Dear Editor:
Re: Cyclists Should be Licensed to Ride, Jan. 7 Mailbox.
Most cyclists are licensed. Every cyclist I know owns and drives a car. It’s nice to have a choice to cycle to work to avoid rush hour traffic one day and use the car to go shopping the next.
Most cyclists are insured. When they cycle to work, their insured vehicle sits and perhaps even subsidizes the auto insurance rates of others.
Cyclists pay for bike lanes. Transportation is funded mostly from municipal and provincial general revenue. Cyclists pay income, property, consumption, transit and even gasoline taxes.
Cyclists generally obey traffic rules. Being licensed drivers, they are well aware of the rules of the road.
They are also very vulnerable in traffic so make decisions on how to reduce their risk.
It’s not unusual to see a cyclist jumping a curb to get out of the way when the bike lane abruptly ends or doing a rolling stop at a traffic light to get to full speed before the onslaught of traffic catches up to them again.
When they make the wrong decision, they usually come out on the losing end thus they have great incentive to make rational decisions about their safety.
Bike lanes, like sidewalks, separate us from harm’s way when moving about while uniting us in building livable cities. We all benefit, we all pay.
Will Schuurman
North Vancouver
