What's wrong with riding on sidewalk?

The bike lane on Walnut Avenue (in Elgin) comes with some hazard to both motorists and bicyclists. My own experience occurred when I attempted to make a right turn onto Walnut Avenue.

When I approached the intersection neither a pedestrian nor bicyclist was present. I then concentrated on the oncoming traffic coming from my left. After the last car passed, I attempted to make my turn only to discover a bicyclist in the bike lane going the wrong way.

Fortunately, I stopped in time to avoid an accident. I told the biker he should have been in the bike lane on the other side of the street. He just grinned and continued on in the wrong lane.

I have also noticed that when a motorist is on Walnut and attempts to make a left turn he halts all the traffic behind him while waiting for oncoming traffic to clear. Before the bike lanes, you were able to go around the stopped vehicle and traffic flowed smoothly.

I am sure that the bike lanes were something that others considered necessary and were put in at extra cost to taxpayers. In truth, they were not necessary.

Elgin has many sidewalks that for the most part see little or no traffic from the handicapped, pedestrians or bicyclists. Why not just allow the bicyclists to use our sidewalks? They all share the hiking and biking paths with no problem. Can't they also coexist on our sidewalks? I think they can.

In addition, I have observed many bicyclists on the sidewalks, and assume that they are there because they feel safer than on the streets with motorists.

This whole program with bike lanes needs to be rethought, and we need to make more use of our mostly vacant sidewalks.

Verne Jarrette

Elgin