[Auracle]

Maybe not in urban places, but it absolutely makes no sense that it's not legal in my rural area to bike down (some) trails/sidewalks that run along roads. Usually if you bike down them it's rare to see another person even on them, and and motorists surely aren't on the lookout for bikers like they should be/are in some cities.

They even put a bike lane in on the road at my parent's house. Again, there's a perfectly usable trail/sidewalk right alongside the road that's far, far from busy, and the bike lane is also used for parking. I'm not going to swerve in and out of the road when there's a place that's 100% safe to bike down.

Hell, for that matter - laws be damned, I bike down the left side of the road here. I want to see a car that's not paying attention to me coming, where I'll at least have a chance to react. Again, it's not like a city where you're sometimes in the flow of traffic. The cars are going 40mph when I'm going maybe 15mph?