Washington Post: YEAR OF THE BICYCLE?

When cars stop killing bicyclists your tax will make sense. But so long as automobiles are making the streets more dangerous for other roadway users, they should pay to build alternative infrastructure like sidewalks and bike lanes.

Bicycle safety starts with bicyclists themselves. That means bicyclists must abide by all rules of the road including traffic control devices such as stopping (foot on the pavement) at all red traffic signals, stop signs and not racing down hills out of control unable to stop like on North Interstate. Bicyclists are killing themselves. The current status quo is one of politicians only listening to the babble of bicyclists and looking the other way ignoring the facts that bicyclists routinely and intentionally disregard traffic laws. The percentage of bicyclist violations per trip/usage is greatly higher than for motorists.

For improved bicycling safety, what is needed instead of more bicycle infrastructure is a much higher level of strict and rigorous law enforcement targeted specifically at bicyclists who choose to disrespect or ignore any and all traffic laws. Additionally, to change the bicyclist mindset from one of freeloading irresponsibility to one of accepting accountability, sharing the road also must include sharing the financial responsibility. That includes not only a bicycle tax and/or registration and license fee directly paid for by bicyclists, but also bicyclists purchasing their own headlights (no more freebees), using them or be the recipient of a traffic citation.

The percentage of bicyclist violations per trip/usage is greatly higher than for motorists.

Proof?

Friday, over on PortlandTransport, you said that "Bicyclists as a whole are irresponsible!". Given that kind of objectivity (ahem), I'm not going to accept your percentage assertion without a real study to back it up.

Oh Bob, always wanting to challenge everybody you disagree with and get the last word in. Take off your Sam Adams/BTA prescribed bicycle babble blinders and put on some reality check spectacles. It is very simple to just objectively observe any signal controlled intersection that is frequented by bicyclists to confirm that a much higher percentage of bicyclists go through on red lights than do motorists. May I suggest downtown Portland during the morning rush hour near the West end of either the Hawthorne or Burnside Bridges, or mid-day on SW 2nd Avenue.

Several years ago my commuter route was to go through downtown on West Burnside to avoid travel on the Sunset Highway. Passing by Old Town-China Town in the mornings, while cars and trucks were stopped at red lights, the bicyclists either blew through, or stopped briefly, then proceeded on against the red in violation of the law. Furthermore, and to prove my point, a few months back there was a news story, Channel 8 I believe, where the news crew set up their camera and let it run at a stop sign at the circle in Ladd’s Edition in Southeast Portland. During the time period while the camera was positioned and running, about six cars out of a much higher number did not stop while nearly every if not all bicyclists, almost 100 percent, failed to stop blowing past the stop sign. Enough said to back up my diagnosis.

Terry said: "...Enough said to back up my diagnosis."

Terry's "diagnosis" was "cyclists are killing themselves."

Terry, please submit a list of what traffic laws were broken by cyclists killed in Portland over the last...say...two years. In other words, prove your assertion that cyclists are "killing themselves."

What you've posted is anecdotal and in no way proves that cyclists blowing through stop signs is leading to their deaths.

Terry, are you familiar with the concept of the "rolling stop?" How many motorists come to a COMPLETE stop at stop signs? Hang around my neighborhood in NE where there are a bunch of alternating 2-way stop signs, and over the course of a day you could count on one hand the number of cars that actually STOP at stop signs. I have lost count of the number of times I, as a cyclist proceeding legally through an intersection with no traffic controls in my direction, have been nearly struck by a motorist who decided slowing down a bit was sufficient. And yes, I do stop at all signs/lights, if for no other reason than there are people out there who would deliberately run me over just to prove a point.

Pedestrian safety starts with pedestrians. But that doesn't mean pedestrians should pay for crosswalks and sidewalks. And no matter how many pedestrians cross against the light and jaywalk downtown, it doesn't absolve motorists from their responsibility to build safety infrastructure.

Motorist paid gas taxes, be it the federal tax that is paid into the Federal Highway Trust Fund or state and local gas taxes, from those sources not a penny should be spent/extorted to pay for bicycle infrastructure used by freeloading pedal pushers. The use of motor vehicles supports the economy and jobs. Every bicycle on the road reduces that support.

Um, faultering economy?

If the economy was faultering that badly and I needed cash, the first thing to go from my list of possessions would *not* be my $300 bicycle.

It would be my $37,000 SUV, and all of the associated costs that come with owning it (gas, repair, plate tags, AAA membership, increased healthcare costs associated with adult onset diabetes, heart problems, & obesity that come nicely packaged with my SUV-powered sedentary lifestyle...)