Originally Posted by phinney
Our privilege to use bicycles on roads is at the permission of the majority. Cyclists aren't the majority. I wouldn't be surprised if some politician decided to make their name by saving lives and decreasing travel times through their bill to ban cyclists from public roads. There are certainly enough cycling fatalities to make a case for it in the sensationalist minded media. Letters to the editor like those at the top of this thread show that some motorists would already support the idea.
There are certainly improvements to be made in the interaction of bicycles and automobiles. An in-your-face, self righteous attitude by cyclists will get us nowhere, or worse, get us banned.
What we need are solutions which are workable in the real world and benefit all road users in ways everyone can support.
In the United States, our rights are not limited by any written document. In fact, the founding documents of this nation were written to limit the role if government in our lives. They also outlined a constitutionally-limited republic to avoid the tyrrany of the majority feared in a democracy. I believe that Benjamin Franklin put it best:
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for dinner.
Roadways are public rights of way. That means that all the public has a right to use them. An attempt to remove cyclists from the roadways would not survive in court. To overcome the courts, constituional amendments would have to be enacted, and that's darn hard to do.