Educate drivers, not bicyclists

Bicycles are the problem? Seriously (“Bike collisions on the rise,” Nov. 9)?

Between jogging and walking my dog, I cover 30 to 50 miles a week on Burbank’s sidewalks, and I can say without reservation that we have some of the most reckless, careless, dangerous drivers I’ve ever come across — which is saying a lot since I lived in Chicago, New York City and Glendale.

Stand on any corner of Oak in the morning and you can watch drivers not merely roll, but completely ignore stop signs, often on their cell phone, with kids strapped into a car seat in the back. It’s almost comical to see SUVs blow off the stop at Keystone, then pull into St. Finbar’s so they can “safely” drop their kid off on the playground.

I wish I was exaggerating, but I’ve lost track of all the heart-pounding close encounters I’ve had with aggressive drivers who seem to have complete disdain for our pedestrian right-of-way laws. And it’s not the exception, but the norm.

I am now taken aback when I actually do see someone come to a complete stop. Burbank police recently had a speed monitoring sign on Beechwood, and I watched a driver clock 43 mph, followed immediately by one who hit 47 mph. Really effective deterrent there, huh?

Instead of wasting a hundred-grand educating middle-schoolers on bike safety — when most of them don’t even ride bikes anymore, and are definitely not the aggressors along the Chandler Bikeway — the money should be spent educating Burbank’s drivers.

Take a look in the rear-view mirror, for we have become a city of scofflaws.

Tod Himmel

Burbank