Bicycle riders need to accept responsibility for their actions and expense.

Riders who use their bicycles for transportation need to step up. The cost to meet their demands for bike racks on Metro, bike lanes, special street drain grates, trails, etc., needs to be understood. Automobile owners pay taxes, registration fees, inspection fees, toll fees and gas taxes on a regular basis to maintain streets and roadways, yet the bike riders pay nothing.

Let’s consider the bike riders paying an annual fee for bicycle registrations, an endorsement (similar to a motorcycle), an extra fee for Metro to haul the bike and an every-other-year safety inspection for bikes (brakes, tires, lights, etc.).

It’s been easy for both sides to point the finger, but there are three major points that need to be addressed:

1. The bicycle riders need to do more to make themselves visible. The helmet isn’t enough protection. Bright and/or reflective clothing and lights would make them easier to be seen.

2. Equal enforcement of the traffic laws. There are a number of bad bicycle riders and car drivers. Traffic laws are made for those using the streets and roads (cars and bikes). Ticket those who don’t signal, force others to yield right a way, run stops signs, speed, etc.

3. There needs to be a way for the bicycle riders to participate in paying for the requested improvements for the bicycles.

– Howard Lontz