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Erroneous arguments

by Jackie Green
The Courier-Journal
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Louisville, Ky.

Terry Sullivan's blog excerpts in Sunday's Forum boils down to two erroneous arguments: 1) Drivers have a greater right to the road because they pay fuel taxes, vehicle registration fees, ad valorem taxes and liability insurance, and 2) cyclists are self-centered and rude.

Drivers only pay a small portion of the true cost of driving. When two cars collide, requiring the time of police, EMT, firefighters, hospital and court personnel, non-drivers pay. When death results from those crashes, families pay. When employees cannot get to work due to car crash issues, employers and customers pay. When our transit system cuts back on bus service because we have invested in automotive infrastructure rather than public transit, everyone pays. When we send our military to stabilize foreign oil fields, our service personnel and national integrity pay. When fields and forests are destroyed for parking lots and automotive-based exurban sprawl, everyone pays.

When kids can't ride bikes on their neighborhood streets, their childhoods are impoverished and their health compromised.

You can't drive faster? That is all you pay? Who is self-centered and rude?

The roads do not belong to drivers. The roads belong to people, no matter their mode of transportation or how slow they travel.