Originally Posted by
njkayaker
The anti-cycling bias isn't going to magically disappear with having one set of laws applying to both classes of vehicles. It doesn't seem that bicyclists in NC (where there no bicycle-specific FRAP law) has any less anti-cycling bias than states with FRAP laws.
What would make anybody expect that they would use their political power to back bicyclists?
One might think that they would display the same or more anti-cycling bias that the average motorist does!
You people seem to be overly concerned about the opinions of ignorant motorists. Most motorists are ignorant of cyclists' rights and duties. But motorists have very little power over you. The power that does oppress you is the power of government using the cyclist-FRAP and bikeway laws that are based on treating cyclists as second-class, and incompetent, road users. Without those laws, government would have no legal power to discriminate against you for being cyclists. They might try, but without laws that distinguish cyclists from other drivers of vehicles they couldn't make it stick, so they would learn to give up the attempt. And, in the long run, if the government loses its power to discriminate against cyclists, the rest of society would learn that this is not the approved action and so, to some extent, reduce the amount of discrimination it attempts to apply.