Ride to Work Day

Renee Lafair  Start Living Green Expert

Think of bicycles as rideable art that can just about save the world.

~Grant Peterson

     Ride to Work Day is Monday, June 15^th.  The day is dedicated to riding your motorcycle or scooter as an alternative way to work.  

     Why do we need such a day?  As far as Carbon Footprints go, those who ride scooters, bicycles or motorcycles pollute far less, from the production of the vehicle, gas throughout the life of the car, oil, tires, parts-to the heap of scrap hauled off and left at the dump. From start to finish, a scooter is much easier on the earth than a Prius. But, this does not explain why mark a special day. Just to educate the public and politicians of the benefits of traveling on two instead of four wheels?

     The reason specifically the United States has a special "Don't drive to work" day is because U.S. cars are bigger, the roads are larger, and U.S. citizens ride fewer bikes, scooters and motorcycles (as a percentage of population).  Riders also ride each bicycle, scooter or motorcycle less total miles per year during day-to-day lives. In part because taking a smaller, two wheel vehicles on bigger, fast moving roads with drivers unaccustomed to bikes, scooters and motorcycles is more dangerous.

     In Europe and Asia, where motorcycles and scooters are more common parts of traffic patterns, there are far fewer accidents per rider per mile.  The more riders; the more drivers are used to them, the more integrated the two become in traffic patterns. In the U.S. the motorcycle industry, for instance, focuses more on selling the speed, noise, and dangerously 'wild' side of riding.  So the riding population is both biased toward -- and sanctioned for -- those who are interested in riding either off-road, or less safely.  Two wheel vehicles are seen as a nuisance with no right to be on the roads.

     Despite a lot of hard work, and some progress in education, biking advocates make little inroads into this prejudice. Americans love the sense of speed, "open road" and sometimes a sense of entitlement to hog the road as an American mindset. This mindset is promoted in sales and advertising, and is creeping across the globe. Because oil, gas, travel, roads, speed and everything Car, do make money, at least for some.

     Yet as we see before our eyes the results (not only for the environment, but upon our waistlines), a good number of cities have begun to understand the benefits of scooters and motorcycles, and have issued proclamations of support for Ride to Work Day.  They recognize that as riders enjoy the full use of HOV lanes, take fewer parking spots, and make traffic flow easier, urban life is improved for everyone.  According to the RAW Day website  http://www.ridetowork.org/ as a whole, the United States will burn 60,000 fewer gallons of gas on just one day because of the increased number of riders participating in Ride to Work Day.

     As someone who always looked at motorcycles or scooters as dangerous, or fine but "for someone else" I am beginning to take a second look.  Maybe one day I will be one of those who choose to Ride to Work.  Either way, I've begun to see motorcycle and scooter riders differently, and to make new distinctions among those I see around me who choose to enter the traffic stream on two wheels, rather than four.