Bikes and cars must co-exist

This is a response to the parking issue complaint for Bach Rd in Rutland.

It seems to me that both parties are being a little selfish.  Although Rutland is not the ideal place to commute by bicycle, we should be encouraging the use of alternative forms of transportation, not parking our gas guzzlers in their way. 

I own a car and a bike, and use each according to its appropriate use. 

I drive a small car that gets me where I need to go when a bike doesn’t make sense (such as out of town or during the snowy seasons.  Whenever possible, I ride my bike to save on gas and the environment and my health, so I can see both sides of the story. 

If there is truly room for both to coexist, then the cyclist seems to be picky, but I’d have to say that so many times when there is even a bike lane, it feels very unsafe to have traffic whizzing by so closely. 

Especially when there are cars parked on one side of you and moving ones on the other, the risks are greater to be hit by a moving car or an opening car door. 

The reason I felt compelled to say something is because you seem to think that just  because the cyclists are a minority they shouldn’t matter as much as the vast majority that drive more than necessary and have more cars than they  need simply because it is convenient for them. 

So maybe you should also think of other people, even the future ones.  We need to learn to share the road and our resources instead of pushing out alternate modes of transportation because it interferes with your visitor parking.

Kelly Spencer