This thread discusses the Content article: IN OUR VIEW: Bicyclists beware

So you need to remember that when you're pedaling around Utah Valley without your own escort of armed guards in big sedans with flashing lights on top. It's a time for vigilance and caution.

So you need to remember that when you're pedaling around Utah Valley without your own escort of armed guards in big sedans with flashing lights on top, WASTING TAXPAYER MONEY...!

This is quite possibly the silliest editorial I have read in a very long time.

Not just silly--inaccurate. I've been commuting by bike a long time, and I am pleased to see more on the road this last year. Its true, many are inexperienced and put themselves at too many risks. If bikers just understand they are cars who generally ride in a tiny little lane between the street and curb, they'll get along better. Do as the cars do, at intersections, when turning, etc.

However, to suggest that bikes are as bad as cars regarding resource use and pollution, that's nonsense. A bike, in its manufacture, must use 1/10,000 of the resources used to make a car. And not only does a body not produce much CO2 compared to a car, bike riding produces no pollutants harmful to man. The bike is a big solution to many our problems, and I'm glad the mayor takes one a day a year to promote that. It should be more. And I expect my local newspaper to encourage it as well. If the editorial was supposed to be comical, it was a poor attempt. Promote what's good for our city and children rather than belittle it.

swskafte wrote:
Not just silly--inaccurate. I've been commuting by bike a long time, and I am pleased to see more on the road this last year. Its true, many are inexperienced and put themselves at too many risks. If bikers just understand they are cars who generally ride in a tiny little lane between the street and curb, they'll get along better. Do as the cars do, at intersections, when turning, etc.

However, to suggest that bikes are as bad as cars regarding resource use and pollution, that's nonsense. A bike, in its manufacture, must use 1/10,000 of the resources used to make a car. And not only does a body not produce much CO2 compared to a car, bike riding produces no pollutants harmful to man. The bike is a big solution to many our problems, and I'm glad the mayor takes one a day a year to promote that. It should be more. And I expect my local newspaper to encourage it as well. If the editorial was supposed to be comical, it was a poor attempt. Promote what's good for our city and children rather than belittle it.

You'll have to forgive the struggling editorial board at the DH. They lack any journalistic talent whatsoever and they exist only to push a rabid anti-environmental agenda. Expect them to do otherwise and they bang their collective heads against the wall.

Sadly, and typically, this editorial is another all-too-common embarrassment for the paper. I wish I could maintain such continual levels of mediocrity at my job-it'd be far easier, wouldn't it? Alas, I cannot. Be a great job, though:

Wanted: Editorial writer. Needs no writing of English so good. Must loath environmental policy and be able to turn anything-anything-into Al Gore's fault.

"...it must be true -- that the fuel needed to produce the extra food you'll eat when you bicycle offsets any cuts in your gas use."

This is one of the most idiotic arguments I have ever read. Feeding yourself, which almost all Americans do too much, is necessary no matter what, and the little extra food you eat to keep going on your bike is nothing compared to gas at $4 a gallon. Does the author not realize that a quarter of Americans are obese? Lack of food is definitely not our problem.

And CO2? Come on! A person on a bike might emit twice as much CO2 as a person in the car, but still, that's nothing compared to the pollutants coming out of even a relatively clean car, like a Prius.

DH needs to be a bit more responsible and promote healthy and environmentally and economically beneficial lifestyle choices like riding a bike. Don't mock those who are trying to make wise decisions instead of driving their lazy butts to the store 2 miles away.

I agree that bicyclists need to be careful and learn the rules of the road, but drivers need to learn it more. I follow proper traffic rules and hand signals, and have yet to see a car even notice that I exist, let alone my turn signals.

You really got it wrong on this one, DH.

If riding bicycles everyday is good for the environment then why is it that Commie China is such an enviromental toilet HMMMM? Such a fine example of "Climate Change" BU11Sh!7!!!

"Good for the Earth" my carbon foot.