To the Editor:

I’m going to add my voice against the notion that bike lanes, specifically ones that would remove parking on Hamilton Avenue, are a benefit to the community. Princeton in particular has shown zero interest in establishing rules of the road for bicycle riders, turns a blind eye to the few rules it does have, and yet shows an interest in granting a special dispensation to a limited audience of bike riders.

I like bicycles. I ride one. When I ride I acknowledge that I am a wheeled vehicle on the road. I assume that cars cannot see me and ride accordingly. I can’t say the same for a great number of bike riders who treat the road as if it is their personal avenue requiring no signals, no stops, no lights, and certainly no requirement to keep to the right in single file. That’s just the bad road etiquette.

I have had my dog’s leash snagged by a rider bicycling on the sidewalk on Nassau Street. I have had a number of near misses stepping out of my driveway onto the narrow sidewalk in front of my house. These aren’t five-year-olds with training wheels. These are teens and adults well in excess of one hundred pounds moving at ten miles per hour or more. You don’t need a physics degree to understand if they hit you, your pets, or your children, someone will be seriously hurt. How did Bono’s doctors frame it? A “high energy bicycle accident.” In my 50 years of residency I have seen one bike rider stopped for riding on the sidewalk, just one.

Bicycles for anyone over the age of ten belong in the streets, period. And they don’t need a special accommodation any more than a moped does. If riding on Hamilton Avenue makes you uncomfortable, then pick quieter streets that run parallel and pay attention.

Ralph Thayer

Chestnut Street