Bicyclists don't pay for roads? Think again!

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

http://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/05/05/american-roads-depend-on-handouts-from-bus-riders-cyclists-pedestrians/

[gregozedobe]

And maybe think yet again  - just for accuracy.  When you read the article linked to it doesn't give any support whatsoever to the headline proposition ie "American Roads Depend on Handouts From Bus Riders, Cyclists, Pedestrians"

What it actually says is :

  Today, only about half the money spent on the U.S. road system comes from fuel taxes, tolls, or other fees paid by drivers, according to a new report [PDF] by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Taxes with no relation to the amount people drive — property taxes and sales taxes, for instance — account for about 42 percent of road and highway spending, PIRG reports. Another 10 percent comes from bonding,

So people who pay non-motoring taxes help pay for American roads.  No problem so far, but it goes rapidly downhill from there. Some of those tax-payers MAY be bicyclists (some almost certainly are) but this article offers ZERO proof that they are, let alone what percentage of the 42% is paid by bicyclists who don't drive. Many of the people paying these non-motoring taxes will also be drivers.

Presumably many of the non-drivers will also consume goods that are carried on roads to get to the end-consumer.  I'm making the explicit assumption that very, very few people are TOTALLY self-sufficient to the extent they grow/catch/hunt/build everything they eat/use.    I certainly don't know of anyone that has built a complete practical useable bicycle from scratch using only raw materials they have gathered/dug up themselves (ie no bought/bartered components or tools)    

Sorry, but articles that are so obviously biased and unskilled in their presentation of (very) selective statistics that don't support their argument anyway really annoy me, so I couldn't help but comment.  There may be other studies that support this proposition better, but this one was particularly bad.

I'm quite happy for others to have different opinions - "vive le difference".  Hopefully we can discuss/debate the issue without resorting to personal attacks and forcing the (usually very tolerant) mods to shut down this thread.

[Syncop8r]

Anti-cyclists here often moan that cyclists don't pay vehicle licence fees therefore don't pay for the roads - but I think here the city roads are paid for by rates on property. (Highways are paid for by central government) 

[Miknitro]

When I was a kid, we had registered license plates for our bikes. Bring this back, fees towards roads and plate number for traffic hooligans to be reported with.
Jmtc

[powernoodle]

I would advocate barring all cyclists from public roadways.  They are almost invisible in the roadway, rarely obey traffic laws where I live, and are dangerous to both themselves and to vehicular traffic.  As for more taxes, fees and governmental intrusion?  No thanks.

Ah, its good to be a grumpy curmudgeon . . .   . 

[Syncop8r]

I would advocate barring all motor vehicles from public roadways.  They take up all the roadway, rarely obey traffic laws where I live, and are dangerous to both themselves and to other traffic.

 

[gregozedobe]

It's the useless, un-thinking, selfish operators that cause all the trouble        ..... not the vehicles/bicycles. 

That's why there is so much enthusiasm for good, safe autonomous vehicles (but I suspect they are a lot further in the future than some would like to think).

[Etherealicer]

It's the useless, un-thinking, selfish operators that cause all the trouble        ..... not the vehicles/bicycles.

That, but also no-one is admitting his own fault, its always the other.

E.g recently I almost crashed in another cyclist at night, because he didn't have light (seriously, why are there cyclists without light ). But then I was cutting the corner, so who is the dooofus?

I think the first step is to work on yourself and realize that everybody makes mistakes.

[gregozedobe]

I think the first step is to work on yourself and realize that everybody makes mistakes.

That is excellent advice.  I work on the theory that many road crashes involve (at least) two things going wrong, so if I try to watch out, think ahead and leave a reasonable margin for error (mine and/or someone else's), and then be ready to take appropriate action I have a much better chance of avoiding serious trouble. And let's not kid ourselves, the consequences of a crash can easily be deadly.

It seems to work for me - I've had a couple of close calls but no serious dramas so far (in over 40 years of motorcycling, bicycling and driving).  I have saved a few lives along the way by taking rapid evasive action (other idiots doing stupid things mostly).  I think riding a 'bike for many years in heavy traffic helped, you seem to develop a 6th sense of which other road users to be wary of (I don't know exactly what it is, but there is definitely an awareness of "watch out for this one, don't trust them at all").

[start rant]
You may notice I used the word "crash", not "accident".  That is quite deliberate, as I believe most crashes are the direct result of poor decision-making and/or judgement eg:
"How much should I slow down for this corner - whoops, should have gone slower",
"Am I too tired to keep driving ?",
"Have I had too much to drink to drive safely",
"When will I replace these worn (almost bald) tyres ?",
"This fog is getting thicker, I can't see very well, I wonder if I should put my fog lights on and slow down ? "  and so on. 

Using the word "accident" implies that a particular crash was truly unavoidable, and I believe that is rarely the case.

[end rant]

[Gareth]

A very healthy dose of mutual respect goes a very, very long way IMO.  Following the rules of the road doesn't hurt either.

whether I'm driving my car or riding my bike, my responsibilities to other road users doesn't change one iota.