Bikers use the bike lanes on 15th Street at Arapahoe Street in Denver on March 10, 2014 as they navigate downtown and it’s traffic. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)
Re: “Bicyclists, taxes and the rules of the road,” Sept. 27 letters to the editor; and “In Colorado, no end to traffic woes,” Sept. 27 Steve Lipsher column.
People saying that bicyclists should pay their own way [by way of licensing and taxes] miss an important point: Taxes pay for just a fraction of the costs of driving because most costs have been externalized (pushed onto society). That includes pollution, congestion, wars to secure oil, serious accidents, and climate change.
Steve Lipsher’s column discusses some of those costs. For example, the expense of lost productivity from traffic congestion in Colorado is triple that of 1982. Do we want to see it triple again by 2042? The health costs are also significant, including higher blood pressure, cholesterol, anxiety and depression.
Bikes aren’t the problem; they’re part of the solution. Every person who makes a trip by bike or foot is one less car congesting our roads.
Are we going to have the courage to do something about our traffic problems, or are we going to yell at convenient scapegoats until all of greater Denver is in gridlock?
Merrill Glustrom, Boulder
This letter was published in the Oct. 2 edition.
