Road has room for all

THE EDITOR: A few weeks ago, we lost two cyclists and several others were injured when a vehicle ploughed into them while on their morning ride out of Port of Spain.

Since then there has been a lot of commentary in the media concerning these cyclists that use our nation’s roads to train, and according to some of the comments that I have read, drivers feel the road is for motorised vehicles alone.

All this time, I have not heard anyone call out the hustlers that dodge traffic rolling around barrels of beverages and nuts. No mention either of those who run from one side of the highway to the other selling newspapers. There was also not one line written to complain about the fruit and vegetable vendors that have set up shop on our roadways. Not a word was said about the teenaged windsheild-cleaning hustlers that harass drivers at traffic lights during hours when they should be in school.

There was also deafening silence about the snow-cone and ice-cream vendors that ride anywhere they please with their tricycles. No problem there as that is their legal right.

But according to these commentators, it is not okay for these professional cyclists, many of whom represent your country to train on our roads! Yet, some of the same people expressing these views will be the first to celebrate when our athletes mount the podium to wave the red, white and black!

Come on people, all it takes is for drivers to focus on the road and have some understanding to ensure that these athletes can enjoy the road too.

No law is being broken by them. They try to obey all the rules of the road, so they shouldn’t have to beg to use the road network. It is their legal right!

Steven Valdez via e-mail