Bicycle Sidewalk Accidents & Injuries

As a child, most of us learned how to ride a bicycle. A parent or sibling watched us as we carefully pedaled our training-wheeled bike down the driveway. For those of us who grew up in suburbia, we usually turned off the driveway and onto the sidewalk. “As a boy, I remember riding on the sidewalk around our block for hours on end,” said Dixon Law Office founder, G. Grant Dixon III.

That suburban experience may soon be only a memory. Many towns, villages, and cities are making riding on the sidewalk illegal. In an effort to improve pedestrian safety, some governments are ordering bicycles off the sidewalk and onto the road. Most of these laws have no age restriction; whether you are 6 or 60, you are forced into the street.

Laws like these are dangerous. Pedestrian safety is certainly important but forcing children to ride their bikes in the street – regardless of age or ability – is unthinking public policy. Most children don’t have the ability to ride in the street. None have the appreciation of the Rules of the Road that apply to bicyclists. It is even harder for a driver to see a child riding on the road than an adult. Laws like this will inevitably cause injuries and deaths to some bicyclists.

Any law forcing bicycles into the street need to have “ability clauses.” Bicyclists who have the training and ability to ride in the street should be allowed to, provided it is safe for them to do so. Bicyclists without the experience, especially young riders, should never be forced into the street.

If you or a loved one has been injured while riding a bicycle on the sidewalk, call us at Dixon Law Office. We have the knowledge and bicycling experience to help you get the compensation you deserve. We are here to help.

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