"Stop Before You Die" She Barks...

From the USA's Tallahassee.com in Florida, comes this tête à tête debate in the letters pages.

"Advice to cyclist: Stop before you die" barks some extremist - pessimist - alarmist...

If Joe Barnett really wants to live, I suggest he either relocate his residence closer to his periodontal practice or open an office in Killearn Lakes.

...She threatens.

I mean really, c'mon. She is probably also the proud broadcaster of similar doom-filled advice such as:

• "Stop eating entirely - or you will get food poisoning!"

• "Stay away from the sun - you might self-combust!"

Countered

The voice of common sense majority is articulated by Amy K. Mann:

Things can and eventually will change for the better concerning alternate forms of commuting, "better" being more alternate forms of transportation and fewer cars.

Borrow a bicycle and take a one-hour ride around town. See what it feels like to ride instead of drive. Put yourself in the other person's shoes.

Amy is spot-on when she talks of fewer cars, because everybody knows that the life-blood of vehicles as we endure them at present, is the expiring finite energy resource of Oil.


Open-Mindedness

Amy's title: "Put yourself in the bicyclist's seat" is such truly valuable advice.

Sometimes these kind of arguments; "well YOU try it then" appear rhetorical, because the challenger might be addressing someone they know to be too fat, lazy and small minded to even walk to the bike shop to hire one, (they'd drive... but they can't be bothered! ;-) )

But really, for any road-user adept in open-mindedness, hiring, or borrowing a bicycle to gain a fresh new perspective, (which is true even of perennially familiar roads nearby), is a very worthwhile and commendable challenge to complete.