Teach children to obey traffic laws

I almost ran over a boy on a bicycle recently as he followed his friend into an intersection after they both ran a stop sign. The boys appeared to be 13 or 14 so I have to assume they could recognize the stop sign and understand its meaning.

The boy in the lead followed up running the stop sign with riding on the wrong side of the street so I had to watch him to make sure he wasn't going to cross in front of me to get back where he should have been.

For a moment, it was very easy for me to understand why so many motorists don't want bicycles on the streets.

I am a bicyclist and ride on the streets here in Cedar Rapids, too. I understand that I need to obey the traffic laws to avoid both accidents and to help motorists accept my presence on the streets on my bike. This is something we all need to keep in mind and work on.

Please, everyone, obey the traffic laws and teach your children to do the same.

Leon Schindler

Cedar Rapids