In article . net, "Robert
Haston" wrote:

"Trudi Marrapodi" wrote in message
...
In article t, "Robert
Haston" wrote:


After seriously getting into it with a driver who decided to yell at me
to
get on the sidewalk and reinforce his opinion with a close pass, I
figured
I thought of an alternative to shouting at each other. I would just
hand
them a notice:

Ah, if only they weren't driving something that can go faster than me...

He stopped for me after I said "THANKS A$$H0L#!" In the past, I have wound
up aside the perp at the next stop. I just thought it would be nice to have
something to offer. Or if they clam up and pretend I'm not there, I could
stick it under thier wiper.

It's often true that these guys who feel that you are slowing them so
terribly down are, if you get out of the way, only going to only make it
to the next red light faster than you do. (Yet another reason they're
being so stupid.)

Just to clarify, I said cyclists pose no real threat to others, not cyclists
pose no threat.

OK.

As to the popular myth that cyclists don't pay for roads: All local
roads
(along with police, fire rescue, runoff control, crossing guards, and
other
services) are paid for by property taxes. This combined with other
subsidies such as "free" parking, oil defense, and other subsidies are
several times greater than the few hundred dollars drivers pay in
gasoline
taxes and license fees.

I'm curious: what about other taxes? I don't own property myself. Then
again, I do pay rent, which can be construed as helping my landlord
indirectly to pay his property tax.

How about: every road, parking lot, light, traffic cop, etc. on every
military, federal, state, and local government installation? Gas taxes
don't pay for those. How about several dozen billion a year in health
insurance covering auto accident injuries? How about pollution? How many
lost days due to pollution aggravated asthma or bronchitis, or all the
damage to structures, agriculture, and fisheries due to acid rain?

Very good points. I will remember them the next time someone tries to
imply, in off-road coversation, that cyclists don't really subsidize the
roadways unless they also drive and pay gasoline taxes or drivers' license
fees.

As for me, I'd gladly apply for and buy a bike license...if it would: a)
get these idiots who act as if I don't belong on the road to shut up, and
b) force those who want to ride a bicycle to obtain one, hence forcing
them to subject themselves to "cyclist ed" training that would teach them
about riding on the correct side of the road, signaling, stopping for
lights, using the left turn lanes, lighting themselves up at night, not
weaving onto and off the sidewalk from the road just to skip the parked
cars alongside parts of it, not weaving in and out of traffic, not riding
on the sidewalk and buzzing me when I'm walking on it, etc.
--
Trudi

"Boy, there sure is a lot of tension around here tonight. It's like a Joan Crawford movie."