It's a fact of life—not everyone likes bicycles. And it's no news that the U.S. government has been rather lackadaisical about supporting bicycle infrastructure. But it's pretty unnerving to read articles like this one on Salon.com about U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters.
Peters doesn't think bikes are a valid form of transportation. What's more, she goes so far as to blame this summer's Minneapolis bridge catastrophe on bike paths, asserting that bridge and highway maintenance funds are being "misappropriated" on trails and bike paths.
According to her official bio, Peters is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. So come on, Mary, what do you say? Two wheels, one love.
and from the Salon article:
Imagine you're the federal official in the Bush administration charged with overseeing the nation's transportation infrastructure. A major bridge collapses on an interstate highway during rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring an additional 100. Whom to blame? How about the nation's bicyclists and pedestrians!
The Minneapolis bridge collapse on Aug. 1 led Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters to publicly reflect on federal transportation spending priorities and conclude that those greedy bicyclists and pedestrians, not to mention museumgoers and historic
preservationists, hog too much of the billions of federal dollars raised by the gas tax, money that should go to pave highways and bridges. Better still, Peters, a 2006 Bush appointee, apparently doesn't see biking and walking paths as part of transportation infrastructure at all.
makes you angry, no?
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