Dear Editor:
Is it just me getting older or has God granted immunity to cyclists? Auto traffic has been and is being pushed aside to make room for beautifully paved and marked bike lanes.
Before, as a bike rider, I knew that a car trumped my bike, so pay attention. As a car driver, the dump truck trumped my Pontiac. It was survival of the biggest. Now I am finding cyclists driving like there is no God. Several times now, coming westward down Third Street and stopped at the light at Forbes there have been cyclists running that red light and then the one at Second and the one at Bewicke. They can see all three intersections and go for it.
Cyclists have the Spirit Trail and still use the road. They come from nowhere and everywhere and cross lanes without signalling. They pass you on the right, cross lanes whenever they want and run red lights. They all wear the same kind of spandex, so how do you report these miscreants?
I'm sure these are the minority, but they now have my undivided attention. Bike lanes run up to intersections where they must share the road with right turning cars. Or do they? I am now seeing car drivers not going there and blocking through traffic for fear of encroaching on these bike lanes. This causes mayhem.
Politicians have made green space and bike lanes a priority over the last few years. They have given a disproportionate amount of designated road space to them. The riders should now follow the rules of the road. Motorists will still be blamed for every accident, but I am now seeing the majority of the responsibility for fault belonging to the cyclists.
I have driven them all: trucks, cars, motorcycles and bicycles and have always followed the rules and known the consequences when I didn't. Only my bicycle didn't have a plate. Cyclists now should wear a licence plate on their bikes or their backs. We need to be able to identify them to authorities when they screw up. There seems to be way more of them now.
Leo Vanderbyl North Vancouver
