To the editor:

I have read many letters and articles recently about how there need to be concessions made to bike riders in Old Town, most of them citing how great bicycles are and how much better they are for children, the environment and universe.

That may be, but it is my observation that the majority of bike riders in this town are a mobile hazard to cars and pedestrians. They run stop signs, red lights, go the wrong way on streets, pop up on sidewalks and then head back onto the street. They have zero consideration for anyone on the road but themselves.

Bikes have struck me a total of three times, including an incident where the rider went one way and the bicycle went the other. He picked up his bike and pedaled away.
My sister commented — after a bicyclist veered into her path while cursing — that she didn’t think that Old Town was a very friendly place at all.

There was a claim by a pro-bike writer that motorists break the laws as often as those on bikes. My observation on one Saturday morning is that out of 17 bikes, none stopped at the stop sign at a nearby corner. But every single car stopped.

This isn’t to say that there are not plenty of cars, cabs and even city buses that run red lights — there are plenty. I am waiting for the day when a car runs a red light and a bike decides to do the same from the opposite direction. Then all we need is the vacant-minded pedestrian crossing King Street against the light. I wonder who will win that race?

Everyone in this town needs to start paying attention to the laws that were designed to keep us from running over one another. This goes for the absent-minded pedestrian, the distracted driver (I’m looking right at you, cab drivers) and the arrogant bicyclist.

– Michael Ford
Alexandria

(Photo/File Photo)