I tell you not to ride on sidewalks because it's unsafe, impolite, and
illegal -- but today (18 November 2016) I saw that the light ahead of
me would be red when I got to it, and rode up a driveway onto a
sidewalk so that I could go around the intersection instead of through
it.

The sign saying Heritage Trail made it legal to ride on that
particular sidewalk, but such signs only aggravate the other two
problems.

Rude: there wasn't a soul on the sidewalk, and there rarely is --
this is the end of a trail that doesn't go anywhere. If I had
happened to meet or overtake walkers, it would have easy to avoid
worrying or inconveniencing them. After all, if all else fails, I can
get off and become a pedestrian.

Which leaves "safe". Sidewalks are unsafe because of the
intersections. Since the walkway is part of a beachfront park, there
are no front walks or driveways, and the first parking lot I come to
is the one that I would have turned into had I taken the street -- and
getting into it from the sidewalk is probably safer than getting into
it from the street, because I don't have that wild little dido
occasioned by jumping the curb, and I don't come in at street speed.

(In this town, every driveway must have a lowered curb instead of a
curb cut. Even wheelchair ramps, if they meet a street, have (upon
close inspection) vestigial mini-curbs where they meet the street. No
one has ever suggested a reason for this. Nearby Nappanee gets on
fine without curbing alleys, driveways, and parking lots.)

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.