With spring upon us, people are out enjoying what keeps us in Northern Michigan. It's Beauty. This is a good thing. However it also reminds me of how many people don't know the rules of the road. People walking should walk into traffic. People on bikes, quads, motor bikes and yes snowmobiles should be riding with traffic on our roads. Not into traffic on the shoulder. A friend recently told me they were more comfortable riding their bike into traffic. I reminded them that is why we have laws. So that we all follow a uniform set of rules to avoid confusion.
Why, you ask does this bother me? Well, when I was out driving home from work in the middle of the night, in a snow storm, a one-lighted vehicle was coming at me head on, in my lane. I started braking and my first thought was to pull onto the shoulder to avoid a head on collision with the oncoming vehicle. As I came to a stop in the middle of the road a snowmobile went flying by my passenger door. Had I pulled over, which was my first thought, I would have hit that machine head on. This starts with bicycle safety. Know the rules of the road. In my 68 mile round trip to work over 50 percent of people ride their bikes on the wrong side of the road. Please help improve this number and keep our roads safe.
John R. Kerr
Hawks