Letters: Biking in L.A. -- dangerous for whom?
Re “A tough L.A. wake-up call,” Column, Feb. 18
So Ben Poston maintains that it’s just not safe to commute on a bike in L.A. after he T-bones a truck while riding at night without lights. Please allow me to clarify: It’s only unsafe for people who ride like Poston.
Those who ignore that little sticker on their bike that says, “Don’t ride at night without lights,” should expect to get in an accident.
Poston admits he’s also become a bad driver as well, testing the limits of yellow lights and speeding on surface streets. Perhaps Poston should do himself and others a big favor and stay off the streets.
J. Marvin Campbell
Culver City
Poston describes how dangerous it is to bike on city streets. Well, it might be because people drive 50 miles per hour, as he says he does when in a car.
It might also be because many bike riders don’t obey the rules of the road. I don’t bike anymore because I saw too many cyclists ignore stop signs and even red lights.
When I was a child in elementary school in Long Beach, we couldn’t ride our bikes to school until we knew the rules of the road. We were told we had to stop at signs and lights, had to signal, had to ride in the street and not on the sidewalk, and were a vehicle just like a car.
Cyclists might want to remember that.
Nancy Painter
Chula Vista
Poston’s honest assessment of cycling reality is interesting. For years, riding motorcycles among cars has been considered dangerous and foolish, but now activists think bikes mix well with cars on local streets. At least you can hear motorcycles.
It made me think about how groups use “moral superiority” to gain the preferences they desire.
The very essence of equality is that no one has moral superiority. We strive for equality, but it is unattainable. One thing we can do is prevent people from claiming priority because of their imagined moral superiority.
Oren Grossi
Long Beach
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