The Ins and Outs of Auto, Bicycle Traffic Lanes
“Riding on a Collision Course” (Jan. 31) enumerates a lot of the problems with bike riders on the roads. Very rude bike riders are the rule, not the exception. For some reason, they think that traffic laws do not apply to them.
Just how often do you see any bike rider actually stop at a red traffic light? (Stop signs are not even considered!) In Irvine, there are bike lanes on most of the main roads, but quite often these bikers are riding three and four abreast in the traffic lanes, so they can talk to each other, it seems.
The Orange County Bike Coalition has asked for bike lanes to be widened at the expense of auto traffic lanes. This in spite of the fact (that) we need all the auto lanes we can get due to the increase of auto traffic in the last few years, on these very roads that have been built, maintained and financed by the various taxes, fees and licenses on all motor vehicles.
I find these bikers very anxious to share the roads, looking for a “free ride,” but they are very silent when they might have to dig into their own wallets. How about a yearly license fee and an annual highway use tax to help maintain these same roads? And in the interests of safety, why not require all bikers to be licensed, just like the car drivers are.
But here is one law that even the bikers can not ignore, and that is the law of physics. Even a biker must know who will lose in a collision between a 4,000-pound car and a 31-pound bike, even if a biker thinks that stop signs do not apply to him.
These roads are congested enough without these big kids playing with their toys on the roads! I know some will quote that tired old line about clean environmentally correct transportation, but how many bikers do you see riding to work when it’s not a warm sunny day? They are mighty scarce when it is cold, dark, wet, foggy or not a Saturday or Sunday. For every bike on the road at 7 a.m. or 5 p.m., there are about a thousand or more cars. At times like this, we do not need empty bike lanes!
JACK SMITH
El Toro
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