Sidewalks also have two-way traffic whereas the bike lane should be only one direction (which is also the direction of car traffic).

This is a completely irrational way to look at it.

The risk of a pedestrian fatality posed by a collision with a car travelling 30kmh is closer to the risk from a car going 5kmh than that of a car going 50kmh.

Look at the chart here:

http://www.victoriawalks.org.au/safe_speed/

The risk from speed is non-linear.

Risk the pedestrians in speed zone greater than 30kmh, because risk of fatal injury is far lower.

Don't know many bikes in my community that go 5mph. They're going 20, commuting miles to work.

Anyway, the pedestrians don't risk either now. So saying "Folks should be comfortable adding a reasonable risk of death, since it could be far worse!" is not compelling.

walking 3-4, scooter 10-15, cars 25-60. each is about 3x more than the previous.

But it's a stupid comparison for safety. Colliding with a scooter will rarely be fatal, regardless of the 3x. But cyclist often get killed.

See also: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/535/why-does-kin...

There's a LOT more energy being transferred into whatever the car hits both because it's going much faster and because it's much heavier.

The chance of collision should also be considered. Since intersection collisions are the same or worse for riding a bicycle on the sidewalk, we should consider overtaking while there is insufficient space which seems like it would be a strong function of extra space on either the road or the sidewalk and relative speeds. Im not sure why you listed 60 as I'm not really aware of any roads with such a limit that also reasonably expect bicycle traffic.

All the roads around my house have a 55 limit. If I didn't bike on them I wouldn't bike at all.

Wow. Is this Arizona?

Missouri

Arguing "Sure bikes will hit you, but it will rarely be fatal!" is not terribly convincing. Its reasonable for pedestrians to want bikes off the sidewalk. The chance of collision is far greater.

I know its a hard statistic for bikes to swallow. There seems to be no winning for them. But that's my whole point.

so we're willing to kill people because we want to avoid bumps and bruises?

Seems fucked up.