Intentionally.

Because you see, with all these dangerously inattentive motorists on the road nowadays, doing things like changing songs on their iPods, sending text messages while driving or falling asleep because they can’t get enough sleep to function on the same schedule as 90 percent of the rest of the world, I’m tired of getting run over.

And, considering I’m exactly where I should be, I’ll win the case.

The fact of the matter is, state senators have so kindly written laws that give cyclists the right to use the road, and MSU’s ordinance states that cyclists are not allowed to use the sidewalks.

In fact, riding on the sidewalk is considerably more dangerous than riding on the road, both for cyclists and pedestrians.

The average difference in speed between a cyclist and a pedestrian is much greater than that between a motor vehicle and a cyclist. To make matters worse, pedestrians aren’t required to stay in a painted lane or signal to indicate changes in direction.

And unlike bicycle-vehicle collisions, bicycle-pedestrian collisions are much more likely to result in injuries for both parties.

Riding on the sidewalk, believe it or not, also is more likely to result in collisions between cyclists and motorists.

Most drivers are not in the habit of looking for something moving as fast as a bicycle on the sidewalk, thereby increasing the likelihood of cyclists being cut off or hit at intersections and driveways.

To attest to this, I myself have been hit crossing a street while riding on the sidewalk.

I was riding in the opposite direction of the one-way traffic flow on West Circle Drive (which desperately needs bike lanes going in each direction) when a driver turning onto West Circle Drive was too busy looking for oncoming traffic in the opposite direction to notice me coming, much less come to a full stop before the crosswalk.

I cannot ride my bike on the sidewalk, so why must you behave dangerously where I ride?

I also am particularly confused by the implication that a bike on the roadway poses some sort of threat or hazard to drivers.

Am I to understand that a person riding a 20-pound bike is somehow threatening to a driver caged up in thousands of pounds of steel?

In 99 of 100 collisions between a bicycle and a motor vehicle, the cyclist is the only one who is likely going to be injured.

I can possibly understand being worried about a cyclist riding unsafely damaging your vehicle, but given the “same road, same rules, same rights” mantra cycling advocates live by, this means they also are required to follow the rules of the road as motor vehicles, and are subject to the same consequences.

As for the assertion that the average cyclist is imitating Lance Armstrong, this is every bit as absurd as saying every motorist is imitating Mario Andretti.

Even so, Armstrong’s average 24.9 mph in the 2001 Tour de France is a speed any cyclist in good condition would scoff at in the context of a ride across MSU’s flat campus.

Even considering most of us choose to cruise along at a comfortable pace somewhere closer to 15 mph, I am constantly amazed at the hostility I face on a daily basis over an encounter that can amount to no more than one or two minutes of a motorist’s day.

I am honked at, yelled at, flipped off, intentionally cut off and even the target of objects thrown out the passenger side window. Is everybody really in such a hurry?

But, hey, snap out of it. You’re not Mario Andretti.

Those are the blinking lights on my white 2009 Motobecane Fantom Cross Uno in front of you, and I’d appreciate it if you’d do your best to avoid them.

Scott Myers is a State News copy editor. Reach him at myerssc5@msu.edu.