Get on the road!!!

[swinehund]

I just came across this article, and while the accident itself is extremely discouraging, some of the comments from exclusive motorists who claim that cyclists need to be off the road are worse. I know that you're never supposed to actually read the comments on news sites, but the people who made these comments are controlling several tons of metal

Comments

[kiwano]

Even in the absence of any moral superiority, cycling tends to be pretty wildly undersupported. There was a bit on cycling services/infrastructure a little while back (on Studio 2 IIRC), and one of the points of debate that came up was whether it was justified to have a ~$1M cycling budget when the modal share for cycling is only around 1.5%. While I'm still inclined to support the cycling advocate in the panel having taken the moral superiority line, I would have really appreciated if someone had pointed out that $1M doesn't even come close to 1.5% of the municipal transportation budget, never mind that the 1.5% figure is one of the most conservative estimates out there (one that only counts as cyclists those road users who consider themselves to be cyclists exclusively or almost-exclusively). The whole situation is pretty appalling.

[swinehund]

That is an excellent point. Also under-publicized is how the argument that cyclists don't pay for the roads is bogus.

Slightly on-topic: when we were riding through Washington state, some fellow from the side of the road shouts "Why don't you pay some taxes on those things?" as we rode past. That was pretty confusing, but I guess he didn't know we were Canadian. Maybe 15% wasn't enough for him?

[kiwano]

Of course back in Ontario, we have to trot out the moral superiority (or point out that motor vehicle registration barely covers the administration costs for the registry), since bicycles $1k and under are PST exempt :)

[wig]

I AM ON THE ROAD!! I AM ON THE DAMN ROAD!!! NAKED EVEN.

[swinehund]

Now that's more like it!