Wendy Leighton’s opinion (“Current bicycle laws are not realistic,” April 21) is just plain wrong about the moral and ethical way to handle bicycle traffic on our roadways.

The realistic and safe way to handle tricky situations is for the driver of the car/truck to take a breath, slow down and make sure he can see what is coming in the opposite direction. That will cost a driver no more than 5 or 10 seconds in 99 percent of the situations I have been involved in and, a thousand times more important, may save the life of the cyclist — maybe even the driver.

That cyclist may be your brother or sister, or son or daughter, or father or mother, or someone you love. They are definitely loved by many others and they deserve the few seconds it takes to wait for the situation to improve.

Be patient, be careful and remember that the cyclist could die for the sake of 5 or 10 seconds. There is not a soul on Earth who could realistically argue it was worth those precious seconds.

James Wilkins, Auburn