This is too good to be buried in a thread which most will never read.
Don Quijote wrote:
While some here keep using and abusing their red-herring arguments
that bike lanes are more dangerous (fine, let's do it with or without
bike lanes), there's people out there that have decided to change,
even challenge the beast, so they can have a better, healthier life,
and they are part of the revolution...
Bikes are better than cars
The last time I drove the car was October 27, 2002. It was a very bad
day. I vowed that I would never drive again. I have kept that vow.
I ride my bike everywhere I go. I've lost about 45 lbs since I started
bike commuting, and my blood pressure is lower. I've found myself
expressing optimism, which was something new for me. I don't get as
depressed as I used to, especially in the winter. I think cycling is a
kind of meditation. I could never go back to driving a car.
My Beliefs
I think bikes are inherently better than cars. I honestly believe that
if more people used bikes instead of cars, the world would be a much
better place. I think people would be healthier. They would be more
physically fit, and they would be mentally healthier, both happier and
more relaxed. Those are just the benefits to the cyclist. Everyone
benefits from fewer cars. Fewer cars mean less asthma. Fewer cars mean
fewer traffic deaths (more than 42,000 people per year die in the US
as a result of motor vehicle "accidents"😉. These are health benefits
for everyone.
Our car culture has hastened sprawl and destroyed wildlife habitat.
People are becoming so far removed from nature, they don't even know
they need nature, not just for their physical health, but for their
mental health.
Cars insulate people from nature. Bikes allow people to experience it.
I don't want to be a passive observer of the weather. I like feeling
the rain and wind on my face -- it makes me know I'm alive! When I
ride as the snow falls, I can't help but smile. I feel like I'm
playing. Riding in a strong headwind is extra work, but it's extra
work for a car too. People driving cars are simply unaware that
they're consuming extra fuel. They're insulated from nature. I'll wear
the right clothing to keep me comfortable for the weather, but I want
to experience it, not just sit inside a metal and glass cage on a
cushy seat where the weather might as well be something on television.
It's a real world out there! I want to be IN it!
A cyclist can also observe plants and animals that a motorist can't.
Cars just whiz by everything too fast for a motorist to see most
things, and the motion and noise of cars send most animals running
from the horrible machine. Bicycles are quiet. They move at a sane
pace. I can actually see what I'm riding past instead of everything
being a blur.
I also believe that if more people used bicycles instead of cars,
cyclists would be more respected. We would be treated as human beings
instead of as second-class citizens. People deny us services, yell at
us, swear at us, honk at us, throw things at us, and in extreme cases
assault us, or sometimes even kill us, for no reason other than
because we are riding bicycles. In other words, people treat us like a
despised minority. We haven't had much luck being treated as equals.
And there's still that whole business of cars destroying the
environment and belching carcinogens and other particulates into the
air (asthma, anyone?). So...this means we need to become the majority.
We need to outnumber them. I'm not advocating some sort of violent
revolution. That's the farthest thing from what I want -- I'm a
pacifist. I simply want cyclists -- peaceful cyclists -- to be the
majority. Sure, it's Utopian, but it's what I want. So it's a goal to
strive for.
(lots of good stuff)