Preface: I think I've mentioned this before, but I have no sympathy for drivers. From the environmental impacts and congestion issues to the staggering number of vehicle-related deaths and insane inefficiency of using a 3500lb vehicle to move a 185lb person (average), car culture sucks.
While waiting for a physics lecture to begin today, a guy next to me starts talking to his friend about how absurd it was that he had just received a ticket for careless driving. He didn't mention what infraction he committed, but considering the number of stupid things drivers do that don't warrant tickets, I can only assume he deserved it. I really would've liked to speak up and say that he should probably be more careful when operating heavy machinery. I didn't think it would do any good, however, so I let it go.
This may have been prompted by another impatient driver, earlier this morning, cutting me off to get to a parking space 1.5 seconds faster. Seriously. I can't wait for software-driven cars to take over. I read an interesting prediction on Quora.com which postulated that when technology advances so that software can drive a car better than a human, it will become much more difficult to get and keep a driver's license. "Accidents" will become unacceptable, and we'll all be safer, cyclists included. Given the exponential nature of technological advancement, I think this could happen in as little as 10 years; 20 tops.
On to my main point: the claim that cyclists should be required to have insurance and register our bikes to justify our road access. Clearly this claim has no forethought.
First off, registration, gas taxes, and other road use fees only account for 32% of of road construction/maintenance spending. The rest comes from general revenue. So, basically cyclists are already paying for more than their share of the road.
Now lets change this to how it should be, where road funding comes entirely from it's users. To do this fairly, it should be based on vehicle weight and miles driven to account for "wear and tear" done by different vehicles. So, 18 wheelers and dump trucks bear the highest cost with bikes at the bottom. Without crunching the numbers, I'm guessing bike registration would be a few cents per year. Think, if everyone quit driving today and only rode bikes, our roads could stay in their current conditions for centuries, with the exception of damage from natural disasters.
The easiest way to account for mileage differences between users is simply to tax the crap out of gasoline. Again, a 20lb bike doesn't contribute significantly to the "wear and tear" of roads, so it's irrelevant that it doesn't use gas. While we're at it, we could throw in an environmental tax for the air pollution.
The real joke here is insurance. How much damage can a cyclist really be liable for? If I hit a stop sign, the stop sign will win. If I rear end a car, the bumper is going to win. Maybe there will be a small tire mark, but that small expense certainly won't justify needing insurance. Liability insurance for a 20lb bike is just absurd.
This does raise the question, though - how should bike lane maintenance be funded? In this case, maintenance means sweeping a few times a year. Having gotten three flats, recently, from debris in the bike lane, I can say that bike lanes are fairly pointless if they're not swept once in a while. Although I would gladly register my bikes if it meant funding for a street sweeper program, most of this debris comes from construction and work trucks hauling gravel, tree limbs, and trash as well as drivers throwing glass bottles and other trash out the window. And then there's road kill.
So, yes, cities should charge people for littering and destruction. They should also promote cycling as transportation since it cuts down on pollution and ultimately leads to a healthier, more productive society. Bike lane maintenance could easily "pay for itself".
TL;DR: the bike lanes in Oxford need sweeping. The trashiest road users should probably pay for it, or maybe I'll just get out there with my broom.
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