We have a lot of bicycle traffic on Vashon. We have signs beseeching us to share the road. I am happy to share the road. Driving my car, I am glad to wait behind a line of cyclists as we all approach a blind curve or a steep hill with no visibility of oncoming traffic. I think of these folks as reducing the carbon footprint for all of us.

Here is what I don’t get: cyclists running stop signs. Yes, I understand that to actually stop the bike and put a foot on the pavement breaks momentum. But it is not safe for a cyclist to run a stop sign, glancing back and forth as they enter the intersection, scanning for traffic.

More than once I, having actually stopped for a stop sign, have turned right and nearly creamed a person on a bicycle who came up from behind me and assumed I was going straight. I had stopped and looked for traffic and pedestrians in all directions. The cyclist was not in sight as I began my turn, having been just below the crest of a hill that hid them. Not only that, I figured that cyclists were bound to the traffic laws in the same manner as I; I expect them to stop at an intersection, not hijack the right of way just because they are on a bicycle.

This is not the ocean, where smaller craft always have the right of way. This is the highway system. If we share the road, we should share the rules.

— Debbie Butler