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Proposal for Bike Fairness

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The latest fad for socially conscious urbanites is cycling.  Complete with bike paths running along existing roadways previously used by autos, trucks and buses with the drivers of autos and trucks paying the lion’s share of taxes to build and maintain them.

Here’s the problem, if bike riders want to have strips of roads taken to be dedicated to bicycle use, they ought to be willing to help pay for their construction and maintenance.  How about an annual assessment for a license medallion for any bike using a dedicated bike path?  Maybe $100 per year?  Bicycles would be registered and have safety inspections to insure brakes and other parts are in good working order. Inspections would cost $20 with half going to the maintenance funds for bike paths.

Next, the City and County should enact mandatory safety classes for cyclists and issue a certificate indicating successful completion. Failure to obtain an operator’s safety certification would result in fines and a prohibition against using the paths for some appropriate period. Bikers would be cited for traffic violations and slapped with fines just as motorists would be. Injuries to pedestrians would lead to serious charges. Cycling while intoxicated or under the influence of drugs would result in a loss of privileges for one year and a second offense a permanent ban.

If bikers want to be treated as equal players in the transportation game, they must be held to account in the same ways as cars and truck drivers, monetarily and in terms of operational safety.

One wonders what will happen to bike path usage once the icy winds blow, the snow flies and the plows push the snow into the paths.  How exciting will biking be from December through March?  Will bike paths along important roadways be eliminated during the winter to help traffic flow?

Cyclists will argue that they pay property and other taxes, some of which are used on City streets entitling them to have dedicated paths.  But residents driving cars and trucks pay those other taxes as well.  And it is no good saying; I have a car and pay gasoline tax. That tax is intended for use on the roads, not bike paths. This is akin to the requirement that the turnpike provide $450 million a year to mass transit, money it is borrowing and raising tolls to repay. It is a terrible policy.

How progressive it is to want to effect a redistribution of public goods to in-vogue groups, especially if it can be done at the expense of out of favor groups, such as CO2 emitters.

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Allegheny Institute
Allegheny Institute

The Allegheny Institute is a non-profit research and education organization. Our mission is to defend the interests of taxpayers, citizens and businesses against an increasingly burdensome and intrusive government.

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