Taunting Texans about bicycles :-D

I was reading about a brou-ha-ha down in Texas about people in Arlington protesting putting in bike paths as somehow unAmerican, because it was forcing people out of their cars.  That's silliness.  You put in a bike path, and guess what?  People can still drive their cars.  In fact, if there are enough people on bicycles riding around their local areas, it actually frees up highways and relieves congestion, so that you can go REALLY REALLY fast.  Such as on the German autobahn, where most people try to keep it under 100 miles per hour, but some do go faster than that.  I've even done it.  It's a serious rush for this American who is now constrained by 70 mph at most.

Unless, of course, people in Arlington, Texas are scared of the potential opportunity of driving fast.  I wouldn't have thought it, Texans having the reputation of being tough people, but hey, maybe they are wimpier than Germans on the road.  Oh, sure, they can take some risks, and sure, they have their race car drivers, but so do the Germans (hey, Formula I!) and the ordinary German citizens themselves go on the autobahn, which has no speed limit and see how fast they can go.

Yeah, that's a thrown gauntlet, people of Arlington, Texas.  It's less expensive to put in bicycle paths than another highway, so you end up spending less tax money for more transportation access, and it frees up highways for less congestion at the same time.  Once the highways are freed up from people just wanting to drive a mile or so, it helps ambulances and firefighters rush to emergencies when minutes spell the difference between life and death.

And there's even the possibility of increasing the speed limit on the highway after a while.... Unless you're scared of the idea of less congestion and driving faster.  Uh huh.  Yeah.  Prove to me, Texans, that you are not scared of riding bicycles and of the possibility of driving faster on your highways.  Oh, yeah, sure you have specialists who can ride fast bicycles (Lance Armstrong), and Indy car drivers who can drive fast, but your ordinary Texan?  Yeah, right.  Oooh, it might not be safe with bicycles on bike paths!  I bet you have bicycle helmet laws, too.   (Okay, we have helmet laws here in Seattle, too, but at least we have more bicycle paths.  And we have kamikazi bicycle messengers in Seattle who fear nothing.  I bet Arlington, Texas has no bicycle messengers because they're scared they might get hurt.)  Oh, and Germany and the Netherlands?  No bicycle helmet laws for adults.  And even 80-year-old grandmothers ride around on bicycle paths and on streets.  Those old ladies are fearless and would put some sport bicyclists to shame.

So the bicycle path was voted in by a narrow margin.  However, if Arlingtonians want to show they're not wimps, they should claim those bicycle paths!  Dominate them!  Ride those bicycles with their hair flying free in the wind!  Are you going to let 80-year-old German grandmothers look braver and tougher than you?  I hope not!