More training will curtail bike-car collisions

Last week, a cyclist who was travelling Butler Street in Lawrenceville reported that an impatient and angry car driver assaulted her (“Woman Says She Was Shoved Off Bicycle by Motorist in Lawrenceville,” July 23, post-gazette.com). How do we prevent such assaults? And how do we prevent future cases of cyclists being buzzed, hit or killed by car drivers?

We need better enforcement of traffic laws, and we need driver re-education.

Police should be testing the driver for drunkenness, and arresting them if there is evidence of assault or of reckless, distracted or intoxicated driving. Too often, an incident has been misclassified as an “accident.” Drivers who make our roads and sidewalks unsafe need to have their licenses suspended.

Much of the anger toward cyclists that fuels such incidents comes from ignorance of the law. Some Pittsburghers think that bicycles don’t belong on roads, only on trails and sidewalks. Or they think that cyclists must hug the right side of the road in all cases. Or they think that cyclists must travel at the speed limit. Such beliefs are contrary to the Pennsylvania vehicle code. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation needs to institute written tests for drivers license renewals, as California and other states do. They should test to determine if drivers know the 4-foot passing law, for example.

Also, we need more classes for cyclists to educate them about lights, hand signals and lawful behavior on the roads.

PAUL HECKBERT Edgewood

Be wary of the GOP

We have a raft of Republican candidates campaigning for the office of president, carefully crafting their messages to attract and hold the narrow population that supports the Republican Party in its present form. I long for the days when we had Republican moderates standing shoulder to shoulder with Democrats to solve the problems presented to the American public. Today we have a Republican Party so extreme that no concern is given to the public interest — public health, safety or welfare.

Let’s see: We have an anti-science party that decries the very environmental regulations that protect the country and future generations. We have a Republican Congress that votes to undercut highway safety with trucking regulations written by the industry for their benefit rather than the public’s. In our own state of Pennsylvania, the Republican-controlled Legislature, beholden to the natural gas industry, protects them against an extraction fee.

Even with the soaring profits of corporations and high-end executive salaries, Republicans do not want to raise the minimum wage. They are protecting the source of the monies that keep them in power, and that’s their main interest. So, when you look at the Republican candidates, look to what is already taking place in our Republicandominated Congress and state legislatures.

A country’s fabric — a financially secure populace, healthy and thriving communities with environmental integrity — is all subverted when power and money take precedence. Woe to us if we have a Republican presidency in 2016.

HARRIETTE CARLISLE Shadyside

Editorial disconnect

The July 25 editorial “Unsettling Step: Israel Ends a Four-Year Freeze on New Settlements” attempts to connect the dots between Israel’s disapproval of the nuclear deal with Iran by the United Nations Security Council members, which includes the United States, and Israel building new residences for settlers in the West Bank. Evidently the “palliative visit” by U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter somehow motivated the Netanyahu government to authorize the building of additional units.

I really don’t recall Israel needing excuses in the past based on international diplomatic activity to their constructing new units in the West Bank, except for domestic political maneuvering. Further, it is totally disingenuous of the editors to conclude by suggesting that Israel’s discontent with the deal with Iran has lead them to take it out on the Palestinians.

GEORGE BEDO Wilkinsburg

Cut the Senate

I would like to respond to the comments of state Sen. Scott Wagner, the York County Republican, regarding teachers in the July 22 op-ed “Teachers Aren’t Widgets.” The senator said if 10 percent of the teachers in the commonwealth were laid off, they would never be missed. Perhaps we could use the same logic with the state Senate. We probably wouldn’t miss 10 percent of the state Senate. Think of the savings.

DAVID M. BRINK Ross