[lilsunnybee]

Most big cities to me seem a lot safer for bicyclists than a lot of smaller cities and communities. The traffic is often slower, and accustomed to watching out for bicycles and pedestrians. In less populated areas, particularly those that have clearly provided no thought for the safety of anyone not in an automobile, or the occasional rare pedestrian, drivers can be very careless and accidentally or even intentionally run down a bicyclist at lethal speed. Nighttime is especially dangerous, not least for greatly reduced visibility, but also many more drunk drivers on the road.

A bicyclists safety is much more threatened by a multi-thousand pound vehicle traveling at 40 or more mph with a distracted driver on a seemingly deserted stretch of road, then a pedestrians is by a 150-200 lb body traveling at around 10-15 mph. The reaction time is also much greater, allowing more opportunity to prevent a collision on the part of the oncoming vehicle.

[dllthomas]

If bicycles are rare, you are still much more likely to be seen and avoided if you are where cars expect a car to be, then if you are where cars expect nothing to be.

Of course, there are still situations where riding in the street - either in a bike lane or taking the lane - is dangerous or otherwise impractical; the question is whether riding on the sidewalk is an improvement, or whether you should be forgoing cycling (perhaps walking your bike).