Cycling in Waterloo Region

[ookpik]

I'm not a proponent of people biking by pedestrians at high speed on the sidewalk - it's dangerous but most of all, just not nice. I don't have a problem with people biking in spaces shared with people on foot if they do so with great courtesy to the latter.

My apologies if that's your position. It seemed as if you were trying to justify sidewalk use by cyclists because of fear arising from the inadequacies of bike lanes.

Neither our infrastructure nor our laws really treat cycling as a valid mode of transportation. Saying "tough luck if you want to / need to bike" is not a solution to our transportation problems or conflicts.

That's not what I'm trying to say. I'm trying to say that if cyclists have issues with the current infrastructure they need to find solutions, not create new problems for others, i.e. pedestrians, by using sidewalks.

I don't know if you've noticed, but the discourteous sidewalk cyclists (i.e. the ones who don't give pedestrians a wide berth) don't generally look like they would self-identify as cyclists nor would post in forums like this one. They tend to ride ill-fitting crappy bikes, and don't look particularly happy with their predicament on the street or in life.

I dunno. I've been run off sidewalks by families with kids in tow (literally, in some cases.) That hardly fits the stereotype, either the one painted in the snippet nor of parents teaching kids responsible cycling.

I appreciate that the cycling community wants to change/relax the current prohibition against riding on sidewalks. What protocols would you propose for safely sharing sidewalks with pedestrians? [One example: Suppose a pedestrian is walking on a sidewalk. A cyclist approaches her from the rear. How should the cyclist pass her safely?]