Alan B said:
Riding bikes on sidewalks is extremely dangerous. Sidewalks are designed and maintained for 5mph and people expect that to the the maximum speed there, so don't exceed that speed on a sidewalk. Many accidents occur when people attempt to ride on the sidewalk. When you are on a sidewalk you essentially become a pedestrian. Whether it is legal or not is a local issue. Whether it is safe or not is another story entirely. If you ride at 5mph then the sidewalk may be ok. Ebikes have better choices.
That's probably a sensible notion in San Francisco and many (perhaps most) other places. But come out to Scottsdale, Phoenix and similar cities and I can demonstrate to you that there can be very clear exceptions. Pedestrian traffic is almost non-existent on most Valley sidewalks. You may think that is an exaggeration, but it isn't. We are such a car culture here, that walking on sidewalks is pretty rare in most non-downtown areas. Furthermore, I routinely have to deal with pedestrians in bike lanes. So dealing with them on sidewalks isn't all that different.
I avoid sidewalks as a general rule for a variety of reasons. They are generally not optimal or even good for bike riding. But I do make exceptions to my general rule with no reservations. One of those exceptions that I make is in riding on the sidewalk on East Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd near the Scottsdale Airport. Here's a Google Map link to that stretch of road (specifically, the stretch between North Hayden Road and North Greenway Hayden Loop.
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6323366,-111.9019737,771m/data=!3m1!1e3
If you zoom in (link below) you'll see that the North side of the street has no bike lane or sidewalk.
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6323742,-111.8972092,53a,35y,270h,47.66t/data=!3m1!1e3
This is a heavily trafficked road and it would be risky to ride in the right lane alongside it. There is a dirt trail, however, that is passable. But on the South side, there is an 8 foot wide (my eyeball estimate) sidewalk that might have a single person on it every fifth or sixth time that I ride it. And that may exaggerate the foot traffic. The sidewalk is long, straight and wide.
By using it when heading in to work, I can avoid crossing 50 mph traffic four times. My alternative would be to turn left three times in traffic. Of those the turns, One would be questionable from a safety standpoint. One would be plain stupid. And the third would be OK but I'd be on high alert because of the frequent car speeding on Greenway Hayden Loop.
The negatives for using the sidewalk are that there is a cross street and I can expect cars to NOT see me coming on my trip to work because I'm on the "wrong" side of the road. But that's the key, I CAN predict that and can therefore manage and control what I do and negate that risk. This is hands down the favored route given the options available. And it is very safe not only compared to the alternatives, but compared to many of the bike lanes that I also use. This is true even during the TPC Scottsdale Golf Tournament when there is a lot of foot traffic on this sidewalk and when I find it necessary to dismount and walk my bike for two or three blocks.
I can provide other examples where riding on the sidewalk is clearly and obviously the best and safest option not just for me, but for the community in general. Sometimes, ebikes (or regular bikes) do not have better choices.
