That said it comes down to courtesy and safety. Whether a car is driving slowly and impeding the flow of traffic or a bike is doing the same, it isn't safe. Yesterday when I was driving to work there was a guy on a bike that was blocking a lane of traffic. The road didn't have a bike lane and he couldn't ride far enough over to allow cars to pass. He could have ridden on the sidewalk. I thought the guy was an idiot, he was endangering himself and others by his actions.
To me it's just common sense. When riding a bike I don't want to tangle with a car because I will loose. I'll do everything reasonable to keep myself tangling with traffic even if my "rights" allow me to be an idiot.
I've only tangled with a car once, and while technically it wasn't my fault I realize I could have avoided it. I was at an intersection and when the light turned green I pedaled away. A car the pulled away slowly and I was right beside him. He made a right turn into me just after the intersection. I was in his blind spot and didn't see his turn signal. Fortunately he made a very slow turn so I just scraped my leg against the side of his car and didn't go down. A very loud F bomb got his attention.
Expect people to do stupid stuff and do everything you can to be safe.
Bikes do not generally belong on sidewalks. It's dangerous. Motorists are not expecting traffic moving at bicycle speeds on sidewalks. I'll opine that the bicyclist you mentioned was safer in the center of the lane (cars had obviously seen him and reacted.) How many times have you hit a slower moving vehicle? I am going to guess none. It's easy to avoid running over someone if you are paying attention. If a driver isn't payin attention and hits a slow moving vehicle, it is THAT DRIVER that was unsafe, not the slow moving vehicle. I will never stack traffic up behind me. I'll ease over and let it vent.
The accident you described is a right hook, and they are generally avoidable. In fact most of the accidents mentioned in this link are fairly easy to avoid. http://bicyclesafe.com/
The most difficult to mitigate is the rear end. Cyclist lane position is often the source of much frustration for motorists, but is also often used by bicyclists to mitigate risks.
Cycling on a sidewalk can be dangerous, but often much less so than in the road.
If a road is narrow with no shoulder and a side walk is available, a cyclist is far better off on the sidewalk if he cannot keep up with the pace of traffic. The thing is, he will now have to contend with pedestrians who are moving at a much slower pace and moving erratically.....just like the cars in the road have to deal with cyclists.
“Life is life and fun is fun, but it's all so quiet when the goldfish die.”
