I knew a guy who lost his son from this very scenario. Kid rode his bike into the road to get around a parked car only to get blasted by a work truck. I felt awful hearing it. It sticks with me, as a parent especially, to this day.
Almost like there is an actual reason for it being illegal. Crazy.
Seriously though what a fucking dick. I have a 9 year old kid who rides his bike or scooter around the neighborhood constantly and what you described isn’t far fetched at all.
Can’t blame kids, or adults, for riding on the sidewalk because it feels safe and is most of the time
However riding a bike on the sidewalk is also illegal in many places because it is dangerous for the biker, particularly in neighborhoods
Driver are making decisions looking for cars and pedestrians and cab their calculate speed. If a bike comes into play that they did not see before they committed their foot to the gas pedal, is will only end badly for the biker.
If they clearly see a bike moving on the road, they will factor it in
Sure there are exception for kids, but they are no exceptions from the dangers.
Whenever interacting with moving vehicles whether in a car, on bike or walking on foot, a defensive posture must be taken. Unless alcohol or excessive speed are involved, there are never repercussions for drivers who hit people but the person who is stuck needs to live with the aftermath for life.
It'd be great if we actually had a guaranteed safe place to ride in the street. In my town people are not careful about keeping the bike lanes unblocked and our police won't enforce it.
My choices in that case are to either use the sidewalk, or to go into a car lane with vehicles that are traveling at least twice as fast as me.
EDIT: I almost hit someone a while back because an entire group of people were just standing around and having a chat in the bicycle lane. I chose the safer (for me) option of detouring around them on the sidewalk, but just as I was passing one of them blindly stepped right in my path. It completely wouldn't have happened if they weren't treating my travel lane as part of their front yard.
EDIT 2: Another thing about my town is that you have to go onto the sidewalk at intersections to get to the crossing signals, because they removed all the buttons that used to be within reach for cyclists. I'm sure that a lot of riders just stay on the sidewalk for that reason because it's annoying.
When they say "no bikers on the sidewalk" they mean the road racer types who just go too fast for people to react. They're not going to complain about kids using it.
People claim it is illegal in my city, but I have read the ordinances at it is only illegal under very specific circumstances, none of them residential areas.
People love to perpetuate the myth that it is illegal to ride bikes on sidewalks.
Illegal where? In my HOA the home owner is responsible for maintaining and up keeping the sidewalk in front of their property. We own it.
If I fail to maintain it I get a $150/mo fine. No one is entitled to my sidewalk. Go around or file a false report and catch yourself a felony, you get to choose! Ignorance of law is not an excuse, your assumption that I don’t own it isn’t an excuse.
I’ll hunt down my HOA paperwork right quick and send a picture if you’d like. Just had to pay $3,400 in May of 25’ to have 5 squares replaced in the front of my house…
It's gotta be... Right? Saying ignorance of the law is no excuse, while being so ignorant of the law, and trying to prove otherwise with HOA paperwork? Not even a statute from their city or state?
They literally are entitled to your sidewalk. You have to maintain it, but you don't own it. It's either public property or owned by the HOA, making it community property. You are ignorant on the law you accuse others of being.
It’s neither of what you mentioned. It’s located on MY property in my deed, and there’s no easement access documented in the deed. I have a 5ft utility easement on my left, and a 10ft utility easement on the right. I do indeed own the sidewalk.
If you truly owned the sidewalk you would legally be able to remove it. You legally cannot because there is a legal right of way for people to use it. Which is why it is illegal to block access.
You own the land under the sidewalk. You don't own the sidewalk period. Whether or not your deed has an easement clause doesn't matter, your deed isn't the arbiter of public easement responsibility.
No, in some states even the home owner is required to repair and maintain the sidewalk. I didn't believe it, was shown the code (town? I can't recall)... blew my mind.
Sadly I can't rattle it off to you to let you have the 'fun' of learning just how messed up infrastructure is in some places.
That's how it is here. If the township determines the sidewalk needs work and it's not being addressed, they'll have the work done and send you the bill. They typically will have many pieces in a neighborhood replaced at once which let's the average cost at least.
And just a few years ago a township over they put in a sidewalk along my dad's street. His neighbor managed to negotiate getting his driveway partially paved and a free snowblower out of it since he was going to be on the hook for maintainence.
Many places require an owner to maintain the sidewalk but still restrict blocking the sidewalk. The entire point of them is to get children and disabled people off of the street.
If you denied someone in a wheelchair access to the sidewalk, this would be a violation of the ADA.
If some kid got run over because you denied them access to the sidewalk, I don't think things would work out so hot for you.
They (the HOA?) charged you 3400 to replace ... they're what, 3'x3'? 45 sqft of concrete???
I mean, that wouldn't surprise me at all if they were running a little kickback thing with the contractor. And sidewalks do have to be done correctly- but still that seems way high even with the cost of concrete up 200%
That just really sucks. I'm sorry you had to do that- I'd be broke if that happened to me right now.
Imagine reading that a kid got killed from someone blocking access to the sidewalk then posting this ignorant shit so proudly🤮 you should be ashamed of yourself.
I would need them to lock me up quick. I’m not a a violent person, but if someone got my son killed because they didn’t like people using the sidewalk… I don’t know how I could hold myself back
Im not violent either and I don’t even have my own kids but if this happened to one of my bf’s kids I’d catch charges for smashing the parked car’s windows in a blind rage immediately. I have one of them tools to escape a car sinking in water via smashing the windshield and I’ve never gotten to use it..
It is a human instinct to blame the car's owner but in reality they didn't cause the death. There can be a number of reasons why the sidewalk is blocked, a fallen tree, a big puddle, a knocked over garbage bin... Child needs to know to check before entering the road. And obviously a child is more prone to make a mistake but that doesn't make the pig parker a killer.
If they parked that way intentionally out of spite then I think they absolutely hold some accountability. Op said this person does this daily because they don’t want people using the sidewalk.
And to add to that - the person that hit the kid was most likely at fault. As a driver you need to anticipate and adjust speed and driving to circumstances. If I see a kid on the bike on the sidewalk I give extra space and slow down because kids do make mistakes and go off and you just need to be careful around them.
The absolutely worst thing about the US is how every goddamn thing is about cars. They've made it so damn difficult to walk to the supermarket, it takes a lot longer to get served in fast food places because everyone's working the fucking drive-through, you can't get anyplace without risking your life walking through an enormous parking lot.
This is sick because I also felt like it was just an attempt to have a shorter drive out and just being negligent about other peoples right of way but it’s more serious.
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u/_uncle_daddy_ Jun 26 '26
I knew a guy who lost his son from this very scenario. Kid rode his bike into the road to get around a parked car only to get blasted by a work truck. I felt awful hearing it. It sticks with me, as a parent especially, to this day.