Yeah, right!

On the way home today I stopped at a traffic light at which there was a police car going in the perpendicular direction. She got the green and slowed and said something to me. I pulled out my earphones and asked what she said. She said I need to ride on the sidewalk if I'm not wearing a helmet. I looked at her weird and said, "Really?"

She drove off. I rode the sidewalk until she was well on her way and jumped back on the street. I knew there was no law about this, but didn't want to risk a ticket. So I got home and looked online and then the DMV website and nothing. It says only that if there is a bike path or lane that you're required to use those.

If she said that as a safety concern, she shouldn't be telling me to ride the sidewalk which would not only be more dangerous to me and pedestrians, but would also make drivers even more angry and dumb about bicyclists. I would agree with a law enforcing bike helmets over two separate laws about riding on sidewalks.

First off, it's illegal to ride on the sidewalk. That out of the way, the rest just doesn't make sense. It's dangerous to pedestrians and patrons coming out of shops, bars, and restaurants. It's dangerous for the biker approaching intersections because cars aren't paying attention to anyone on sidewalks let alone riding on the shoulder. Safety says to maintain your lane in driving and bicycling - weaving in and out of parked cars or sidewalk gaps and driveways are dangerous.

I could go on and on, but I don't want to get ticketed for this. Besides, I've rode by tons of cops who've said nothing. I'm more aware riding than drivers are driving. I checked a World-Herald post about bicyclists and should've not read the comments but I did. Throughout it one driver said something about seeing a bicyclist ride through a stop sign and said, "And drivers are the dangerous ones?"

Yes, you are. You generalize everything on one instance? On top of which, that argument would hold if no drivers ever did that and other dumb illegal, highly dangerous things like when I'm holding a steady speed yesterday and a truck speeds up to turn right, three feet in front of me. You couldn't wait three seconds, asshole?! I always want to kick their car when they do that. Maybe I should, but I need to represent bicyclists. Besides, all bicyclists aren't smart. Ride the trails, they're a lot of dumb, morons.