Letter: Dangerous bicyclists need to learn to share the path

I am a resident of Jamaica Plain and a taxpayer for the city of Boston, Massachusetts, and the federal government of the United States. I am a U.S. citizen, born and raised in JP and Roxbury. I am also a pedestrian who doesn’t drive or ride a bike. I walk and take the T. Everywhere.

So when I am picking up my kids after work from Stony Brook, I am using a double stroller. That thing can’t fit on the sidewalk on Amory Street. I might as well be pushing it on the street with the cars. So I compromise and use the bike path.

I know there are signs that say this is a bike path. But everyone uses this path. Cyclists, runners, joggers, walkers, strollers and even dogs.

So when I was walking recently on the bike path on Amory Street, Green Street in sight, I saw a cyclist almost run a couple over. The cyclist called out, “Watch out! This is a bike path.” I countered, “This is everyone’s path.” And walked away before I pushed that cyclist off her bike.

That cyclist’s comment stayed with me as I got my kids home and started and finished dinner, and it finally consumed my mind in bed. I looked up bike safety laws for the City of Boston. It clearly says, “Pedestrians have right of way.” I’m not trying to lump all cyclists with that one woman, but just as there are law-breaking drivers, the same goes for cyclists. And God help me, I thought of Adam Sandler’s character in “Big Daddy,” where he threw sticks at cyclists to make them crash.

Of course I won’t do that, but if a cyclist runs me over I will make them sorry. If a cyclist tries to run my children over, and says, “Watch out! It’s a bike path,” I will finally get my driver’s license, hunt that cyclist down, and hit them with my thousand-pound car.

Bottom line: If cyclists can share the road with cars, they can share the bike path with pedestrians (and strollers and dogs).

Yanira Kilgore

Jamaica Plain