Originally Posted by Performance

In a year, a typical North American car will add close to 5 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere
The average number of barrels of oil consumed daily in the US is 17 million
Driving consumes 43% of those barrels of oil
Over the last 20 years the average length of a commute has increased 40%, miles driven has increased over 50% and time spent in traffic has increased 225%
According to the Federal Department of Energy more than 50% of the working population in the US lives within 5 miles of the place they work
Although more than 60% of all trips are 5 miles or less fewer than 1% are actually made by bicycle
One fourth of all trips people make are one mile or less, yet three fourths of these short trips are made by car

A four mile round trip by bicycle prevents the production of 15 lbs of air pollution
A seven mile commute by bicycle instead of car each day saves almost 9 pounds of hydrocarbons, more than 66 pounds of carbon monoxide, 4.4 pounds of oxides of nitrogen and 1319 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually
If just one out of every 10 commuters who now drive to work switched to bicycling, the savings would amount to 2 billion gallons per year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25.4 million tons
8 bicycles can be parked in the space required for just one car

Traffic jams in the 29 major US cities cost commuters an estimated $24.3 billion each year
The typical American family spends $8000 a year to own and operate a car, when you count the car payments, gas, oil, maintenance and repairs, licenses, parking and insurance
The cost of operating a car is 94 cents a mile vs. 13 cents a mile for a bicycle
Bicycling instead of driving a car is worth between $8.20 and $48.40 an hour