On my most recent travels into many subdivisions (including my own) with at least one sidewalk, I have encountered the vast majority (>95%) of the time that children, families, pregnant walkers, and joggers were in the street….and sometimes running or walking in the middle of the street.
Why, do you ask, is a perfectly good sidewalk being ignored and remain unused? Are we disenfranchising the sidewalks unnecessarily? Are we discriminating against sidewalks? And who maintains them since many are in disrepair and “uglifies” the front yards of many homes?
I would imagine you will need to ask the people not using the sidewalks….maybe the sidewalk blocks are not even (if you look at them, some are level, some cracked, some slope with yards then get even)…so there’s alot of inconsistency. That could be the reason people jogging or on bicycles don’t use the sidewalks. but what about mom and dad taking the newborn or young children on a walking stroll around the neighborhood in the street where it isn’t safe and avoiding the safer sidewalk? Uneven concrete sidewalk the culprit again?
How about sidewalks along roads outside subdivisions? Do you see the need so much for many of them? Do you see alot of foot traffic on them to get to different places? Have you seen the pretty red bricks and colored concrete sidewalks that some communities have installed only to see nobody ever use them?
I think that until we solve this dilemma of unused sidewalks, perhaps we should stop building them and see if we notice?