Living Car Free - Dept. of Transport Ray Lahood w/ Us.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36492953/ns/politics/

It's great that Ray Lahood is the Transportation Secretary. He provides so much interesting "perspective" that the rest of the transportation industry probably doesn't want to hear.

But he's also part of a movement that involves a lot of city governments and maybe even a few state governments. City governments especially because I think they realize that a lot of people really want to either bike or walk places without risking their lives to speeding cars.

Hopefully Lahood will be able to withstand some of these nonsensical attacks and make some moves.

The response to LaHood's modest proposals has been hilarious:



At a recent House hearing, Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, suggested jokingly to a Transportation Departmenthttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/2_bing.gif (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36492953#) official that one explanation for the new policy is that the secretary's thinking has been clouded by drugs.

"Is that a typo?" LaTourette asked. "If it's not a typo, is there still mandatory drug testing at the department?"

The new policy is not a regulation and, therefore, not mandatory, Transportation undersecretary for policy Roy Kienitz responded to LaTourette.

But it's LaHood's view "that the federal government should not take the position that roads and trains are real transportation and walking and biking is not," Kienitz said. "His view is it's all real transportation, and we should consider it based on what benefits it can bring for the amount of money we spend."

That didn't satisfy LaTourette.

"So is it his thought that perhaps we're going to have, like, rickshaws carrying cargo from state to state, or people with backpacks?" asked the congressman.

Bicycling advocates have been blasting LaTourette. Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, with 300,000 affiliated members, called his comments "a little childish."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36492953


I have to agree with Andy Clarke that LaHood's opponents need to grow up a little bit. Specifically, they need to learn something about sharing--a concept that most of us learned in Kindergarten. Cyclists, buses and pedestrians want to share the roads with motor vehicles. We don't need to take anything away from motorists in order to have safer and saner streets for the rest of us.

Typical -- LaTourette wants to bash with hyperbole, all the time being a closet hypocrite. It's OK to get fed money for bikes in HIS OWN DISTRICT, but for the nation as a whole...? Why, that's SILLY!

On drugs? La-T needs his own blood test... oh, wait, there's no chemical test for stupid, is there?

"So is it his thought that perhaps we're going to have, like, rickshaws carrying cargo from state to state, or people with backpacks?" asked the congressman.

I really like this one... Do they really think we would cycle if there wasn't some advantage to it?

The implied comparison between cycling and obviously hyperbole about inefficient methods of transportation bothers me. Most of us aren't such green activists that we would cycle purely for that reason alone. It seems silly for anyone to assume that we're out making idealistic sacrifices. We're just out here because we love it, and it's often easier and more efficient for us to ride than for us to drive.

The implied comparison between cycling and obviously hyperbole about inefficient methods of transportation bothers me. Most of us aren't such green activists that we would cycle purely for that reason alone. It seems silly for anyone to assume that we're out making idealistic sacrifices. We're just out here because we love it, and it's often easier and more efficient for us to ride than for us to drive.

Amen... fun and efficient.