This is pretty much what I'd have to say about riding on the sidewalk. I've almost hit two cyclists riding on the sidewalk with my car in this exact situation. They are riding on the sidewalk against traffic cutting across driveways. It's not that I'm not looking ahead and don't see pedestrians stepping in front of my car when I make the right turn. It's that the bikes are moving three times faster than pedestrians and just "appear".jacob wrote:
For sidewalk riders, the most common problem are drivers that come up to the road to turn without stopping at the sidewalk when the sidewalk is recessed behind a few feet of grassy curb (common in the US). Practically all drivers will do this. If they see me, as a pedestrian---which I'm not really counting on since many of them aren't looking at me even as I'm looking at them---about 50% of them will stop in front of the sidewalk as they should behind the stop line on the road. The rest don't care.
The second most common problem are cars turning to the right while watching traffic to the left looking for an opportunity to pull in and completely ignoring anything from the right because they expect neither pedestrians nor cyclists on the sidewalk. That one happens regularly to me as a walker. Being on foot I can slap the hood to get their attention while jumping out of the way. On a bike, I couldn't get out of the way. (Hard to ride sideways or jump out of the way while sitting on a bike).
It's not that I'm not looking, but more that my buffer is calibrated for a 5mph walker and not a 15mph cyclist. Trees, landscaping, newspaper machines, bus stop shelters can obscure the two second glance buffer I give for that side (somehow I worry more about traffic coming up on my left when making a right out a driveway).
My knee jerk reaction (after braking ) is to remark on what a stupid thing they are doing. Riding the same direction with traffic would decrease surprise factor. Staying off the sidewalk would help further.