Evan MacKenzie

Oh no, what's he going to say now?

There are any number of plausible theories and reasons why Americans
suffer from auto-dependence...and why pedestrians and bicyclists (or
anyone who doesn't drive for that matter) are not doing so well.

1) The General Motors/Standard Oil/Firestone Streetcar Conspiracy
to get rid of mass transit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy

2) The Federal Highway Acts of 1938 and 1956, which established
and funded Interstate Highways in the name of national defense.
http://www.classbrain.com/artteenst/publish/article_113.shtml and
http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/highway.htm and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal-Aid_Highway_Act_of_1956

3) The Federal government's continuing efforts to keep America
awash in cheap foreign oil through tax breaks, coercion and even war (I
won't even list any links on this one, do your own searches).

4) Simple economics. Driving is too cheap in this country to make
so-called "alternatives" viable. The actual cost of driving is
significantly higher than the perceived costs of driving. A number of
economists have come to agree that driving is under-priced, which
results in (artificially) increased demand, which strains the system.
Again, you'll have to do your own search to come up with some good
information here, but try these for starters:
http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm82.htm
http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/article/economist/1096

Call me a crackpot, call me a loon, whatever, but each of these premises
holds a bit of truth, even if you don't subscribe to the entire theory.

Are you upset about society's apparent indifference to dead cyclists?
What are you doing about it?

Are you at least a member of the BTA, so even if you aren't personally
lobbying someone on behalf of those poor people and their families,
somebody is.

Are you talking to people about why our transportation system is so
lopsided? Are you even thinking about it? Do you live somewhere that is
far away from any services, forcing you to drive? Did you have a choice
to live somewhere that does not require you to drive? What did you
choose? I chose to live exactly one mile from work. I walk or ride my
bike to work, and occasionally ride my skateboard (what a rebel!). I
walk to the grocery store. Ironically, about all I use my car for is to
get to bicycle races (sigh). I even bought a minivan that gets a lousy
23 mpg on the highway to get to the races. Hypocrite! But I try to fill
it with passengers whenever I do drive it.

To take this to extremes, think about it this way...

We are the Jews and the drivers are the Nazis. Most of them had no
choice but to become Nazis. There was simply too much pressure. So what
do we do, renounce our beliefs and become Nazis, or work to improve the
conditions of the Jews? Don't even think I am trying to compare "our
plight" to that of the intentional massacre of the Jews. It's not even
close. But for every one of us that remains silent and inactive, more of
us will continue to lose our lives.

Why do I post all these inflammatory remarks? Because I am asking
everybody to think. Preaching to the choir will not get us anywhere, as
the majority of the people on this listserv are all choirboys and girls.
It's easy to rest on our superiority and claim we are right while
everyone else is wrong, but the fact of the matter is there are a lot
more people in cars than there are on bikes, and we as a group do not
have as loud a voice in the halls of government as those who burn fossil
fuels.

Sheesh, that was a long one. Guess I had better quit before I really
offend someone this time.

-Evan