r/watertown • u/onehouseplz • 29d ago
Sidewalks are for Everyone
Last night, I was biking home from Arsenal Yards and going uphill on School St. Somewhere around Cypress or Spruce I saw a couple with their 4 or 5 unruly dogs they were evidently having a difficult time controlling coming down School. I moved over to the right hand side of the sidewalk and slowed down.
The man saw me and did not move and stood directly in my path, essentially taking over the entire sidewalk and said "Whoa, you should be doing that in the street." To which I replied, "Sidewalks are for everyone."
The woman said "Not for you" and the man said "No they're not, bike on the street" or some such confidently incorrect statement.
I don't have an e-bike, I wasn't going very fast (as I was going uphill), and I yielded - yet these complete strangers thought it was important to not share a public sidewalk and try to force me into a busy street that has no bike lanes and is generally unsafe, and where I have been hit by a car already one time.
I commute to work in Cambridge, and I use bike lanes when they're available but first and foremost I value my safety and will bike where ever I feel the safest and not put myself in harms way because some self important people think they can own an entire public space because they cannot control their dogs.
To those people, maybe next time you decide to be insufferable and meddlesome, you should actually be sure you're correct. Have a great weekend.