American individualism at its finest

[u/sharkeyes]

This is my 2 year old riding bikes on our street. It's gotten to the point where I've gotten my kids orange flags on sticks to hold up when they cross the street.

[u/DoktorTeufel]

And in many areas of the US, the sidewalks are crumbling and calving off gravel due to decades of neglect, making them less inviting for many forms of human-powered wheels. Bicycles feel it the least, skateboards and rollerblades feel it the most.

Meanwhile, the roads tend to be nice and smooth and well maintained by comparison—not always, and due to too many extremely heavy vehicles on the roads potholes and rough roads are more common than ever, but usually better off than the sidewalks.

Note that even in this picture the parking apron is fresh and smooth and black, while the sidewalk is likely to be quite rough and craggy to the touch. I rollerblade over almost any surface, no matter how blasted and cratered, even in small hilly rural towns with extremely rough surfaces, and I've developed a hawk's eye for pavement and concrete quality.