To the Editor:

We applaud the recent efforts to make our streets safe for travel by cars, bikes, and pedestrians. In our opinion most of our streets are too narrow to safely accommodate four lanes — two for bikes and two for cars. There is little wiggle room to address the sudden stray garbage can, pile of leaves, or hole in the pavement. Often, in order to pass the cyclist, a car must swerve into the opposite lane or slow down to the bike’s pace as cars back up behind it.

Our other concern is the attitude of many cyclists who act as “vehicles” when it is opportune and as “pedestrians” when it is more convenient. The other morning we watched a cyclist ride across the Hamilton Avenue crosswalk, as a car — who at that moment had the right of way — stopped, as it must, for the “pedestrian.” The police car sitting in the Choir College driveway did not intervene. In New Jersey the law states a bicyclist must obey all state and local automotive driving laws. Maybe cyclists should be licensed as drivers so that we are all following the same rules as we learn to share the road.

Hopefully we will avoid the fatalities that have caused 82 cities in 34 states to add protected bike lanes in order to help alleviate cyclists’ injuries and drivers’ stress.

Katherine and David Miller

Hawthorne Avenue