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May 02, 2006
Soaring gas prices should encourage bikes and boots
Standing in line at the gas station, I hear one complaint repeated over and over. Small talk about the weather has partially been replaced by short conversations fitted with sighs, eye-rolling, head-shaking, and grunts. “Gas prices are ridiculous.” Odd then, how there is always at least one Suburban, SUV, or truck parked next to the pumps. Some of the people consoling each other about rising gas prices are clearly driving vehicles that can only aspire to a 20 mpg rate of fuel (in)efficiency in the city.
And as grimaces take over their faces while writing out checks for gas, I imagine that it is the same checkbook they used when purchasing their simply unnecessarily big vehicles that they bought at the time for their style, comfort, and implicit exhibition of uninhibited American wastefulness and macho-ism.
This is why we should applaud bikers and pedestrians instead of cursing them as we swerve around them recklessly in our cars.
The justifications for taking the car instead of walking are often appropriate--the destination is too far away, it is dark out, other people are with, or there are heavy items to transport. But there are always trips that don’t need to be taken and places that can be reached on foot.
With the arrival of spring, the streets have taken on the lively scent of blossoming plants that Glade plug-ins cannot even emulate. And with unique and charming houses to gaze upon, there is no shortage of reasons to grab the Reeboks instead of the car keys.
Posted by dwright at May 2, 2006 01:46 PM
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