As to bicycles riding on sidewalks and paths, this is dangerous and this is why these paths should be avoided by cyclists who should instead use the street, and if they find it dangerous (as we often do) they should call the cops on bad drivers and jaywalkers etc.

I am sorry that your husband was hurt and as a cyclist myself I do not bike on sidewalks and paths. Cyclists should stay on the road, and make use of it as is there legal right. Anyone bicycling any kind of distance would find riding on sidewalks intolerable; experienced riders know it is dangerous. Perhaps these people, although they bike, are not experienced. But I doubt an experienced rider who put in 5000 miles last year is riding on a sidewalk.

Please don’t think cyclists are reckless because some newbie kids are riding like morons. Yes, on sidewalks pretty much all bike-pedestrian incidents are the cyclists fault — sidewalks were not meant for fast moving wheeled traffic. On the other hand, keep in mind that on the road the situation is often reversed; cyclists riding in the street are routinely caused to crash or have near misses by clueless pedestrians who jump out into the street without looking, and who often then end up angry at the cyclist they nearly knocked over. At least once a week I have to shout warnings to pedestrians who leap into my path when I’m traveling at 20 mph on my bike in the road, often carrying a heavy pack on the way home from work. Also, keep in mind drivers of cars kill far more people than either bicyclists or pedestrian traffic.

My legally blind husband is bumped, brushed, nearly knocked over, and otherwise mistreated by bicyclists using the sidewalks, especially on Franklin Avenue bridge. Blind walkers can't see the curb edges and so are safest on the rail sides of the bridge sidewalk. Pet peeve, cyclists who don't yield to pedestrians who are legally crossing at a light.

This summer, CRITICAL MASS, lost all my respect when they decided to block all lanes of traffic on public transit-heavy Franklin during rush hour, when they could have blocked the one way high volume traffic corridors of 26th or 28th streets which have next to NO bus traffic at all.

If bicyclists want to claim the moral high ground in transport, they'd better show more respect to pedestrians and transit users.

In my opinion, bicyclists AND BIKES should be LICENCED, bikes on sidewalks (where there's a bike lane on the street) should be ticketed. All bikes on sidewalks should be required to send a sound signal as they approach a pedestiran. And bikers who aren't walking their bikes should be subject to ALL the laws that apply.

And a cyclist who causes a senior to fall and sustain an injury should be arrested for vehicular assault or reckless endangerment or vehicular manslaughter, if that broken hip leads to death, as it so often does with seniors.

Sr. citizens walk and we VOTE, we also carry cell phones with cameras.

If cyclists want the support of the general public, they need to respect pedestrians. If they want bike paths and lanes, they should USE them instead of using the pedestrian paths on West River Road.