This guy in San Franscisco has prevented any new bicycling plans in the city by forcing an environmental impact report, which is taking years. His claim? "Urban bicycle boosting could actually be bad for the environment."
Wonderful. Just wonderful.
Link to the story in today's WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121919354756955249.html?mod=hps_us_inside_today
Wonderful. Just wonderful.
Link to the story in today's WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121919354756955249.html?mod=hps_us_inside_today
Posts
3 comments:
"The behavior of the bike people on city streets is always annoying," he says. "This 'Get out of my way, I'm not burning fossil fuels.'"
HAHAHAHA!
I can't see how his argument may even begin to be validated. It's such a longshot to begin with but how many other factors may create an increase in pollution during the course of this study? It seems as if this study's results were to somehow line up with his idea that bike lanes would increase traffic snarls, idling and therefore, more harmful emissions, that increase could be attributed to so many other variables that an endless chain of competing studies would follow. It shouldn't be conducted in the first place.
Either way, he does have some pretty catchy lines:
"The behavior of the bike people on city streets is always annoying," he says. "This 'Get out of my way, I'm not burning fossil fuels.' "
"Regardless of the obvious dangers, some people will ride bikes in San Francisco for the same reason Islamic fanatics will engage in suicide bombings -- because they are politically motivated to do so," he wrote in a May 21 post.
We don't need no stinkin' bike lanes!
Actually, I'm all for bike lanes so that new & slower cyclists can ride more safely on the street, but I think of them as training wheels to get used to sharing the road with motorists. Bike lanes often present hazards of their own (double parkes, door zones, right hooks from turning vehicles, etc.), and if you ride over 10mph you are often better off just taking the rightmost lane on most city streets.
That's kind of funny about his Islamic fanatics comment. I guess some people have political motivations for cycling, but just as many people have health or economic reasons (faster & cheaper in city traffic) and he fails to realize it's just plain fun.
---
The article did say he hasn't owned a car in 20 years. This is why cyclists really need to learn to respect the pedestrian right of way. He's probably been buzzed by cyclists one to many times and now he hates them all.
Post a Comment