BIKERS: Time for common sense

As the weather has finally come to resemble summer, it is wonderful to see folks out and about enjoying the sun and the beauty of North Idaho.

However, bike riders, (some, not all), have become more and more inconsiderate and ultimately created greater risk for themselves and for vehicle drivers.

North Idaho has created an abundance of "Bike Trails" and "Bike Paths" to encourage bikers to enjoy our area. It baffles the mind to see a biker or groups of bikers, pedaling along a vehicle lane when on the other side of the street is a wide lane specifically noted as a "BIKE LANE."

More dangerous are the bikers on narrow, winding, hilly roads such as East Hayden Lake Road. The road is especially narrow with no shoulder. Combine that with the hills and blind curves, blinding sun popping through the trees here and there and the road is dangerous enough to have a 25 MPH speed limit, often ignored. I've heard it said bikers like the road for the scenery. Shouldn't they be looking at the road in front of them?

It seems bikers have a serious lack of common sense when they ride two and three abreast or singly down the middle of the road as I observed yesterday and many other days.

Every summer I wonder WHEN a tragedy will occur on Hayden Lake Road and IF it will awaken bikers to their lack of common sense and common courtesy.

Perhaps roads such as East Hayden Lake Road should ban bikers for their own safety and the safety of people who live along narrow, hilly, winding roads.

SHIRLEY THAGARD

Hayden