You are right, I stand corrected. Under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act

185.(2) The council of a municipality may by by-law prohibit pedestrians or the use of motor assisted bicycles, bicycles, wheelchairs or animals on any highway or portion of a highway under its jurisdiction.

I looked at the Ontario HTA and I cannot find anything about vehicles on sidewalks.

I have not checked every municipality which has jurisdiction on their sidewalks to find out if they have a bicycles on sidewalks bylaw, and/or whether they allow children and/or bikes with certain diameters. Maybe I should have said my experience so far indicates most do have bicycle bylaws governing bicycle on sidewalk use.

To the best of my knowledge Toronto allows bicycles with 24 inches or less on sidewalks, and Mississauga and Brampton allows 20 inches or less. Of course one assumes the intent was to allow children to ride on the sidewalk but does not specify child. Stunt bikes, folding bikes and ebikes frequently have these smaller wheels.

Hi Allan...

Legally, sidewalks are part of the "highway".
http://www.e-laws.gov...

“highway” includes a common and public highway, street, avenue, parkway, driveway, square, place, bridge, viaduct or trestle, any part of which is intended for or used by the general public for the passage of vehicles and includes the area between the lateral property lines thereof;

Lock

Very interesting discussions.

The sidewalks are designed for pedestrians. But since a bicycle is a vehicle, the sidewalks become "highway" of general public for the passage of vehicles. On the other hand, the pedestrians walked on sidewalk, one kind of the highways, sometimes in opposite direction of the highway traffic. The laws are messed up.

Currently, I rid my ebike with my son siting in front (I think he is too young to sit at the back), with minimun speed (may be under 3 km/h) on sidewalks, stoping and waiting for the people walking toward us to pass (I found more people walking the opposite direction of the "highway" traffic), and receiving thanks from them.

Not sure how much trust to put in these folks after their silly ebike crash testing video:
http://www.ebikerider...


...but seen here:
http://www.talkingmon...

Children in trailers are sitting particularly safe

Institutions close to the car industry denounce bike trailers for transport of passengers, as the colourful, light carriages become increasing popular, sometimes replacing second, if not first cars. Hard projectiles must occasionally take the blame for discrediting this environmentally-friendly mode of child transport. Dekra (a German car safety testing organization, with strong links to the automobile industry) and Bruderhilfe (a German church organization that provides car insurance) report that a car speeding into a trailer can be fatal. Surely, the fact that cars represent a real danger for everyone without a crumple zone is common knowledge without the car lobby needing to advertise the fact itself.

There are, however, insurance underwriters who make objective assessments of risks. Last year, for the first time. the AZT (the technical research center for Allianz, a large German insurer) took the trouble to compare the potential danger of trailers and traditional child bicycle seats for their small passengers. The results of twenty seven crash tests give a clear message: children are safer in trailers than in the bike seat. When AZT chief Dr. Dieter Anselm gave the results on 21 March 1996 in Munich, he described them as "surprisingly positive" - the AZT had approached the set of tests with a certain amount of reservation.

Subjectively, children in a trailer look particularly vulnerable, placed at the height of cars' bumpers. But it is precisely this that can save life in the event of a collision: the car pushes the trailer completely out of its path, while the cyclist, "high on a horse", is catapulted first onto the car and then into the road. The transport of children near the handlebars is particularly dangerous; with those in rear-mounted child seats fairing better in head-on collisions. The trailer does not tip over as readily as the bike - and when it does, the height of the fall and the potential for injury are clearly lower. With child seats serious accidents can take place when the bike is being loaded - whereas a trailer with a axle coupling remains unaffected should the towing bike fall over.

The AZT stresses the importance of stable trailer construction with full seat belts and the use of helmets, to prevent the children coming into contact with the bumpers. Unfortunately, relevant safety standards are lacking, and the models tested could all have been improved. The manufacturers and retailers of trailers are moving into uncharted territory: Paragraph 21 of the German road traffic regulations (StVO) forbids carrying people on the "goods area" of a trailer. This regulation does not directly apply to bike or special child trailers, but there is room for doubt. In the view of the AZT this is a pity: "The manufacturers of bike trailers must be given a clearer legislative framework, so that they can further develop this, the - so far as we can determine - currently safest transport mode for children and thereby contribute to better protection of children in traffic".

(*) The original title: "Des Zöglings Sänfte", seems to make a play on words equivalent to "train -> trainee(pupil)" and "train - something pulled".

More in the link...

Lock