by David Alpert
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AAA isn’t quite as honest as all that. Most of their members haven’t intentionally joined an organization that advocates against mass transit and bicycle facilities. Instead, they signed up for an emergency towing service. When Cigna started lobbying on health reform, everyone realized that they were a corporation acting in their own interest, maybe but maybe not the interest of their customers. Yet AAA isn’t treated the same way.
They also say the most outlandish things, or at least AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesperson Lon Anderson does, like that "community connectivity and walkability and minimizing ecological harm" are "gibberish" on the Greater Washington 2025 report, or comparing the Inauguration to the Civil War: "The last time the bridges were closed like this, Lincoln was president and was worried about an invasion by General Lee."
Then there’s Isaac Kramnick, who distorts political philosophy into a drivers-only credo: "What’s happening at this [camera] site is violating the concept of freedom … The automobile is the symbolic icon of freedom." And "Kramnick points to renowned English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who said in 1651 that freedom is the absence of hindrance to motion."
But EdTheRed points out that "What Hobbes meant by freedom of movement was that peasants shouldn’t be tied to the land, not that some d-bag could drive his automobile as fast as he damn well pleases."
Articles that talk about drivers’ pain often include colorful descriptions by the reporters themselves, like Halsey’s lede: "Drivers call it the "free at last" traffic light. After doing the stop-and-go head bobble all the way from downtown, when they reach the light at Bladensburg Road they feel they’ve earned their freedom from the purgatory of New York Avenue."
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My problem isn’t with AAA’s positions or their fairly effective press operation. My problem is that they get quoted all the time in traffic stories, but no nutjobs on the other side saying something equally insane about how all drivers are evil or something. The only case that comes to mind is Jim Graham calling Maryland drivers the "devil incarnate," but that was reported only because it came from an elected official’s mouth, and Graham came under criticism for it.
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https://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=6374oldId.20100701164306783
Biking in Baltimore