Letters

Your cover story “Bicycles On Main ‘Definitely A Problem’” [Western Edition, July 23; “Westhampton Beach Village Mulls Biking Restrictions On Main Street,” 27east.com, July 21] gratuitously bashes cyclists who are on the whole obeying local traffic rules and helping reduce our carbon footprint. The photo of a couple of kids without bike helmets just being kids adds insult to injury.

The real problem on Main Street is poor and inconsiderate drivers who exceed the speed limit and carelessly back up into traffic — including bikers and pedestrians — while texting and otherwise engaging in distracted driving.

It is past time that we embraced carbon neutral cycling by creating protected bike lanes throughout the Hamptons and especially along the region’s Main Streets and Dune Road.

Let’s stop the senseless bashing of cyclists while showing undue deference to drivers, every one of whom is behind the wheel of an inherently dangerous instrumentality.

Joel Epstein

Westhampton Beach and New York City