Where do you ride mostly? Street or Sidewalk?

[Nitecrawler]

Hey all, i'm a new rider who is excited to join you all in this new world of EUC's. I just ordered my first wheel, a Tesla V2 and am currently practicing on a rented Ninebot One E. I live in a smaller city (in Canada, just outside of Vancouver) that does not have almost any dedicated bike paths and so my question is: Should I be riding on the road mostly or on the sidewalks (for fun i have added a poll as well)? Currently I am pretty much exclusively riding on sidewalks as I am severely speed limited, but once I get the Tesla I am curious as to what the general practice is for all of you experienced riders.

I would appreciate your insights and opinions in this regard. I apologize if this has been discussed in previous threads and feel free to direct me to them if that would be better. Also as an aside I am planning to use my EUC as much as possible to commute with (so i can save on gas and car insurance etc) and not just as a fun hobby on the side. Thanks!

[PLEASE_DELETE]

Deleted.

Edited March 18 by PLEASE_DELETE

[atdlzpae]

I'd say 70% bicycle paths, 10% roads, 20% sidewalks. Roads only really if sidewalk is very damaged or there are lots of pedestrians. Or if there is no other choice.

2 hours ago, Nitecrawler said:

Should I be riding on the road mostly or on the sidewalks (for fun i have added a poll as well)?

Definitely on sidewalks until you get really confident. Definitely not before a few hundred kilometers.
And it really depends on your sidewalks - how good are they? What's the foot traffic?

Edited November 14, 2019 by atdlzpae

[Justin Boivin]

I live in Victoria where there are a lot of bike paths/bike lanes here so I stick to those mostly. If there's no bike path, I'll use a bike lane. If there's no lane, I'll use the street but am avoiding *really* busy streets until I A: get more experience (still a new rider, although I commute every day) and B: until legislation passes to make EUCs street legal in BC (should be ready sometime in the spring).

[Ben Kim]

No sidewalks, especially not in NYC. Roads only.  My wheels can go well over the posted speed limits so no problem there. 

[Andy5225]

Both I ride on

[MeepLaw]

I'd say for me it's 65% street 35% offroad

[Scubadragonsan]

In San Francisco, I find sidewalks are better maintained than the roads which may have unexpected potholes and cracks. Unexpected falls can always happen...you definitely don't want to end up rolling over by any cars or trucks! First of preference is sidewalks, then bike paths, last roads...

[GaryL]

in Oklahoma City.  90% sidewalk, 10% street.

[Darrell Wesh]

What fun is there riding slowly on the sidewalk??

[Jerome]

I live In Philadelphia and ride on the streets or bike trails. I have never ridden more than three consecutive sidewalk blocks during my 1500 miles of riding. I will only get on the sidewalk when the street is busy AND the traffic is high speed, or has a very narrow or no shoulder. The sidewalks are too crowded in center city and too broken up and or narrow in the residential neighborhoods.

[Rywokast]

sidewalks at a jogging speed depending on the EUC and how far.. most of the time streets or bike lanes... most people on bicycles are only going 25-30 kph anyways and they ride on all roads so dont feel you have to always keep up with traffic or anything.. just dont jump on to the road with cars the day after you get it lol

[LanghamP]

It doesn't matter so long as you're not near an arterial road where the speed limit is at least 35 mph. Arterial roads are deadly regardless of where you stand, since crashed cars go onto the sidewalks.

Interestingly, Atlanta recently got the memo, and are now spending around $200,000,000 mostly on the 6% of roads that cause 72% of traffic deaths.

Painted bike lanes are more dangerous than no bike lanes, because of the danger of being squeezed, car doors, and vehicles blocking the bike lane forcing bikes into the street. If you decide to use them (I don't) then be aware that driveways crossing them are exceptionally dangerous.

[Darrell Wesh]

3 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

It doesn't matter so long as you're not near an arterial road where the speed limit is at least 35 mph. Arterial roads are deadly regardless of where you stand, since crashed cars go onto the sidewalks.

Interestingly, Atlanta recently got the memo, and are now spending around $200,000,000 mostly on the 6% of roads that cause 72% of traffic deaths.

Painted bike lanes are more dangerous than no bike lanes, because of the danger of being squeezed, car doors, and vehicles blocking the bike lane forcing bikes into the street. If you decide to use them (I don't) then be aware that driveways crossing them are exceptionally dangerous.

Painted Bike lanes are where you ride to DIE. I stay out of bike lanes any chance I get or go so slow in them I can avoid any incoming car that’s turning 

[Justin Boivin]

3 hours ago, Darrell Wesh said:

Painted Bike lanes are where you ride to DIE. I stay out of bike lanes any chance I get or go so slow in them I can avoid any incoming car that’s turning 

I feel a lot safer in painted bike lanes than on the road with cars. I at least have dedicated space and cars expect me there. I also try to stay visible (lights, reflector tape on my bag)

 

[LanghamP]

3 hours ago, Darrell Wesh said:

Painted Bike lanes are where you ride to DIE. I stay out of bike lanes any chance I get or go so slow in them I can avoid any incoming car that’s turning 

I thought painted bike lanes were safer until through experience and evidence-based studies showed otherwise. There was a UK road that took out their bike lane saying it caused more crashes (with drivers) than it saved.

