To the editor:

The roads are filled with cyclists as we reach mid-summer. Bicycling has been an enormously popular outdoor exercise during Covid restrictions and even more now in warm weather with many Covid restrictions lifted. 

However, there is a persistent danger to cyclists on the road: car drivers that do not recognize the extreme risk to cyclists and themselves when they attempt to pass a cyclist on a blind curve. A motor vehicle driver’s careless impatience in this situation presents an extreme threat to the cyclist when the driver attempts to pass and suddenly sees a vehicle coming the other way and forced to swerve right to avoid it- hitting or forcing the cyclist off the road. 

There have been dozens of times in my 20-plus years of riding in Barrington and Southern New England when I was forced off the road, sideswiped by a car or truck, or had to emergency brake and crash when a driver swerved to avoid an oncoming car to save themselves and their vehicle and putting my life at risk. 

One particularly busy local road with blind curves where I have been put at risk and have witnessed constant recklessness by drivers is New Meadow Road before it merges into Warren Avenue just past Sowams Road. This is just one example of many blind curves in our area. Please slow down and DO NOT PASS cyclists in any situation where you cannot see oncoming traffic around curves.

I also ask that drivers be patient with cyclists, like myself, who “take the lane” in blind curves to avoid being hit by careless drivers. I, along with many of my fellow cyclists do this now because it is the only way to stop reckless and impatient drivers from threatening our lives. Please be patient during the few seconds of necessary slower driving in the interest of the cyclist’s and your own safety. Recognize that I and other cyclists are not only protecting ourselves but doing you a favor by reminding you that you cannot see what is coming. Share the road safely with cyclists.

Section 31-15 RI State Motor and other vehicle law:  The driver of a motor vehicle may drive to the left of the center of a roadway to pass a person operating a bicycle proceeding in the same direction only if the roadway to the left of the center is unobstructed for a sufficient distance to permit the driver to pass the person operating the bicycle safely and avoid interference with oncoming traffic.

Ken Horii

Barrington