Motorists need education on cyclists

As a Boston resident who bikes everywhere 12 months a year, I have a few comments about cycling in Boston (''Bicycle safety bill just spinning its wheels," City Weekly, April 23).

Education for motorists about bicycle safety should be an important part of driver's education programs in Massachusetts. Most drivers in Boston do not even know that bikes are supposed to be on the road. I could never begin to count all the times motorists have screamed things like ''get off the road" or ''get on the sidewalk" as I biked around Boston. There is a foul sense of entitlement among drivers that says the roads are for them and cyclists are just a nuisance. This is ironic, as cars are unsafe and polluting the city.

Though cyclists should be riding safely, the real burden of responsibility lies upon the cars, because motorists are operating enormous, deadly machines. Just as a motorist cannot be held responsible for rear-ending another car because the vehicle that was hit is in a defensive position, bikes should be similarly given the benefit of the doubt. Aggressive driving should be considered assault with a deadly weapon, because cars are capable of killing cyclists; it is not an equal relationship.

Whenever there is an article on cycling, journalists always feel the need to make it seem fair and balanced, as though cyclists and motorists just need to get along and each has an equal responsibility for road safety. This is a gross oversimplification; it is motorists who are killing cyclists, not vice versa.

If Mayor Menino can find money in the city budget to post Evacuation Route signs in every square inch of the city, he can certainly scare up a couple bucks to put up some ''Share the Road" signs like those in Watertown (for example) on the main roads of Boston.

Aaron Lecklider
South End

Rudeness, and danger, getting worse

In my 26 years of bicycle commuting, I feel that during the last decade it's been getting less and less safe every year. Traffic, rude drivers, and rude bicyclists are increasing every year. Every year it takes me longer to get started after winter. (I use to ride in winter, when it was safer.)

My commute starts by going around double-parked cars downhill on a busy street. Sometimes it has gotten so bad that I've had to walk the bike on the sidewalk.

While I believe that enforcement is important, I put a lot of the blame on such things as street and traffic light design. The mayor and the BRA have put concerns of cars ahead of pedestrians and other modes of transportation.

One big purpose of smart growth is supposed to be cutting down the number of and need for cars. In many neighborhoods you used to be able to get shopping for basics done on foot without leaving your neighborhood. No more.

When the Big Dig was done, the city and state were supposed to do traffic-mitigation projects. On this, smart growth, pedestrian and bicycle safety, I give the city and state an F. They seem to have created a city where people's main concern is where to park their car and the hell with bicycles and pedestrians and public transportation. This makes me feel like moving out of this city.

Louise Baxter
South Boston

Support for more signs, enforcement

I agreed strongly with your article on poor bicycle-auto relations and wanted to share my commuting experiences.

I live in Somerville and bike daily to MIT, approximately 1.7 miles each way. I have been commuting year-round for several years. It's much faster, more enjoyable, and cheaper than driving. There is a well-designated bicycle lane along my route, and it is used by hundreds of cyclists daily.

I experience an average of one very dangerous situation per week (car turning in front, pulling out from parking space, car running light) and daily potential dangers (pedestrian not aware, pothole, construction, door opening, etc.).

Every day, I observe more than one cyclist ignoring red lights. I see other cyclist violations weekly (e.g., no lights, riding on the wrong side of the road or sidewalk). At least once per month I am honked at, yelled at, veered at, sped past by an aggressive driver.

I highly support increased police enforcement and public signage to raise awareness of commuters. It's in the city's interest to improve bicycle-auto relations.

Direct benefits include reduction in bicycle-auto accidents.

Indirect benefits include converting drivers to cyclists, which would improve pollution, traffic congestion, community morale, and decrease road maintenance, automobile collisions, parking needs.

Craig Forest
Somerville

Nuisance bikers breaking the rules

Being trapped behind a bunch of bicycles drives me crazy. They refuse to ride single file and take up the whole lane. When cyclists take the rules of the road seriously, I will take them seriously.

Until then, I will treat them as the nuisance that they are.

John Marshall
Essex

You want respect? Don't ride on the sidewalks; it's illegal

Nowhere in Sacha Pfeiffer's article on the bicycle rights bill is it mentioned that bicycling on sidewalks is totally illegal in Boston. Pedestrians don't look to see if cyclists are coming, because they are not supposed to be there.

Even when pedestrians and bicyclists share a path, never are pedestrians warned that a bicycle is about to pass.

Bicyclists might get more respect if they obeyed rules.

Robert Canterbury
Fenway-Kenmore

City should not waste time on issue

The city should not waste any time on the bicycle issue. Without law enforcement, nothing works. I have nearly been blown away by speeding cyclists coming up behind me on the sidewalk, witnessed them going the wrong way on Beacon Street, and seen 90 percent of them riding without a helmet.

With over 300,000 students in the area, for many of whom this is not home, where is the incentive to care about laws?

Phyllis Bloom
Back Bay