The Bicycle is the Answer. What was the Question?

from Commute by Bike by Tom Bowden
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One troublesome argument that seems to be gaining traction is along the lines of, “Why should cycling be a federal issue? Shouldn’t it be a state and local issue?”
Of course that is conservative code talk for, “We don’t want to fund it, because we will get more votes with bigger projects.”
My response would be, True, it should be a local issue, and when all of you ear-marking politicians stop paving every square inch of our local communities with federal highway subsidies, we’ll be happy to take responsibility at a local level. But for now, we just want to level the playing field a little. And after all, for every federal dollar you spend on properly designed cycling infrastructure (and I don’t mean multi-use paths to nowhere), you can ultimately de-fund $10 worth of auto infrastructure. De-fund is a good word to use with Republicans and conservatives.
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At one point in a briefing session on Wednesday, the constant repetition of the “wear a helmet” mantra got a little too much for me. It was cited that in nine out of ten cases of cyclist fatalities due to head trauma, the cyclist was not wearing a helmet. I posed the question, “If that is a justification for all cyclists to wear helmets, than what about the 99.999% of motorist head trauma fatalities who were not wearing helmets? Shouldn’t we start a campaign to make them wear helmets too?” I continued “I’m not anti-helmet–I’ve crashed with a helmet and without a helmet–but helmets are not the only answer, or even the most important answer. As long as we keep on putting so much emphasis on helmets as the most important safety issue, we perpetuate the myth that cycling is inherently dangerous. Cycling is not inherently dangerous, cars are inherently dangerous to cyclists, pedestrians and motorists. But all this helmet focus does is place the responsibility for safety on cyclists, rather than on the root cause of the problem, which is unsafe driving.”
I probably didn’t put it quite that well – I was actually shaking a little, anticipating a backlash to my politically incorrect rant. But to my surprise, there was applause and even a few shouts and whistles–the good kind. It was my fifteen seconds of attention, if not actual fame.
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https://www.commutebybike.com/2011/03/19/the-bicycle-is-the-answer-what-was-the-question/oldId.20110320125739428