Comment 75761

By bikehounds (anonymous) | Posted April 07, 2012 at 09:17:40 in reply to Comment 75760

I would like to see a 3 foot passing law enacted, with mandatory reduced passing speeds. I believe that the "fines doubled in construction zones when workers present" rule should apply to all vehicles on all roads when passing any human who is not protected by a vehicle. That means giving space and slowing down for pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclits, scooter-ers, construction workers, police officers, garbage collectors, crossing guards and any other human. This should be common sense and common courtesy, but it isn't. The fact that we need a law in order to try to encourage this behavious speaks volumes to the depth of the problem with automobile centric infrastructure. Anyone who argues for speed of the car commute over the safety of all road users does not deserve to have a license.

The "law breaking cyclist" argument is a red herring. The only people who can make that point with any weight behind them are those who don't drive anywhere, as well as those drivers who never speed and who stop for three full seconds at every stop sign (and before every right-on-red manouevre). Which is basically no driver. Now, if cyclists were injuring motorists at the same rates as motorists injuring cyclists, there might be a valid "scofflaw cyclist" argument to be made. But nitpicking at petty traffic law abidance issues only invites the same nitpicking back and gets us nowhere.

This isn't about drivers vs cyclists vs pedestrians vs equestrians. This is about creating roads upon which all users are treated with equal respect by each other, by the law and by traffic engineers. It's about supporting all citizens' freedom of choice to move around their city using the means they choose.

I don't understand how this goal can appear so utterly distasteful to anybody.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds