🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <PATRICK.94Nov9135009@brazos.is.rice.edu>,
patrick@brazos.is.rice.edu (Patrick L Humphrey) wrote:

>Unfortunately for you, I'm also the owner of a little red '90 Mazda
>pickup truck, so I'm paying my share of taxes...

You pay taxes on you truck, not on your bike.  You own two vehicles but
you only pay tax on one.  People who own two motor vehicles (instead of
one motor vehicle and one bicycle), pay taxes on both of them.  My point
is that your comparison is somewhat flawed.  The taxes you pay on your
truck entitle you to drive your truck on public roads, not your truck and
your bike.  You're getting road-use out of your bike for free.  If you
don't believe me, try selling your truck.  You'll still get to use your
bike, but you won't be paying any road taxes.

>In Texas, bikes are traffic -- therefore, when I'm
>pedaling to or from work, or anywhere else, I've got the same rights and
>responsibilities as idiots like you in the four-wheelers.

Same rights, but not the same responsibilities.  You have to obey the
traffic laws, but you don't have to license your bike (i.e. pay tax on
it), have an operator's permit to use it, or subject it to yearly safety
inspections.  Any yahoo who doesn't know the traffic laws from a hole in
the ground can go buy a bike and use it without paying for his use of the
public roads, without proving to anyone that he can operate the bike
competently, safely, and legally; and without demonstrating the bike's
structural safety.  You can't get away with that in a car and I don't
think you should be able to get away with it on a bike.

Of course you run into the problem that kids ride bikes, too.  But you can
get around that by exempting residental streets from the enforcement of
licensing and inspection requirements.  If a kid gets caught on his bike
in a non-residental area, then the cops get to take him home and scold his
parents, or something like that.

Personally, I don't like having bikes on the same streets as cars.  It is
a big inconvenience for the drivers and a big hazard for everyone.  I like
separate bike lanes, but those have their own problems (like turning left
when the bike lane is on the right shoulder).

                                ++Don Nash

Internet: D.Nash@utexas.edu     The University of Texas System
THEnet:   THENIC::DON           Office of Telcommunication Services