Motorist/bicyclist controversy in Columbia

A recent Columbia Daily Tribune story covers an incident that occured between a local motorist and three cyclists:

Driving on a leisurely Sunday afternoon on the two-lane, rural highway near their Harrisburg-area home, Scott and Rita Cason happened across what is becoming a frequent sight in Boone County.

Near the crest of a hill on Route J, their pickup came up behind three bicyclists, two of them riding side by side.

The motorists pulled up along the bicyclists and gave them a lecture on safe cycling.

The article discusses the issue from the viewpoint of the motorist and of the cyclists and concludes with this:

[Brent Hugh of the Missouri Bicycle Federation] has the best advice of the day.

Missouri, he says, is gaining a nationwide reputation as being unfriendly for bicyclists, and that trend needs to be reversed.

The recipe for success is a bit of patience and education for both drivers and cyclists.

"Most often, the road users motorists must wait for are not bicyclists, but other motorists," Hugh says. "Either way, people need to get a grip - waiting a few seconds for somebody else isn’t the end of the world."