Advocacy & Safety - Cars, cars, cars!

"Yes folks, and rilly, rilly low prices!!!!"

"I'm crazy, crazy, crazy!!!!"

(Yes, we know...)

I guess cars have to go fast, fast, fast off the showroom floor, because they just don't last.

For the price of one new set of tires, who knows what I could get for my bike!

For the price of a new car, who knows, I could get a lifetime supply of fabulous bikes.

D*ang, such wastefulness...

:crash:

The true cost of auto ownership is so nickel-and-dime that most folks never really think about it. Rarely does somebody pay cash... in fact, most ads seem geared to the $ of monthly payments. ("No money down, only $299 a month...")

The IRS just raised its allowance for private automobile usage to 36.5 cents per mile. Way back in 1995, the AAA (NOT anti-auto agenda with THIS group!) said it was 41.2 cents per mile.

I calculate the TOTAL cost of owning and operating my commuter bicycle at 3-4 cents per mile. (rubber, depreciation, the occasional repair... even clothing.)

You motorists... when you're making those car payments - I'm using that money for something else. When you pay your car insurance - I'm using that money for something else. When you pull into the gas station once a week or so - I'm using that money for something else. When you pay $20K for a new car, and get $8K trade-in for the same car, two years later - I'm using that money for something else.

And of course, besides the actual dollars-and-cents cost of owning and operating that car, there's the cost to society. The pollution in the air. All that pavement that's needed to provide a place for all those single-occupant vehicles. Our dependence on foreign oil, and the political baggage that goes with it.

:eek:

Guys, there is a prophet in our midst...

:D