Radical Thoughts
Before I lose you, I need to tell you something you may not know. I hope you’re sitting down for this: There is no road tax (GASP!).
But then, you ask, how are roads paid for? Oh, I’ll tell you: with property tax.
Who pays property tax? We. All. Do (even if you don’t own a property and you’re renting an apartment, the property tax is built into your rent costs).
In Manitoba, the Gas Tax that you pay at the pump also goes “toward road repair”. But I digress.
The reason I invite you inside my head today is because last night, a bike person posted on Instagram that she was nearly run over by a car driver who screeched her tires INTO the bike lane to yell at her (using her vehicle as a weapon).
In Winnipeg. IN. WINNIPEG.
What is happening? Why do some people feel so threatened by our two wheels that they feel compelled to be violent?
Consider this: My bike is my vehicle. Whether I can afford to trade it for a car is beside the point. I’m choosing to ride my bike year-round (for 90% of my trips) for many reasons that are really no one’s business. But if you must know, it’s money, environment and mental health.
My bike brings me more joy than I can possibly explain, and I only get angry when drivers get angry.
What is it that they’re angry about? Maybe you can enlighten me.
Is it because I’m slowing them down by 3 seconds when I’m on the road, taking a lane because there’s no bike lane? Because I’m on that road that I pay for with my property taxes, yet I’m told to “GET OFF” it?
Is it because I don’t “pay insurance” because I’m not likely to cause damage to anything that will need repair?
Is it because I don’t pay “Gas Taxes” which go toward repairing the potholes I didn’t create?
Or is it because I look so damn happy?
Yes, I’m damn happy, even though my trip anywhere may be twice the length as yours, I may actually arrive in half the time because there’s rarely any construction that I can’t get around.
I’m happy even though I pass your “free” parking spots which I help subsidize – instead of getting a bike lane, just so you can drive and park anywhere. (I’ll explain: when you’re driving and this bike person is in “your” lane because she can’t be on a bike lane – that’s because there are parked cars where that bike lane should be, so free parking isn’t free after all. It costs me AND it costs you too, because now you’ll slow down and remember that though we all share the costs of your convenience, only some of us actually get those benefits).
The long and short of it is this: my bike has radicalized me because it has opened my eyes to the injustice of the financial decisions that are made regarding transportation infrastructure and the imbalance of it all. It has radicalized me because unless I’m on a “REALLY FAR FROM THE ROAD PROTECTED BIKE LANE”, I’m at the mercy of people inside vehicles that often regard my life as less important than their scheduled arrival time (their convenience is more important than my safety).
It’s exhausting having to constantly defend this.
So I just ask you this: when you’re driving, please watch for bikes. They usually come attached to a human.
