Bicyclists have rights on streets like motorists

To the editor:

I am a student at Southeast Missouri State University. My only mode of transportation is a bicycle. I am well aware that I do not move as quickly as cars and that I have no turn signal. I make sure to stay to the far right side of the road and use hand signals. I also obey traffic signs and lights.

Recently as I was riding to class a man in his car blared his horn behind me. As he swerved into the other lane of traffic, he shouted an obscenity.

Cyclists have a right to use the streets just as cars do, yet I have encountered much behavior like this. At four-way stops, cars will swerve around me or pull out in front of me when it is my turn to cross the intersection. Several times cars have not obeyed stop signs. Sometimes the honking startles me so that I almost lose control of my bicycle.

I understand that many motorists are accepting and watchful of cyclists, but there are a great number who disrespect us and our right to the road. I cannot imagine this is a concern for me only. I have seen older citizens, people out for exercise, children and a great number of students riding their bicycles. If people continue to drive recklessly around cyclists, there could be serious accidents. There is no excuse for the immaturity that has been shown, and there is no excuse for not sharing the road.

KATIE STRICKER

Cape Girardeau