ROAD: There's plenty of room

This letter is to the impatient driver who yelled “Get out of the road” to me on Thursday, Aug. 2, around 8:45 a.m. while I was traveling eastbound on Front Street and approaching Seventh Street in Coeur d’Alene on my Harley Davidson.

Apparently you felt I was not going fast enough as I slowed down preparing to negotiate a left-hand turn. My signal was on because I was turning at that intersection. As soon as I turned the corner, I stopped to speak to another motorcyclist at that intersection and he asked me, “What was your problem?”

We were both bewildered by your outrage.

Do you realize that motorcyclists have the same rights to the road as other vehicles? Do you also realize that the majority of accidents between motorcyclists and larger vehicles are caused by the larger vehicles, following to close or violating the right of way of the motorcyclists? Just recently a Post Falls man and motorcyclist was run over and died because of a driver that was apparently doing that same thing, following too close!

In my 43 years of riding motorcycles and probably more than 200,000 highway miles, I have been fortunate enough to never experience a crash with a larger vehicle. I have been active in protecting motorcyclists’ rights since 1989 and was responsible for initiating legislation in 2006 that allowed motorcyclists to proceed through a red light after one complete cycle of the signal when the sensors fail to recognize the motorcyclist. Idaho was only the fourth state in the nation to pass that type of legislation.

You need to review the rules of the road and curb some of your road rage before you are also responsible for someone’s serious injuries or death.

TIM HERZOG

BikePac of Idaho Inc.