My current pet peeve is people complaining about the ‘cost’ of protected bike lanes because “people on bikes don’t pay their way”.
Beyond even the data showing just how much private car ownership is already subsidized, can we just take a moment and acknowledge: We wouldn’t need protected lanes at all if cars were not killing and injuring so many people.
It’s like the owner of an animal bemoaning the cost of an enclosure for their animal, which keeps killing and maiming members of the public as they pass by.
It’s not the victim’s fault the enclosure is needed, and it’s not the fault of someone riding a bike they need protection in a public space.
I feel like the person making that kind of argument is speaking from emotion, so any facts and statistics aren’t going to be persuasive.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Like, giving up on the assumption that people are rational and driven by facts. Nope. It’s all emotions and in-groups for a lot of people most of the time.
So you’d have to come at it a different way to change their mind. Figure out what they’re really mad about.
Unfortunately, it might be something like “seeing people on bikes makes me feel bad that I’m out of shape. I also know I’m needlessly contributing to climate change when I drive short distances. That makes me feel bad. Feeling bad is unacceptable, so I will find excuses, any excuses, to justify myself”