I offer an alternative perspective to Bob Sawatzki's "Bikes on roads: Some people just don't get it" (Opinion, Oct. 21). Sawatzki's ignorance and arrogance are absolutely dazzling. He suggests that automobiles are both evil and unnecessary. They are inanimate objects, and are neither evil nor unnecessary. People can be evil; objects cannot.

Most of us enjoy the freedom to move from point A to point B on our own terms, and cars are necessary to exercise that freedom. Sawatzki refers to those who don't drive as "low status." If he chooses to classify himself that way, that's his business, but I know no fellow drivers who agree with him.

He tacitly supports "critical mass" biking, which is often used to disrupt traffic and induce road rage, and then feigning indignation when the authorities intervene. If he interprets "freedom of assembly" as the right of people to intentionally disrupt the lives of others for their own political ends, then his understanding of the term is woefully lacking.

Both bicyclists and motorists have a responsibility to share the road. As a motorist, I will promise to be courteous to bicyclists if Sawatzki will promise to stop bashing motorists.

John Howell

Cedar City