Cyclist Rights Defended; Critic Referred to Driver Handbook

In regard to “Cyclists Seek Rights Yet Ignore Laws” (Letters, Feb. 2), let me recommend the writer pay a visit to the local DMV office and pick up a copy of the California Driver Handbook. This will help relieve him/her of his/her ignorance relative to cyclist and motorist rights and responsibilities.

In regard to the writer’s specific allegations of witnessing cyclists breaking laws: There is no law against riding other than single file. We can (per the California Drivers Handbook) take a traffic lane. It’s not your lane! The lane belongs to whoever has the right of way by possession of the lane--even a bicyclist. The writer exhibits the same self-serving bias that many motorists do when chiding cyclists for “obstructing their path of travel.”

In regard to the notion that groups should ride single file. Let’s consider a group of 75 to 100 riders riding single file, and you, the motorist, won’t be able to make a right turn for two to three miles.

In closing, I suggest the “safety-first campaign” needed for cyclists is one that educates motorists. After all, I have never heard of a bicyclist running over a motorist. Chill out people.

CRAIG J. RICHIE, Irvine