Comments on: Cyclist’s Lives Valued at $2,500?

By: Simon Sez

Simon Sez — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:41:48 +0000

Not going to be necesary to persuade people to give up cars – encourage them or whatever. Hey, renewable fuels, people!! We gonna run out, we gonna have to make other plans. Bikes for most people, electric bikes for people who have any kind of special needs, seniors, whatever. Electric trikes for disabled. Run out of fuels, ice bergs melt. Mark my words, day will come when all but essential motorized vehicles will have to be banned, no arguments. Delivery trucks, ambulances – all else shut down when the powers that be finally get it that we are running out of time on this planet if we don’t do something completley totally DRASTIC!! It will keep seeming impossible, impossible – and then one day, when we are about to become extinct if we don’t DO something, it will just HAPPEN. Just like recycling suddenly happened, when we finally got it that we can’t just keep on keep keep on consuming and producing garbage! we learn pathetically slowly but eventually when our faces are rubbed in it, we finally learn

By: JoeAverage

JoeAverage — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 04:44:21 +0000

In reply to Sid Senior.

Hi Sid. Nice to hear from you again :)

I love your story. You paint a beautiful picture of quality time with your grand-daughter, time spent more slowly, rather than in a furious hurry to do everything and get everywhere as fast as possible.

You give me hope for my future!

By: JoeAverage

JoeAverage — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 04:40:52 +0000

In reply to Sean.

Sean, I totally agree that the best way to go is by letting people know that cycling is simply FUN! I actually sing on Monday mornings on my way to work – bizarre but true. It’s just that cycling is SUCH good fun. I honestly think that if most people just tried it, they’d be hooked.

We too still have a car (my wife’s). Someone once said that the hardest thing about giving up cars is the last 20%, and I really think that is true. It’s easy and fun for me to bike MOST of the time. But when my daughter needs a ride to camp, or when I have to get to work and my back is out, and it’s a choice between a ride with my wife or trying to bike in agony … mmm, another story.

My wife and I are both around 50, with 5 kids between us. We became a one-car family a few years ago, and we have made a resolution that we will work towards becoming car-free. However, we realize we probably won’t achieve this till all the kids leave home, and we are around 60 … the last 20% is really hard. On the other hand, none of my kids is interested in learning to drive, which I take as a great win for the future.

By: Sid Senior

Sid Senior — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 03:15:00 +0000

I agree that cars are not the necessity some people seem to think they are. I am a senior who obtained a driving licence many years ago. Since coming to live in Canada (Vancouver) I have not found it necessary to drive a car as the public transport here is so good. We (me, my daughter and her family) moved from East Vancouver to live in Burnaby a couple of years ago and as I take my granddaughter to school in the morning and fetch her in the afternoon my daughter offered me the use of her car as my granddaughter continued going to school in East Vancouver. I decided I did not want to do that and it has proved to be a really good decision.
We have to walk to the sky train station and then walk again at the other end to get to her school. Not only are we both a lot fitter but we also have time to chat, do the crossword puzzle or sudoku on the train, pick blackberries in the lane coming back from school and generally get to spend some quality time together.

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:04:08 +0000

I think it’s unrealistic to expect everyone to give up their cars – they’ll be with us for the foreseeable future. I’ve still got mine. But I do think that there’s a huge potential for people to use bicycles a lot more, particularly now that the cycling infrastructure is coming together. I started riding a bike again a few years ago after a 20-year hiatus, and the cycle routes make it so much more pleasant than it used to be, especially in Vancouver.

I think best the way to win drivers over is to emphasize the fun aspect of cycling – the idea of arriving at work feeling energized yet relaxed instead of having been stressed out by the commute. People don’t really seem to understand that cycling isn’t a chore – the first little while after resuming cycling I was grinning from ear to ear because I felt like a teenager again.