To the editor:

A growing hazard on Portsmouth’s roads can — and should — be easily rectified: landscape trucks and large contractors’ trailers parked directly in active travel lanes.

On roads throughout our town, where residents frequently drive, walk and bike, mowing crews routinely park large rigs in the street, dropping tailgates and occupying entire lanes for hours. For drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, this creates dangerous bottlenecks. Forcing traffic into oncoming lanes — often on blind curves — leaves walkers and cyclists sandwiched with nowhere to go.

In almost every instance, there is ample room to park mostly off the roadway or inside a client’s driveway. Allowing a commercial vehicle to block a lane of traffic for hours makes no sense.

In a town where many people use the streets for things other than driving cars, it’s about basic road safety. A reminder or warning note on windshields from the police department would go a long way toward encouraging crews to use driveways or shoulders. Keeping our travel lanes clear ensures everyone — whether on four wheels, two wheels or on foot — can navigate Portsmouth safely.

Camille Dumont

The Portsmouth Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee