<p>
</p>
<p>In many of the towns that I have lived in, sidewalks are set back from the street by a grass strip and there is a row of trees planted on the grass strip. Additionally, cars are parallel parked on the street. So a cyclist on a sidewalk is shielded from view by not only a row of parallel parked cars but also by a row of trees. They are essentially invisible to vehicles in the drivers lane.</p>
<p>Again, I don’t think this was the layout of the exact situation that sylvan’s kid experience. But when we write traffic laws (such as barring bicycles on the sidewalk or saying that a sidewalk bicyclist must yield to cars turning right), we must consider that these situations exist somewhere. And I would be very surprised if nowhere in NYS does a row of trees and parallel parked cars separate the sidewalk from the roadway.</p>
<p>I don’t think bicyclists should ride on the sidewalk for the very reason that the sidewalk is not designed to be a travel lane for moving vehicles (including those that are human powered).</p>