If I Owned the Road
Recently I found myself in this situation:
And I wished I could show this dude what would happen if I really did own the road. Things would be very different.
I wouldn’t have to take the lane ever again. People would have their roads back, and they’d be safer because…
Bad behavior wouldn’t be tolerated.
And parking wouldn’t be so free and flowing.
And that’s just the beginning.
No, drivers don’t realize how easy they have it. But, how about we make it a little easier for people?
Regarding the separated bikeways, it’s all fun and games until someone has to turn. How do you propose to from the bikeway on the right to the actual businesses and residences on the left side of the picture.
I think the drawing also shows how dominant attitudes about bikes and transport have infused even your thought. Cars and destinations are on the left. People are using cars to get from place to place. Bikes and a pastoral scene are on the right. People are using bikes for recreation and other frivolities, and they’re out of the way of people who have actual business to attend to.
Missing a “get”
How do you propose to get from the bikeway on the right to the actual businesses and residences on the left side of the picture.
I agree that we have a great need for completely separated bike lanes. And it’s true that if horns were as loud inside the car as they are outside, violent drivers wouldn’t be so anxious to use them. However, you completely ignore the fact that working class and poor people – predominately people of color – are being forced out of America’s urban areas with a big thanks to gentrification. Everyone is being pushed out to remote, shi*&thole suburbs while trying to hold on to crappy service jobs in the cities. That means they have to drive. In the meantime, bridge tolls are going up, gasoline is expensive and the newly arrived gentrifiers are crying for congestion fees, more surveillance cameras, more cops (that always ends well for people of color) and more taxes on the poor.
A mass movement that actually organizes in the streets around demands for public transportation and affordable housing is the only thing that will change things for the better (for all of us, not just the middle and upper classes). Otherwise, bike lanes will still be called white lanes, and all so-called improvements in the streets will really just be hidden acts of aggression against the most vulnerable communities in this racist/classist country.
If I was god, I’d turn the clock back 300-2000 years (depending on the place) and institute comprehensive planning, rendering cars unnecessary and less common today. Then I’d make sure taxes and fees were proportional. I wouldn’t go after groups to try to correct past wrongs with new inequities. I’d make rules apply to everyone and make enforcement even. Go ahead, roll you eyes.
But first I’d prosecute the guy who drove over the cyclist in Boston this week because the idea that you didn’t see a cyclist as you passed him and was paying attention just isn’t believable. This point needs to made.
So many over-serious, sometimes angry comments! I can’t look away, what’s wrong with me? Seriously though, great comic. And I gotta admit, my “if I owned the road” fantasy is usually much less restrained. $15/hr curb parking? If I owned the road, wouldn’t be nooooo parking! Great comic, as always!