Bikes are vital now

Mr. Larry Parker complains in the July 27 letters section that we’re cutting education and/or eliminating health care, as well as “things that are vital to our well-being” in order to build bicycle lanes.

No rational person would argue that spending on education and health care isn’t important. But cuts to the Department of Education and DSHS don’t get funneled to some evil bicycle lane fund, and as the economy has tanked, those of us living on the economic margins need cheap ways to get around.

And that’s where bikes come in. Many of us can no longer afford the insurance, gas and payments on a vehicle, and we deserve to get around our streets safely. Currently our infrastructure is designed so that it’s really only feasible for vehicles to navigate safely, and those who choose to bike or walk take their lives in their hands. Isn’t it fair to retrofit our streets to correct that imbalance?

Safety for nonmotorized transport is most definitely vital to our well-being. I hope Mr. Parker will consider riding his bicycle a little more often. Maybe he will when a lane goes in on a route he regularly drives.

Michelle Swanson

Spokane

Mert Turner asks in his letter (“Be safer on roads”), “Why ride the line?” At exactly the point on Argonne Road that Turner describes, the shoulder, normally 8 feet wide, narrows for a short distance to barely 12 inches, leaving cyclists virtually no room to ride to the right of the line. It may not be apparent to motorists, but even when wide, paved shoulders are available, they are often littered with glass and debris, making them difficult, if not dangerous, to ride. Shoulders are clearest near the line. That is why cyclists ride there.

Turner and other motorists should note that Washington state law says cyclists may use shoulders or bicycle lanes when available, not that they must use them (RCW 46.61.770). Cyclists are not required to “stay right as far as possible” as Turner advises. The law requires them to “ride as near to the right side of the right through lane as is safe.”

If Turner is passing cyclists close enough that he is at risk of causing them bodily harm, or heaven forbid, breaking a headlight or mirror, he is in violation of the law.

Marc Mims

Veradale