Why Elderly Pedestrians Fear People on Bikes or Fast Scooters Who Tailgate Them on Sidewalks. Use the Bike Lane

It's Bike-to-Work Week, May 16-22nd, 2011 here in Sacramento and nationally. And a message to all bikers interested in fitness, green health, and exercise is don't tailgate or pass close to pedestrians on the sidewalk when you bike. Use bike lanes, not residential area sidewalks when there are pedestrians on the sidewalk. Most Sacramento streets are too narrow for bikes and older adults to share because of the balance issues older adults have when a bike passes them within inches.

Senior citizens, people who are visually impaired, the deaf community, slow walkers, children, and those in wheel chairs are begging bikers to please not tailgate in your quest for green health fitness. Will you celebrate Bike Week by staying off the narrow Sacramento sidewalks especially in the Arden Arcade area where pedestrians have only one area to walk--and use the bike lane instead?

Although the law here says bikes can ride on sidewalks in residential areas, use common sense and take the bike lane when you see an older adult on the sidewalk carrying packages a few inches from your wheels. The pedestrian has only the sidewalk for safety, whereas you have the bike lane and the sidewalk. It's not fair for bikers to have sidewalks and bike lanes to ride while elderly pedestrians have no place to walk safely away from bikes passing them at high speeds a few inches from their elbow as they walk on the sidewalk.

Please don't tailgate older adults, especially those who are hearing or sight impaired with invisible disabilities that you can't see as you ride behind them. Please don't use the sidewalks for biking instead of the bike lanes. Pedestrians need one safe place to walk, and they trust you as if you were a pilot.

A typical scenario here in Sacramento is that an older adult is walking alone on a narrow sidewalk, for example, Marconi Avenue in the Arden Arcade area. Or the person has to walk in the curb because there are no sidewalks that connect Watt Avenue and Marconi to the Town & Country shopping center at Fulton & Marconi. Or the sidewalk is narrow between El Camino Avenue and Watt and Marconi Avenue where numerous senior citizens and people with disabilities who can't drive need to walk home from shopping at the various supermarkets.

Suddenly, the wind blows the hat off one of the senior citizens, and to catch the hat before it leaves the individual's head, suddenly an elbow flings out to the right. But the older adult has no idea that a young biker is tailgating that senior citizen, and what happens? The older adult gets hit by the bike, chipping the person's elbow bone, and the young person speeds away without stopping or apologizing for tailgaiting the older adult--driving right behind the person in order to pass.

It happens so frequently in Sacramento that it's worth mentioning in the name of green health. There are so few sidewalks that older pedestrians can use to walk to shopping and appointments. And although there are bike lanes, younger bikers and some middle-aged ones as well use the sidewalk. This deprives the older adult of any safe place to walk. Many older people in Sacramento cannot drive. Some are visually impaired or deaf. Imagine how frightening it is for the older pedestrian to have a bike speed past them inches from their right or left side and how easy it is for a slow-moving elderly person to lose his or her balance when a bike or scooter is that close.

This is a reminder to show courtesy to older people walking home from shopping as you bike to or from work or during lunch hour, please don't tailgate older adults. It's very frightening for an older adult to be walking down a narrow street and suddenly on the right hand side a bike whizzes by fast with no warning. If you yell at the person, it only frightens them and they stop in their tracks to turn around. Be aware that older adults may not hear or see well and cannot tell whether you are riding on your bike close to them. They often make sudden moves.

It's annoying to have to turn around every 10 seconds if you're a pedestrian to see what bike is behind you as you carry packages home from shopping or walk to your appointments. The right position to take if you bike to work or school is to ride in the bike lane, not in back of an older adult who must walk on the sidewalk. If there are no sidewalks, the person walks along the curb, which often is filled with dirty water from lawn sprinkler runoff.

Since Sacramento hasn't the budget to build sidewalks safe for senior pedestrians and others who need to walk, use the bike lanes. The rule needs to be changed so that bike riders have to use bike lanes, not the sidewalks in residential areas where there are sidewalks too narrow for pedestrians and bikers. The worse habit is riding bikes two abreast on the sidewalk which gives the older adult with trouble keeping his or her balance no where to turn for safety.

Older people have slower reaction times. You also have people in wheelchairs, those with invisible disabilities, the deaf, and blind or visually impaired pedestrians who must walk from home to shopping. Most older non-drivers who have to walk cannot afford to hire chauffeurs to drive them to the supermarket. It's up to you bikers and kids on scooters. When you see an older person on the sidewalk, don't tailgate them.

Use the bike path, not the sidewalk. It's dangerous for an older adult to be walking quietly with packages only to feel the breeze of a fast-riding biker pass only inches from them on the sidewalk. Please don't scare older adults with your bike. And for our representatives, please pass a Bill to forbid bikers to tailgate seniors and others on the sidewalks. Residential areas should be made safe for pedestrians.

The most dangerous times for older adults to walk to supermarkets or shopping areas in Sacramento is when kids bike home from school, when workers bike home from employment, and in the late afternoon as well as the noon hours, when people bike to lunch. Help keep Sacramento's seniors safe from tailgating bikers who are biking for the sake of green health. The deaf or sight impaired older adult is walking for green health also because the individual is physically not able to bike and probably has no driver's license due to balance or reaction time issues from advanced age or eyesight and/or hearing impairment.

Plenty of younger people with disabilities drive, but the focus is on the older adult at home during the day who has to battle loose dogs, scooters, and bikes tailgating them on the sidewalk while walking a few blocks to shopping.