To the editor: The title of Paul Thornton’s op-ed, “Riding a bike in Los Angeles is fun. Now let’s make it safe,” he yelled at me.
Last Saturday, I was enjoying the sunshine before the upcoming rain showers, strolling through Griffith Park on Zoo Drive. The next thing I remember is that the paramedics loaded me into an ambulance. Hours later I was released from a hospital emergency room with multiple cuts, abrasions and bruises, but miraculously no serious injuries.
I don't remember the impact, but the park ranger at the scene told me that witnesses had seen a car with two young men inside intentionally swerve into the bike lane and hit me from behind, throwing me over the handlebars and into the street. and then they laughed as they sped away.
The bike is more damaged than me, thank God. I did not have any altercations or exchanges of words with anyone before this happened. For some evil reason, these drivers tried to hit a 72-year-old man on a bicycle in the largest and most famous park in Los Angeles, a place where, at least there, you would think cyclists could feel safe.
Norwood Paukert, Los Angeles
..
To the editor: I wrote this letter while riding a Culver City bus to transfer in Westwood to a Metro bus for an impromptu trip to the Getty Center in the foothills of Sepulveda Pass. I will arrive relaxed and not sweaty.
With decades of experience biking in Los Angeles, I know that taking this bike trip involves climbing a lot of hills, facing high winds, fighting traffic, and arriving a sweaty and nervous person.
Los Angeles' expanding traffic and air pollution can't be fought with bikes, but with more bus and train ridership.
Matthew L. Hetz, Los Angeles
..
To the editor: Los Angeles' bike safety is atrocious.
I am in my fourth month of recovery from my fall last November on the Los Angeles River bike path near the zoo. There were tree roots that had broken through the pavement but were hidden by leaves. These dangerous eruptions are not even marked around the city, although some fellow cyclists have kindly painted caution signs around many of them.
The result for me was three days in the trauma unit at LA General Medical Center, four broken ribs, and a broken pelvis. I'm lucky that I will recover and get back to biking, but please make biking safe.
Anne Shapiro, Los Angeles
..
To the editor: Here in Eagle Rock, our main thoroughfare, Colorado Boulevard, has dedicated bike lanes. So maybe a bike enthusiast can explain the following to me.
I was coming from a residential street and needed to turn left onto Colorado. I stopped at the boundary line, checked for pedestrians, and then crept forward until I could see oncoming traffic.
When there was a big gap, I checked again for pedestrians and started moving forward. Out of nowhere, a cyclist comes, on the sidewalk, coming from my right against the flow of traffic. I was millimeters away from taking him down.
I have seen many cyclists use the bike lanes correctly, but I have also seen them ride in groups to overflow the bike lanes into traffic. I have seen them at night without reflective equipment.
As we educate drivers about safe cycling, we must educate the cyclists themselves.
Anne Beaty, Eagle Rock
