Letter: Bike safety more important than bike courtesy

I almost witnessed another tragic bike collision while traveling on U.S. 278 the other day. A car in the left lane decided to stop at a crosswalk to let a biker cross from the median in front of the Fresh Market Shoppes. While the cars in the left lane were forced to stop, the car in front of me in the right lane could not see the biker through the line of cars and almost hit him traveling 45 mph.

Stopping in the middle of a busy highway to yield the right of way is not appropriate when the vehicles around you are not expecting you to stop. Nor is stopping just around a blind corner to allow bikes to cross.

Responsibility for biker safety falls on drivers as much as it does the cyclists navigating our roads. I hope drivers use common sense when deciding to be “courteous” to those trying to cross busy streets.

I know the young woman stopping on U.S. 278 would have felt differently if she realized how much she had actually endangered that biker.

This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Letter: Bike safety more important than bike courtesy."