To the Editor:

“Bike Paths or Parking Spaces? Something Has to Give” (news article, Aug. 19) describes tensions over putting bike lanes on city streets to make them safer for cyclists, drivers and pedestrians, but what about enforcing traffic regulations for bike riders? In many Brooklyn neighborhoods, people joke that you have to look both ways before you cross even a one-way street, because so many bikers are going the wrong way, even in bike lanes.

But it’s no joke. My wife was struck by a rider neither she nor I saw or heard coming from the wrong direction as we stepped into a bike lane a few years ago. And she wasn’t hurt as badly as the bicyclist, who crashed to the ground after hitting her.

Bike lanes were recently installed on both sides of Ninth Street between Prospect Park and Third Avenue, but the lanes are only four feet wide and, astoundingly, are between the sidewalk curbs and the parking spaces for cars. There’s also a narrower space for opening car doors but no barrier. The downhill side of the street is steep, and many cyclists come down it fast.

Riding a bicycle in city traffic is tricky and can be dangerous. Yet no instruction or training is required. In 19 years, I have never seen a traffic cop confront a cyclist for riding the wrong way, running a red light or riding on the sidewalk. Cyclists would probably be more careful if they had to worry about getting tickets. We’re all in this together.