To Mr. Harding: In response to your second letter titled "Pedestrians," I welcome the verbal discussion and, in a civilized society, even verbal combat is healthy, but I certainly had no intention of angering you to the point of physical combat. I commend you for taking the time to do the research on the Indiana codes and I have no reason to doubt their authenticity.
And after pondering your previous letters over the weekend, I have come to the conclusion that we will probably never change your mind or your attitude toward us. But if through our debate I can get even one driver to be more cautious, more civil, then I feel that I have accomplished something good.
As I stated in my previous letter, my goal was to just get drivers to slow down to a safe speed when approaching a runner or cyclist and to move over when possible and as far as possible. As a driver, I have been in similar circumstances, and I can honestly say that I have not been detained for more than a few seconds if I have had to go out and around or because a car was coming from the other direction. Other than in case of an emergency, I can't imagine anyone being in so big of a hurry that a few second would make that much of a difference in them reaching their destination.
I will also state again that the reason we sometimes appear to be a bit arrogant and refuse to vacate the roadway is because when we do attempt to do so, a small minority of drivers will still maintain their excessive speeds and even swerve as if to cause us harm. I know we do not want to be injured any more than those drivers really mean harm to us, but they are part of the equation that creates our problem.
Another issue is the unevenness of the shoulders along side the roads where you wish us to go. They can be real ankle busters, and in some cases, there is no room to go so we are forced to maintain our positions on the roads.
Again, not to be redundant, but we are just asking drivers to please slow down and share the roadways. And, on your behalf, I would ask my fellow runners to give ground and wave their thanks if they see a vehicle making an effort to slow down and/or move over. In doing so we can all safely get to where we are going.
