Alexandria — I am writing to respond to two letters, "Beware Becoming Pedestrian Unfriendly" and "Are Bike Lanes Really Necessary?" that appeared in the Gazette-Packet. In the first, the writer cites bicycles as a danger to pedestrians and raises concerns about a bike route near a school. In the second, the writer decries bike lanes as being part of a hidden agenda to slow down cars.
People who wish to support safer walking are advised to attend meetings of our local Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, where a police liaison reports on crashes involving pedestrians. In fact, cars are the number one danger to pedestrians, with US-1 being our most dangerous street.
Far from being a danger, placing bike routes adjacent to schools provides an opportunity to reduce the impact of parents driving children short distances to school, creating what traffic engineers call "the second rush hour." Bike lanes near schools are mainly a danger to the pharmaceutical industry, which hopes to sell a lifetime of medicine to yet another sedentary generation. Let us instead work together to make biking and walking the healthy norm, instead of the exception, and to use our bike facilities to teach safe cycling to our next generation of citizens.
Jonathan Krall, Alexandria