The ongoing victimization of bicyclists is our society's great tragedy.

Hay can I get an extra lane for my segway without paying an dime in extra taxes or fees? Segways have the right to share the road, ITS MY RIGHT!!! WHY ARE YOU VIOLATING MY RIGHTS!!!!!?

Good thing nobody who writes about bikes or comments on bike-related blog posts has any bearing on the reality of my commute. Brrr'ing Brr'ing bitches.

#2 is a perfect illustration of the anti-bike/tea party connection.

Cyclists break road rules all the fucking time. Try driving through a college campus without nearly vehicular manslaughtering at least 10 cyclists.

The war on cars is unwinnable. It is time for governments to shift to a treatment based approach. We could throw drivers in jail for the crime of driving, but it's better if the activity is heavily regulated & taxed. And we should fund rehabilitation programs so these sick drivers can begin to responsibly shift to walking, cycling, taking mass transit and integrating into mainstream society.

@5: And the 40,000 annual vehicle fatalities, however many hundreds of thousands of injuries, and countless costs in property damage are just the cost of doing business.

@2 - Roads and highways are only 1/3rd funded by user fees and gas tax. The rest of the money comes from general funds. So other citizens, including cyclists, pay for the other 2/3rds. Also as a cyclist, I also drive and pay user fees and gas taxes. Suddenly people want to use some of that money for other things like bike lanes, and you want to complain? I would like to see the other 2/3rds used for stuff other than roads for automobiles, like bike lanes and public transport, and jack gas taxes up so cars can finally start funding 100% of their roads. That sound good? Why should cars and trucks have their roads subsidized?

@2
I drive my car on the freeways maybe once every couple months, yet I pay the same taxes as everyone else! I don't collect Medicaid, Medicare, or Social Security, but every single time I get paid I have to pay taxes to support them! I oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet a significant portion of my yearly taxes pays for them! WAH!

In this society, we all pay for things we don't directly benefit from. Get used to it! It's one the reasons the US has been such a nice place to live in the last sixty years or so.

@9
Yes, that's why citing anecdotal evidence ("I saw a few cyclists break the law, they're all total assholes who deserve to get run over!") to de-legitimize the use of bicycles should be frowned upon. Because when you get down to it, if you want to make our streets safer, the handful of cyclists is not the place to start.

@10
Really, eliminating all cars from the road is the same thing as making our roads safer or reducing the number of people driving single occupant vehicles? One thing's for sure, there'd be fewer obese people if as a country we walked/rode our bikes to the store more often, which would drastically reduce our health budget. So in some ways, decreasing car usage would have a positive effect on our economy.

After years of fighting the good fight for bicycles, including 4 years "within the system", I am amazed that there is still debate.

Surveys show that the majority of Americans want to spend more money on bicycle and pedestrian roads and projects -- about 25 percent from what we spend on auto roads.

The paranoid in me has decided that a lot of these "arguments" are not driven by a divided general population (the majority of whom would love to be riding a bike on a safe, carfree path or isolated cycle track or low density bicycle boulevard) but the forces out to make a buck.

Specifically the auto road builders. But also, the Cyclists and their suppliers.

Face it, the last thing the $8000 fixed gear crowd wants to deal with is the $300 Trek gang or worse, a bunch of kids just off training wheels on their tracks.

So, like so much in American politics, bicycling is a cause which -- while desired by the majority -- only has shrill antagonistic voices making the debate.

They Came on Bikes From Beijing... the next big indie band.

So...hold the phone. The article is talking about a lawsuit over green tarmac. The picture is of a bike lane on regular road and pedestrians walking on the green tarmac. Is this guy just stirring the turd because he can? If the picture is representative of the lawsuit, it has nothing to do with bike lanes and everything to do foot traffic.