So, to recap: motorists incur more costs to the system than they repay. They require local governments to subsidize them through property taxes. They are responsible for a greater number of deaths and injuries to others per passenger-mile, per passenger-hour, and per passenger-trip. They frequently exhibit behaviors that directly result in greater numbers of dead and injured.
Cyclists pay more into the system than they cost. They reduce traffic congestion, reduce our demand for a massively important yet dwindling energy resource, and reduce air pollution in large cities. They are responsible for virtually zero deaths to third parties each year, and inflict proportionally far fewer injuries to others than drivers do.
One of these two groups is the recipient of both outright hostile aggression on the road and endless uninformed griping off of it. Care to guess which?
For the numbers, check http://www.vtpi.org/whoserd.pdf
Automobile users pay roughly 1 cent per mile for local roads in fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees, yet impose around 6.5 cents per mile in maintenance costs. The shortfall is picked up by general taxes and property taxes. Cyclists, in comparison, impose roughly 0.2 cents per mile in costs.
Apologies for letting the facts rain on your parade.
@denis1112 @TheTrustedMechanic The vast majority of road expenses are paid through property taxes, not fuel taxes. Combine that with the fact that bicycles inflict several orders of magnitude fewer maintenance costs on roads (essentially zero), and one could easily make the argument that cyclists are more rightful users than drivers (by paying slightly less, but imposing dramatically fewer costs).
@BrianFink It is, in fact, statistically around seven times more dangerous to ride on the sidewalks than on the road. Sidewalks cross both roads and intersections, and rarely are drivers looking for objects traveling 15mph+.
On top of that, in most jurisdictions, it is illegal for cyclists to use the sidewalk.
Not only is it our undeniable legal right to use the road, but it is also the safest place to ride and virtually always the only place we are legally permitted to ride.
So, to recap: motorists incur more costs to the system than they repay. They require local governments to subsidize them through property taxes. They are responsible for a greater number of deaths and injuries to others per passenger-mile, per passenger-hour, and per passenger-trip. They frequently exhibit behaviors that directly result in greater numbers of dead and injured.
Cyclists pay more into the system than they cost. They reduce traffic congestion, reduce our demand for a massively important yet dwindling energy resource, and reduce air pollution in large cities. They are responsible for virtually zero deaths to third parties each year, and inflict proportionally far fewer injuries to others than drivers do.
One of these two groups is the recipient of both outright hostile aggression on the road and endless uninformed griping off of it. Care to guess which?