and killed when he rode off the sidewalk into an
> > intersection without stopping
>
> > I’ve had many close calls while driving in my own town, the most recent
> > yesterday afternoon. A mother and child, riding opposite traffic, on the
> > sidewalk, went through an intersection near my house without stopping.
> > Since I see this sort of thing nearly every day, I’m extra cautions
> > about looking for wrong-way bicyclists, and bicyclists on sidewalks, and
> > I stopped in time. I yelled at the mother about not riding on sidewalks,
> > but of course she didn’t understand just how dangerous it is to ride on
> > the sidewalk, mistakenly believing that it simply must be safer than
> > riding in the street.
>
> > Dangerous and illegal bicycling has reached epidemic proportions in my
> > town, especially among school-children riding to school. There is no
> > longer any bicycle education in schools; when the city cut back on the
> > number of sheriff’s deputies this program ended. Many roads used as
> > routes to schools have been made more dangerous by changes to traffic
> > controls and by changes to street parking. Uncontrolled intersections
> > and traffic lights that bicycles aren’t able to activate also have
> > contributed to a decrease in the bicycle-friendliness. Amusingly,
> > someone on our "Bicycle/Pedestrian Commission wanted to apply for LAB's
> > "Bicycle Friendly City" designation.
>
> > The problem is that we have a very anti-bicycle public works director
> > (though a very pro-bicycle mayor). Alas, the mayor can't do anything
> > about the city staffers that don't do their jobs the way she'd like,
>
> > Anyway, has anyone come up with any ways that they are able to get a
> > city to embrace bicycle safety, when the city really has no interest in
> > doing so?
>
> Why can't the teachers give a class on bicycle safety? *It seems to
> me
> *that Sherriffs deputies should be out enforcing the laws. *I would
> think a cirriculum could be obtained from the AAA or some bicycle
> organization.
>
> Eric- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

police often conduct safety awareness programs in local schools, my
thinking is that bycycle safety can be made part of that, but everyone
has to recognize that kids are not abile to judge traffic, nor if they
are riding on the sidewalk would they impart much knetic energy if
they collide with another person which is quite the opposite with
older persons and precisely why bicycles can be so dangerous to
pedestrians.

[brink[_3_]]

Tom Keats wrote:
> In article >,
> SMS > writes:
>> In March, a 10 year old boy in the East Bay, riding his bicycle on
>> the sidewalk, was struck and killed when he rode off the sidewalk
>> into an intersection without stopping
>>
>> I've had many close calls while driving in my own town, the most
>> recent yesterday afternoon. A mother and child, riding opposite
>> traffic, on the sidewalk, went through an intersection near my house
>> without stopping. Since I see this sort of thing nearly every day,
>> I'm extra cautions about looking for wrong-way bicyclists, and
>> bicyclists on sidewalks, and I stopped in time. I yelled at the
>> mother about not riding on sidewalks, but of course she didn't
>> understand just how dangerous it is to ride on the sidewalk,
>> mistakenly believing that it simply must be safer than riding in the
>> street.
>>
>> Dangerous and illegal bicycling has reached epidemic proportions in
>> my town, especially among school-children riding to school. There is
>> no longer any bicycle education in schools; when the city cut back
>> on the number of sheriff's deputies this program ended. Many roads
>> used as routes to schools have been made more dangerous by changes
>> to traffic controls and by changes to street parking. Uncontrolled
>> intersections and traffic lights that bicycles aren't able to
>> activate also have contributed to a decrease in the
>> bicycle-friendliness. Amusingly, someone on our "Bicycle/Pedestrian
>> Commission wanted to apply for LAB's "Bicycle Friendly City"
>> designation.
>>
>> The problem is that we have a very anti-bicycle public works director
>> (though a very pro-bicycle mayor). Alas, the mayor can't do anything
>> about the city staffers that don't do their jobs the way she'd like,
>>
>> Anyway, has anyone come up with any ways that they are able to get a
>> city to embrace bicycle safety, when the city really has no interest
>> in doing so?
>
> In Vancouver, cars aren't allowed to stop for any reason
> on the perimeter streets around many public schools.

Even if a pedestrian is directly in front of them? Sounds dangerous!

> This has the effect of dissuading much motorized traffic
> volume in school zones, thereby enhancing the safety of
> pedestrians & cyclists in those areas. That said, I think
> the main problem with motorized traffic in school zones is
> not so much the volume of it, but the prepondency of drivers
> to stop in the middle of the streets in order to pick-up or
> drop-off their kids, effectively double-parking (if there's
> also on-street parking) and obscuring sightlines for other
> drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists.

Makes sense to me... but where does the pick-up traffic then go? Adjoining
neighborhoods, where children walk to meet their parents? Do they queue up
in the school parking lots?

> Perhaps this could be one part of a multi-pronged approach
> in your city. Note this isn't biased toward just bicyclists,
> it's good for all human-powered traffic.
>
> Sometimes we have to be a little underhanded to sneak
> bicycle-friendliness past anti-bicycling city planners.
> And we should remember that pedestrians, wheelchair users
> et al are our allies. And we should especially remind our
> civic govt's that ultimately we are /all/ pedestrians, so
> what's good for pedestrians is good for everybody, especially
> business. After all, nobody ~drives~ into a Safeway or
> Wal*Mart or dry cleaners or Subway or Bon Ami or Sizzler,
> unless there's something seriously wrong.

Heh... plenty of YouTube videos of the latter....

> So, what's good for wheelchair users is also often good
> for bicyclists.
>
> If people were kept in their cars and shot through a city
> like a bullet through a rifle barrel, without being able to
> stop, get on their feet and buy stuff, Business would suffer.
> Then The City would suffer. I'd remind your city gov't and
> any local Business Improvement Associations of that fact.
>
> Anyway, here's the long-&-short of it: people /are/ going to
> ride on sidewalks. You can't stop it, any more than you can
> order the tide to turn back. All we can do is to deal with it,
> do our very best to not to clobber anyone or get clobbered ...
> and do what we can to make traffic a less lethal environment.
>
> If you're worried about cyclists getting hurt, that's one thing.
> But if you're annoyed by cyclists "misbehaving," that's quite
> another thing. But I think the former is the case, and you just
> don't want to see anyone get clobbered.

Yeah, I think all of us, drivers/cyclists/peds have all just about been
clobbered by someone flouting the law and common sense. I'm sure all of us
as cyclists are extra-aware of our surroundings whether on foot/bike or in
car just from our experiences on bikes, but even our hyper-sensitive Spidey
sense can't pick up everything... as much as I'd like to have eyes in the
back of my head, people will sneak up on you in the strangest places in at
the most inopportune times.

Sometimes, you just shake your head and wonder if someone is trying to get
himself killed...

brink