Here we go again.

Now that the snow has finally melted, the bike wars are once again beginning in Colorado.

The latest chapter follows a fatal collision in Lyons between a driver who had previously made strong statements about cyclists not belonging in the town, and an avid rider from Boulder.

Police say Patrick Ward was drunk and driving his SUV the wrong way when he hit and killed Michel Van Duym. If the allegations are true, Ward should go to prison for a long time.

The tragedy has kicked off another round of conflict, with cyclists calling out dangerous drivers and motorists complaining about cyclists who act as if they own the roads.

When will it end?

It won’t, not until there’s a broader live-and-let-live understanding that starts with cyclists obeying traffic laws and cops giving them tickets when they don’t.

Let me be clear: I’m not suggesting Van Duym was at fault in any way in the accident that took his life. There has been no hint of that.

But it seems possible he fell victim to echoes of antipathy created by riders before him who had engaged in rude and illegal behavior. Such retaliation is wrong, and it happens.

I say this as someone who spends a lot of time on a bike. When riding, I’m always worried some driver will take out his frustrations on me, even though I signal turns and unclip my bike shoes and stop at stop signs. I’ve been buzzed and yelled at for no apparent reason.

Drivers who use their cars to bully cyclists should not just be cited; some creative judge ought to sentence them to ride a bike on a busy street so they know what it’s like.

Yet, the bad behavior I see from cyclists is embarrassing. My friends, you cannot act as if you have a free pass when it comes to traffic laws.

If you find riding in big packs up narrow mountain roads to be great sport, traffic be damned, you’re part of the problem. If you blow a four-way stop on your fixie, drivers waiting their turn are going to get mad.

It happens all the time.

Consider these observations from a report done for the Downtown Denver Partnership. Researchers recorded cyclist behavior at downtown Denver locations during the morning and evening rush hours on selected days in the fall of 2011.

At 16th Avenue and Broadway, 29 percent of cyclists observed in the morning did not wait for the light before crossing, and 12 percent in the evening. At an intersection on Bannock Street, near City Hall, it was worse. Nearly 63 percent ran a red light in the morning, and 76 percent did so in the evening. These were snapshots, and not broad-based studies, but you get the picture.

In Portland, Ore., another place where cycling is popular, a student project in 2011 showed roughly the same thing, except they also tracked car behavior. Cyclists were far more likely to run red lights than motorists.

As The Oregonian reported, 56 percent of bikers ignored red lights as compared to 7 percent of motorists.

Does any of this justify aggression toward cyclists? Of course not. No matter what traffic misdeeds cyclists commit, the penalty should not be death, injury or even terror.

But what it does say is police need to do a better job of enforcing traffic laws on both cars and bikes, but bikes especially. To my roadie friends who may think this makes me a traitor, I make no apologies.

There is a real feeling among motorists that can basically be boiled down to one word: injustice. The rules apply to cars, but not bikes. Argue if you want that such sentiments are wrong, but I guarantee you they’re out there.

Greater compliance by everyone, but especially cyclists who I think are the bigger traffic scofflaws, will take some of the edge off the spiral of aggression and make it safer for bikes.

I’m talking to you, guy in the chef’s jacket who is obviously commuting to or from work on your bike while listening to an iPod.

I’m talking to you, athlete in a matching kit who doesn’t want to let your power drop by stopping.

I’m talking to you, shopper whose beach cruiser basket is filled with the evening’s groceries.

That stop sign is for you. And it’s for me. And it’s for everybody, so that we can forge a more peaceful co-existence between bikes and cars.

E-mail Denver Post editorial writer Alicia Caldwell at acaldwell@ denverpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AliciaMCaldwell