That debunks the laundry list of irrational complaints that motorists have against us?
You know the score, not paying for roads, taking the lane, breaking traffic laws, yada yada yada.
I need all the info to be cited and whatnot so I can have a factsheet to use in my endless discussions about these issues and hopefully open a few minds along the way.
Thx
I think biased & accurate information is probably better.
Breaking traffic laws: ask them to come out to a nearby stop sign or 4-way stop. Have them count how many cars come to a complete stop.
Road funding: http://www.vtpi.org/whoserd.pdf This is Canadian but reasonable.
A lot of taxpayer money goes toward road construction, which is mostly car- and truck-oriented construction, and very little of it goes toward bicycle-oriented construction. So bicycle commuters are subsidizing the car drivers much more than vice versa.
In a car-bicycle collision, the car driver might suffer a delay, and some scratched paint, or a dent, while a bicyclist might suffer broken bones, a hospital stay, or death.
"You don't pay for the roads" is such a strawman though. Why even fall for it? I own two cars. If you fall for the logic of "own car=pay for road" then I'm in the clear, yeah?
My favorite was "I thought you have to have an engine to be on the road". My immediate response was "Amish".
Complete shill here.
We have all of the advocacy articles we've printed (along with everything else...) available online. Our regular advocacy writer is David Hoffman, BikePGH founder who now lives in Marin CA doing full time bike advocacy work out there. He's covered many of these topics for us.
http://urbanvelo.org/advocacy/
My favorite was "I thought you have to have an engine to be on the road". My immediate response was "Amish".
If you want to be a technical ass (which why not, if they're already being an ass), our bodies are engines - just not internal combustion ones. An engine provides locomotive force. That's us.
Also, automobile: human on a bike together makes a self-moving object.
Vehicle: A lot of people use this to mean car, but I'm sure none of us would disagree that bike fits well within the definition of vehicle.
Re: breaking traffic laws. just ask them if they do the speed limit on the birmingham bridge.
Let he who has never Jaywalked, cast the first stone.
