Editor,

With summer here, the ferry lines reflect the increase in the number of passengers using the system. With long lines to board and hot temperatures making wait times uncomfortable, it’s no wonder tempers flare when cars cut in line. However, not all cars that bypass the line are malicious cheaters. Carpools, vanpools and motorcycles load first. Washington State Ferries (or WSF) also allows people with medical conditions to bypass the line and grants them priority loading. As stated on their website: “Medical preferential loadings are given to passengers who find it detrimental to their health to wait in a ferry line.” That means the car that cut in line may be carrying a person with a medical condition who has received authorization for medical preferential loading.

Medical preferential, or priority, loading is a privilege and a godsend, especially when the temperatures are extreme. Conditions such as heart failure, spinal and neck conditions, multiple sclerosis and the side effects of cancer treatments can be exacerbated by heat, cold and sitting idle for long periods of time. People just released from the hospital or who have had an outpatient medical procedure may also be traveling with a medical preferential loading pass. Passes are authorized year-round for periods from one to 90 days and can be renewed if medically necessary. All passengers must receive medical and WSF approval each time a pass is renewed.

Some people put signs on their cars identifying them as having medical loading priority but the vast majority do not. This makes it impossible for waiting passengers to tell if a line cutter is legit or a cheater. That’s the job of WSF and Washington State Patrol employees.

At the Mukilteo terminal, an angry passenger once assumed I was a line cutter. He got out of his car, pounded on my car window, roared at me and then threw a soda can at my car as I was waiting with my elderly mother who had priority loading after having open heart surgery. That the perpetrator did not cause her (and me) to have a heart attack is nothing short of miraculous.

By all means, let the ticket sellers or police know if someone cuts in line. But don’t confront the line cutter or assume anything. Let the appropriate people make that determination. Line cutters will be sent to the back of the line and be required to wait.

CATHERINE CESARO

Langley