[Darrell Wesh]

2 hours ago, Justin Boivin said:

I feel a lot safer in painted bike lanes than on the road with cars. I at least have dedicated space and cars expect me there. I also try to stay visible (lights, reflector tape on my bag)

 

You may feel safer but @LanghamP literally just commented on how studies refute it being safer. From my own experience riding in bike lanes and observing bicyclists in bike lanes they are very dangerous places to be compared to just taking up a whole lane in the road. 

[Mono]

6 hours ago, Darrell Wesh said:

but @LanghamP literally just commented on how studies refute it being safer

Though he didn't point to the actual studies. I also heard that the separation of bicycle from car traffic makes it more dangerous but then I also heard that this was just a rumor. Current infrastructure projects do separate bicycles, which leads me to believe that studies cannot be unambiguously show that the separation is dangerous (and the main problem with separation seems to be the crossings). I also have doubts that it is possible to generalize results across countries, as the culture of attitude of car drivers toward cyclists varies to a great extend.

[dmethvin]

It seems like there are cases where *accidents* may go up, but *fatalities* seem to go down. There was a 2014 study and a recent 2019 study. 

https://peopleforbikes.org/blog/the-first-major-academic-study-of-protected-bike-lanes-in-the-u-s-is-out/

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2019/05/29/protect-yourself-separated-bike-lanes-means-safer-streets-study-says/

https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/some-protected-bike-lanes-leave-cyclists-vulnerable-to-injury

 

 

[RockyTop]

Here, You very rarely see anyone in the bike lane and I can see why. I have used them. You have to watch out for city busses turning for bus stops, cars turning into parking lots, cars pulling out of parking lots, people in cars using the bike lane to avoid speed bumps, car door opening, people blindly stepping into the lane to get into their cars and pallet jacks that are suddenly  pushed in front of you when trucks are unloaded. I just ride on the roads. It is more predictable and less to keep up with. The speed limit is 25mph and most people rarely get above 20mph.  When I do use a bike lane I stay spaced between cars as if I were on the road with them while watching for car doors and people putting everything imaginable in your path.

[RetroThruster]

Of the two, I'd say more street, no sidewalks to speak of where I live and I'm not much into hauling my wheel around to ride, I'm still pretty new and I'm not totally confident yet in riding on public roads around here so I limit my street riding but am getting more comfortable around cars and such.

[Darrell Wesh]

1 hour ago, dmethvin said:

It seems like there are cases where *accidents* may go up, but *fatalities* seem to go down. There was a 2014 study and a recent 2019 study. 

https://peopleforbikes.org/blog/the-first-major-academic-study-of-protected-bike-lanes-in-the-u-s-is-out/

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2019/05/29/protect-yourself-separated-bike-lanes-means-safer-streets-study-says/

https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/some-protected-bike-lanes-leave-cyclists-vulnerable-to-injury

 

 

Uh.... good try but all these articles are about protected bike lanes that are physically separated from the road. 
 

I’m talking about actual bike lanes that are just a sliver of lane in the actual road separated only by a thin line of paint. 

[Mono]

1 hour ago, dmethvin said:

It seems like there are cases where *accidents* may go up, but *fatalities* seem to go down. There was a 2014 study and a recent 2019 study. 

https://peopleforbikes.org/blog/the-first-major-academic-study-of-protected-bike-lanes-in-the-u-s-is-out/

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2019/05/29/protect-yourself-separated-bike-lanes-means-safer-streets-study-says/

https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/some-protected-bike-lanes-leave-cyclists-vulnerable-to-injury

 

 

hmm, these suggest pretty clearly that separation is good:

Three widely noticed Canadian studies, led by Harvard’s Ann Lusk, the University of British Columbia’s Kay Teschke and Ryerson University’s Anne Harris, focused mostly on safety. And though all three concluded that protected bike lanes greatly improve bike safety...

and

 

Researchers at the University of Colorado Denver and the University of New Mexico discovered cities with protected and separated bike lanes had 44 percent fewer deaths than the average city.

“Protected separated bike facilities was one of our biggest factors associated with lower fatalities and lower injuries for all road users,” 

and (duhhh)

But a new IIHS study shows that protected bike lanes vary in terms of injury risk. Factors such as the number of driveways or alleys intersecting the lanes and whether the lanes are one- or two-direction affect the likelihood of a crash or fall.

[Darrell Wesh]

1 minute ago, Mono said:

hmm, these suggest pretty clearly that separation is good:

Three widely noticed Canadian studies, led by Harvard’s Ann Lusk, the University of British Columbia’s Kay Teschke and Ryerson University’s Anne Harris, focused mostly on safety. And though all three concluded that protected bike lanes greatly improve bike safety...

and

 

Researchers at the University of Colorado Denver and the University of New Mexico discovered cities with protected and separated bike lanes had 44 percent fewer deaths than the average city.

“Protected separated bike facilities was one of our biggest factors associated with lower fatalities and lower injuries for all road users,” 

and (duhhh)

But a new IIHS study shows that protected bike lanes vary in terms of injury risk. Factors such as the number of driveways or alleys intersecting the lanes and whether the lanes are one- or two-direction affect the likelihood of a crash or fall.

Yeah again, they’re protected physically. Not what me and Langham are talking about. 

[Mono]

2 minutes ago, Darrell Wesh said:

Yeah again, they’re protected physically. Not what me and Langham are talking about. 

They talk about both, AFAICS.

Also interesting:

Most fatal bicyclist crashes involving motor vehicles occur midblock, while cyclists in protected bike lanes in the study collided with vehicles most often at intersections or junctions with driveways and alleys. In such cases, vehicles are usually turning and traveling slowly.