Editor:
Mr. Willis is guilty of excessive hyperbole in his distorted attack lumping most cyclists as scofflaws while completely ignoring the vast numbers of pedestrians and motor vehicle operators who routinely ignore the law ("Sick of cyclists," Letter to the Editor, Jan. 18-19).
Inconsiderate jaywalking pedestrians could care less when they stop traffic as they blithely usurp the right of way. By law, cyclists and motorists alike have to yield to pedestrians. One woman was jaywalking on a busy street causing her 4-year-old son to be killed by an impaired motorist. Both parties were in the wrong, but the woman would have had to walk a third of a mile each way to reach a crosswalk every time she got off the bus near her apartment.
The problem is curmudgeons like Willis lack intelligence, insight and empathy, so they are incapable of seeing any point of view but their own. The same kind of narrow and sanctimonious thinking can be attributed to cyclists, motorists and pedestrians, alike!
I suspect that Willis is the kind of angry motorist who honks his horn and curses at anyone who gets in his way, but refuses to use his turn signal, or look for cyclists when opening his car door after parking!
Jon Mann
Santa Monica
