Quote of the week
Love this, someone left this comment on the Critical Mass story:
When cyclists are required to pay road taxes like cars are required to every time we fill up then let them "share" the road.
Discuss . . .
When cyclists are required to pay road taxes like cars are required to every time we fill up then let them "share" the road.
Discuss . . .
posted by Tom Falco at 12:01 PM
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20 Comments:
Re “When cyclists are required to pay road taxes like cars are required to every time we fill up then let them "share" the road.”
Every state has a law that bike riders have a right to our streets. After all this mode of transportation preceded cars , trucks and busses with internal combustion engines.
If you don’t like the law, than by all means make a real effort to change.
Perhaps bike riders should be given a little more respect for not consuming finite fossil fuels and polluting our air with the toxins. Perhaps bike riders should be paying less taxes, since they are not polluting nor creating pot holes. Carbon Credits might also work. Perhaps bike riders could sell their Carbon Credits to the drivers that are addicted to gas guzzlers and will soon be paying $5 per gallon.
Why don't bike rider share the road like cars. Everytime I come up to bike riders they are taking up the whole road as you say share the road don't hog the road.
Exactly my sentiments!! Both of the previous bloggers are right!
Oops, my reference to "the last two comments" was meant for the one you love & the prior one about hogging the road, NOT the sentiments in the long-winded retort. Feel free to edit to clarify if you post my comment.
If bicyclists want roads to be "friendlier" for them and expect government to pay for it. Where do they think the money will come from? They want to change major roads that are mostly State maintained. The funds will come from road taxes paid by drivers at the pump. Seems fair to tax bicyclists for improvements to roads for their specific benefit. I think required licensing of bicyclists who use the roadways would be a good idea too.
Ah, let em have a power & authority. Critical Mass cyclist are a minor passing phase. The communist & Nazi were taking over the world, then there's Castro & want-a-be Chevez. Dogs, deer & cats run in packs; I only wish the bikers would travel in straight single file like elephants and Florida warm water lobster. Come on guys and gals, single file! Jobie Steppe
Let's not stop there. Tax walkers that use our sidewalks. Over time they create significant wear and tear. Moms with strollers too. And wheelchairs....fuggetaboutit...
DKF
As a cyclist, I let the cars have the right of way. I do not expect a share of the road. ... and those darn signs are ugly and useless..
There is a natural need for free space in society where anyone can be left alone to themselves. It has become a trend for politicians and their operatives to want to get you to subscribe and pay them to guarantee freedoms. The same way you subscribe for any commercial service.
Q: Do politicians get taxed for campaign contributions and the privileges and perks they receive?
Damn funny to argue "..bike riders have a right to our streets. After all this mode of transportation preceded cars , trucks and busses with internal combustion engines.. Perhaps bike riders should be given a little more respect for not consuming finite fossil fuels and polluting our air with the toxins..." Etc. Blah blah blah...
These bicyclists are not riding their bikes to work, nor to run errands like get their kids from school & buy groceries. They're squeezing themselves into spandex to go bike with their pals as a hobby, and then they get into their fossil fueled cars to get on with their everyday tasks while polluting the air like the rest of us.
Let them all trade in their cars & bike everywhere, and then you can use this b.s. on the rest of us who don't block the roads that should belong to the cars until bike lanes are built all over the city. If you don’t like the slowness of those bike lanes getting added to the roads that the cars rightfully own, then by all means make a real effort to speed it up.
My only issue with these bikers that want an equal share of the road is that they NEVER equally obey traffic laws. If it isn't a busy intersection, these bikers do NOT stop at red lights (not just during Critical Mess), they do not wait in line at stopped traffic, but squeeze to the front, and they demand "special" treatment, not equal.
When they are willing to follow traffic laws that I have to in my car, I will respect them on the road equally.
Tony, in most civilized City in the world, except a few like Miami, cars and bikes do share the road. And in some places that means side-by-side, entire lane for cars, or entire lane for bikes. Just visit Portland or Colorado cities, or Amsterdam and most European cities.
It will take take, but one day we will will learn. We have no choice, unless they invent kinetic teletransportation soon.
As for the quote above.... beyond retarded.As out population ages and people get fatter and sicker, how much do you think fat, old, sick car drivers cost the Healthcare system?
I think that a lot of this discussion misses the point. I don't begrudge cyclists their right to use the road. I'm an occasionaly cyclist, myself, and enjoy cycling with the little boy around the neighborhood.
But the Critical Mass people are simply obnoxious, and intentionally so. The monthly event ends on the block where I have to exit my parking garage to head home from work.
The one and only time that I made the mistake of leaving too late to avoid the onslaught, the CM folks deliberately blocked me from moving down the street. Again, their ride was finished. They were just milling about in the street even though a large public lot adjacent to that street offers plenty of space to move out of the way. But worse than that, many of them deliberately stepped in front of my car and dared me to run over them.
This kind of behavior is not only rude; it's dangerous and might eventually provoke a deadly confrontation.
You're generalizing, swlip.
Have you EVER joined a critical mass ride? Most folks a regular people, of all walks of life, there are some rotten apples, sure, just like there's a lot of bad drivers too, but most are decent.
Hey, you guys should repeat your comments, but change bikers to something else - like Jews or Black people, just to see how bad it sounds when you outgroup and stereotype.
Sure there are A-holes who ride bicycles. There are also lots and lots and lots of non-A-holes - perfectly respectfuly people who ride bikes. There are also 1000s of people behind the wheels of cars who are A-holes and disobey the laws.
Maybe we shouldn't generalize so much or outgroup - or be such A-holes.
Sledge:
I didn't get out to take a poll of who among the crowd thought that deliberately blocking me and other drivers, sometimes in an overtly threatening manner, was a good idea. Certainly, no one in the crowd attempted to put a stop to it.
If the CM crowd wants to enjoy a better reputation, they should self-police their actions. If they don't, then they shouldn't be heard to whine when the City steps in.
I have heard this "tax" argument before. I think that roads were built for powered vehicles long before we ever thought of the problems that they have caused. It takes a lot of money to support the roads that cars and trucks use and it doesn't only come from taxes on gas. If our infrastructure only supported bikes, it would cost a lot less money. The fact that a person uses a vehicle that does not pollute, that takes up less room, that doesn't cause damage to the road, and is beneficial to the health of the rider should not be taxed to use the same path as the gas guzzlers. Now, if you were to ask if the electric cars should pay more tax, that's a different story.
Since everyone seems to be posting about CM instead of addressing the question: CM is fairly new to Miami. It is a protest ride to call attention to the fact that cities need infrastructure to accommodate bike riders. It has been going on for years in other cities. I say, if you want to do it like other cities, we need a clothing optional ride.
I agree that there are riders out there, mostly riding for sport, that are obnoxious and block the road. These people are not riding to work or because they need to. They are riding for "fun". We people that actually ride our bikes to work understand the concept of "sharing the road". Weekend warriors are giving us all a bad name.
What an insightful set of comments! In my opinion, in other words; If any stupid, ignorant dim witted human being feel's compelled to commit suicide they should continue thinking that
god will protect them in MIAMI traffic. Jobie Steppwe
Anon @ 3:37 - well said and cited.
I also find the contradictory arguments of A) they're not real bikers their fat & lazy & drive their cars most of time; and B) road tax, road tax, road tax; to be quite funny. You do realize that your arguments counter one another right? And also that both are factually incorrect, wrongheaded, and irrelevant.
Swlip, I agree that this kind of behavior could turn into a disaster with grave consequences.
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