Comments on: Spot or Not: Motorcycles on the Sidewalk

By: David Carmona

David Carmona — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:02:39 +0000

Stephanie, get a life… Do you not have better things to do than imagine wildly unlikely fictitious scenarios? As long as the bike is not blocking pedestrian traffic, what is the big deal? If you don’t like it move to the sticks and take your neurosis with you…

By: Stephanie Wedgwood

Stephanie Wedgwood — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:12:35 +0000

what about a gas leak running down the sidewalk from a parked (on sidewalk) in front of an apartment building. Fumes through my windows, possible fire, motorcycle exploding, my building burning…what then? Parking enforcement? a ticket? Towing? Some do-nothing cops?
This guy’s disregard for people around him is disgusting.

By: thefrontsteps

thefrontsteps — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:38:05 +0000

SsT,

We live in a city. Tolerance is great….our neighbor has moved. Problem solved.

By: Show some Tolerance!!

Show some Tolerance!! — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:48:00 +0000

I just came across this discussion while researching the legality of parking my motorcycle on the sidewalk in front of my apartment in San Francisco.

Parking a motorcycle on the sidewalk is not permitted, unless it is in the “shadow zone” of a building, meaning within the distance the stairs of the building extend into the sidewalk.
Typically, SFDPD doesn’t give out tickets to motorcycles parked on the sidewalk as long as there is plenty of space left for pedestrians, strollers and wheelchairs to pass. They will ticket if someone calls in the violation.

Before you call SFDPD on your neighbor, you might consider a few things.

1. Is this really THAT big an inconvenience for you? You must live a pretty sheltered live if this is big enough of a problem to post online. Your downstairs neighbor has to tolerate your kids running up and down the hallway. Consider showing some tolerance as well.

2. We live in a city, meaning a lot of people share relatively little space. As some people already pointed out, it is sketchy to park one’s motorcycle on the street. Sooner or later, someone will back into it, which can be quite expensive. Plus, I’m sure we’ve all been in the situation of searching for a parking spot for our car and seeing a motorcycle taking up an entire spot (which is perfectly legal), thinking “Dude, do you have to take up this much space?”. Unless there are some 1/2 spaces on your block, where is the guy supposed to park his bike?

3. I also think it should be illegal to install loud tail pipes like on a Harley, but it isn’t, so don’t take out your annoyance on your neighbor. I would just ask him to keep the noise to a minimum while he is on the block and especially in font of the house. It is called COMMUNICATION, which is quite different to calling him in.

4. Realize that you live in a city. With all the great things such as convenience and culture, there are some drawbacks to living in an urban environment. If you absolutely can’t handle that, move to a Cul-de-sac in Sebastapol.

By: noearch

noearch — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:14:47 +0000

sorry Danny, but you have it all wrong. It IS illegal to park a motorcycle on the sidewalk.

My first option when I see that is to call the parking enforcement. simple.

obey the law.

By: Danny

Danny — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:50:44 +0000

Want to concur with the motorcycle riders here:
1) It is possible to responsibly park on the sidewalk. Either on a very wide sidewalk, between other obstacles where you are not creating an additional impediment or up against a building, again on a very wide sidewalk.

2) Parking on the street near cars means that someone will bump and/or knock over your bike. This can costs hundreds of dollars to repair. Drivers NEVER leave notes if they do this

3) Parking on the street in those little spaces between driveways, is often even worse. Cars backing out of garages, especially SUV’s will clip your bike and knock it over.

4) The optimum solution is a few dedicated motorcycle parking spots on every block.

5) If a motorcycle is inconveniencing you, the first step should always be to talk to the owner or leave a note (unless its a totally unreasonable situation). Calling parking enforcement should never be the first option.

By: motomitch

motomitch — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:15:45 +0000

no one seemed to mention that the major reason bikes park on the sidewalk is because it cost money to park on the street. Should be free for bikes to encourage people to get out of the cages.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:12:07 +0000

From a purely economical standpoint, presuming a late model Harley. A knocked over motorcycle can cost $1000 damage. The insurance for coverage for collision is about $1000/yr, which is what covers knocked over motorcycles. If a ticket is $40 on the sidewalk, that’s 25/yr tickets in lue of insurance. SFMTA is more aggressive ticketing motorcycles on the street than on the sidewalk, but they do occasionally ticket the sidewalk, maybe once a month in my experience.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:44:01 +0000

Wow. Consider a gated community. Consider the facts: motorcycles are much more economical, environmentally friendly, and have an extremely small footprint (including, even, the ‘egregious’ Harley). Unfortunately out of ineptness, yuppie social-deviance, or weird pathological motorcycle resentment, bikes get consistently knocked down and damaged when parked on the street, especially by big SUVs and other gas-guzzling vehicles that block a driver’s rear view. Now those should be illegal.
I’m assuming you drive a car. If you ride a bicycle only, then you can kvetch.

By: jo

jo — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 11:11:34 +0000

Studies say there is no correlation between loud pipes and a lower rate of accidents. The Hurt report claims 77% of all motorcycle obstacles come from in front of the bike – pipes point and direct most of their sound behind them. As in any relationship – afterall, like it or not, that’s a relationship you have with harley guy – open comunication is a good way to find effective compromise of differences, assuming you want your relationship to continue, which you probably both do in that the relationship is based upon the location of your homes. Bikes don’t have to be loud. The first week I had my bike I thought I’d do the right thing. I parked on the street in a spot unable to accommodate a car. I went to ride it and found that it had sustained some damage from a fall. At least someone had the decency to stand it back up, but the throttle had been damaged and would not release once opened. That could have killed me, but I tend to check the bike every time I ride. I now park on the sidewalk, an inch from the wall of my house and cover it. Please don’t call DPT on me. Thanks