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Post by dgaddis1 on Aug 23, 2013 7:27:11 GMT -5
I love seeing people out riding using their bikes as a way to get around, but I really don't want to see someone become a hood ornament on my way to work. Saw two riders this morning doing stupid stuff, and neither had a helmet on. Both on going south on Edgefield Rd in North Augusta just south of the intersection with GA Ave. It's a four lane road with moderate traffic. A shirtless guy on a road bike passing cars stopped at a redlight and then running the redlight while traffic was turning left across the intersection, and a guy flying down the sidewalk on a MTB.
Don't do either of those! Running redlights while traffic is moving through the intersection doesn't need explaination, so I wont bother. Riding on the sidewalk might seem a little less obvious why it's a bad idea. There's no cars on the sidewalk, so it must be safer, right? WRONG!
The problem with riding on the sidewalk (beside the fact that it's illegal) is that no one expects you, or anything fast moving, to be there. The guy I saw this morning was going down a hill where you can easily hit 25+mph, and he was blasting across side streets without ever slowing or looking for traffic coming up that street, or turning onto that street. That's a fantastic way to get hit. That's the same reason I don't ride the bike path along Knox Ave - there's too many places where you arrive at an intersection with traffic potenially coming from several different directions, and no one expects you to be there.
Think about it: when in your car and you pull up to a stop sign or redlight, do you stop before the sidewalk or pull up to the street so you can look for oncoming traffic? Do you ever check to see if something going 20+mph is coming down the sidewalk?
Best of all, since it is illegal, if you're riding down a sidewalk and get hit or hit someone at an intersection I imagine you're at fault, so you'll get to pay for all your medical bills and repairs to the car. Sweet deal huh?
Full disclosure: I do ride on the sidewalk on the 13th Street bridge when going back into North Augusta when riding home from work. People tend to haul a$$ on their way home in the evenings across the bridge and there's no shoulder on the roadway. I get to that sidewalk via the trail along the leve, and turn off as soon as I get back into SC and drop down to the greeneway, so that stretch of sidewalk doesn't cross any intersections, so it actually is the safer place to be. In the mornings (coming down the hill into Augusta) I stay in the road because I'm going a lot faster and there's a lot less traffic.
Don't do either of those! Running redlights while traffic is moving through the intersection doesn't need explaination, so I wont bother. Riding on the sidewalk might seem a little less obvious why it's a bad idea. There's no cars on the sidewalk, so it must be safer, right? WRONG!
The problem with riding on the sidewalk (beside the fact that it's illegal) is that no one expects you, or anything fast moving, to be there. The guy I saw this morning was going down a hill where you can easily hit 25+mph, and he was blasting across side streets without ever slowing or looking for traffic coming up that street, or turning onto that street. That's a fantastic way to get hit. That's the same reason I don't ride the bike path along Knox Ave - there's too many places where you arrive at an intersection with traffic potenially coming from several different directions, and no one expects you to be there.
Think about it: when in your car and you pull up to a stop sign or redlight, do you stop before the sidewalk or pull up to the street so you can look for oncoming traffic? Do you ever check to see if something going 20+mph is coming down the sidewalk?
Best of all, since it is illegal, if you're riding down a sidewalk and get hit or hit someone at an intersection I imagine you're at fault, so you'll get to pay for all your medical bills and repairs to the car. Sweet deal huh?
Full disclosure: I do ride on the sidewalk on the 13th Street bridge when going back into North Augusta when riding home from work. People tend to haul a$$ on their way home in the evenings across the bridge and there's no shoulder on the roadway. I get to that sidewalk via the trail along the leve, and turn off as soon as I get back into SC and drop down to the greeneway, so that stretch of sidewalk doesn't cross any intersections, so it actually is the safer place to be. In the mornings (coming down the hill into Augusta) I stay in the road because I'm going a lot faster and there's a lot less traffic.
