Want to increase your chances of getting injured or killed? Ride a bike in the so-called bike lane. Then as you go through an intersection a car tries to make a right hand turn—and down you go. Oh, if you do not go down, you create the stoppage of traffic in one lane—possibly the only car lane available.
“According to the Bike Coalition, “In addition to safety benefits, bike lanes also play a significant role in reducing pollution levels and promoting sustainable transportation. By encouraging people to cycle instead of driving, bike lanes can reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality in urban areas.”
We might ask how limiting road access during rush hour saves the environment? Exhaust fumes from stalled vehicles are paired against minimally used lanes. Electric cars don’t figure in yet as most Concord residents can’t afford non fossil fuel conveyances yet.
Despite such risk-reward assessments, Progressive policies of the Newsom administration are pouring billions of dollars into bicycle lane construction in coming years.
This is about virtual claiming, not about safety, need or proper use of tax dollars. In a few days we will have our first storm of the season, everywhere in the State. I hope those that ride their bikes today, will ride them during the storms. Hope that take medicine to get over their colds.
Bike Lane Hypocrisy by Richard Eber
Richard Eber, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views, 12/15/23 www.capoliticalnewsandviews.com
It’s 5:15 pm on a Thursday afternoon in Concord. At the busy intersection between Clayton Road and Concord Blvd, commuter traffic slows to a crawl as passage is funneled into one lane.
Several months ago, two cars were allowed to proceed at one time. Gridlock did not exist. This changed when SB-127 passed in the Legislature. The State mandated special lanes be constructed to accommodate bicycle traffic.
Apparently, it was deemed to be more important to have a few folks moving by two wheeled conveyances. Frustrated commuters anxious to reach home were considered to be acceptable collateral damage.
According to the Bike Coalition, “In addition to safety benefits, bike lanes also play a significant role in reducing pollution levels and promoting sustainable transportation. By encouraging people to cycle instead of driving, bike lanes can reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality in urban areas.”
We might ask how limiting road access during rush hour saves the environment? Exhaust fumes from stalled vehicles are paired against minimally used lanes. Electric cars don’t figure in yet as most Concord residents can’t afford non fossil fuel conveyances yet.
Despite such risk-reward assessments, Progressive policies of the Newsom administration are pouring billions of dollars into bicycle lane construction in coming years. The existing budget is running some 68 billion in debt. Can the State afford such a luxury?
The bicycle lobby is a vital component to the coalition of organized labor, environmental extremists, and limousine liberals. This group dominates the Democratic Party’s grip on power in California.
Appropriations dedicated to bicycle lanes do not account for other Federal, State, and local funding. This is a lot of bread for a mode of transportation primarily dedicated for recreational purposes.
How many people venture to Safeway on their bike to procure groceries for the family? What number of commuters travel to work or transportation hubs on two wheels? Do they utilize these special lanes on cold, hot, windy, and rainy days?
Government expenditures costs taxpayers over 1 billion dollars per year. Considering all the negative aspects caused by new bike lanes, is the cash outlay worth it?
This is illustrated by bike lanes installed on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. According to the Marin Independent Journal:
” The path occupies one of three lanes on the upper deck of the bridge. It’s often blamed for traffic congestion during the morning commute. However, since the pathway’s opening, it has been severely underutilized. In recent weeks, only 139 bikes cross each weekday with only 434 on weekends.” (2 during morning rush hour)
Even worse is the debacle on the Bay Bridge linking Treasure Island with Emeryville. During the two-decade debate on rebuilding a section of the bridge damaged during the Loma-Prieto earthquake in 1979, bike lane construction was used as a bargaining chip by environmentalists to gain approval for the project.
Instead of being transported by a van, a special path was built to accommodate this traffic. The expense cost taxpayers about 500 million in the bloated 6.6-billion-dollar budget. Even more money is expected to be spent in the coming years for new trails leading to the bridge.
Currently 112 riders venture from Emeryville to Treasure Island on weekdays. Once they utilize this stairway to Heaven pathway to the former Naval base, buses or a free Ferry service transports riders to San Francisco.
A Sound Investment?
Ironically, this ridiculous waste of government funds makes the Bullet Train into a sound investment!
This is not an isolated incident. Cities throughout California, due to legislation emanating from Sacramento, insist bike lanes are to be installed with road funds generated by gas taxes. Other projects such as fixing potholes to widen roads, are put on hold.
In San Diego, continuous controversy has developed pertaining to a 77-mile bike path thru town. Two years ago, the estimated cost was 446 million to do the job. It has gone up another 200 million since then. Safety concerns, lost parking spots, and congestion have displeased many San Diego residents.
Recently, this same story has been repeated numerous times. Open rebellion has ensued in cities such as Santa Anna, Santa Monica, Culver City, and even Blue Oakland.
Bike lanes are just part of the Newsom administration’s efforts to take away local control away from cities. Much like housing, the legislature believes they hold magic wando solutions for all transportation matters. They are also investing billions of dollars in mass transit that has generated fewer riders than anticipated.
Not to be forgotten is the hideous Bullet Train project that struggles to find funds to build new track. It is now widely thought the proposed high-speed rail between Rancho Cucamonga and Las Vegas will be constructed long before the Bullet Train is ever completed.
Newsom and legislative leaders such as Scott Weiner, embrace stack and pack apartment living utilizing public transportation and bikes rather than cars. At the same time, these climate change warriors favor the virtual elimination of building new single-family homes.
Such policies have not proven popular with the masses. Unfortunately, “Big Brother” in Sacramento just does not care!
The question comes to mind, when will voters become disenchanted with Democrats who are leading California to financial ruin? Now joining in this equation is the disintegration of the Golden State’s vaunted cool lifestyle.
With wealthy businesses fleeing the Golden State in droves, are remaining taxpayers willing to pick-up the tab to balance the budget and finance Progressive social programs?
Can a culture that previously has taken pride for what The Eagles called “Life in the Fast Lane”, be now relegated to peddling around town on bike paths?
Bike lanes and other efforts to frustrate car drivers (and eventually eliminate them) are bigger than Newsom or Wiener. The bare-faced hypocrisy goes all the way up to powers that be, like the attendees at the recent COP28 in Dubai (did you see that the event’s president Sultan Al Jaber also heads UAE national oil company ADNOC?). Here in my newly adopted state of North Carolina these weirdos are spreading their hypocrisy cautiously (due to a Republican legislature) but steadily (a lot of Democrats clamoring for more progressivism). The city of Raleigh just started proselytizing “5 minute cities” — yep, with lots of bike lanes.
This warped anti bike narrative coming from leave it to eber is misguided and detrimental to public safety.
If this clown car driver actually knew how to ride a bike he might realize just how many cyclists are conservative.
Pro Tip:
Stop buying into the car vs cyclist main stream marxist narrative and opt outside.
You might find that you’ll make the most important decisions in your life when your riding a bike not while your sitting in vehicular traffic.
Mr. Eber is not “anti-bike”. He, as many others, is anti-hypocrisy. A parent trying to drop off one kid in daycare and another in first grade, and be at work by 8:00 am, is not going to ride a bike (let alone depend of poor transit). Bike lanes are necessary, and need to be placed where they do not interfere with that parent. The Bike Coalition has been recruited by the Klauss Schwabs of this world to pretend oil can be eliminated for the good of the planet, without any idea what would replace the thousands of things that derive from oil.