When Rebuilding America, Remember the Cyclists

Good read here from Popular Mechanics. Thoughts?

"The origin of all this car-versus-bike animosity dates back to the days before cars were even on American roads, to the time when the notion of roadways as a public good was first established. In the late 19th century, herd animals, carts, wagons, horses, and road locomotives all shared the road, and it could be a pretty chaotic place.

"The basic concept of [streets and roads]," says historian James Longhurst, author of Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the American Road, "is that they're a shared resource between travelers. The street is a public good that exists only when it allows the free passage of people upon it."

When things started getting out of hand—with super-loud cars spooking horses and plowing into each other—federal and state governments passed laws, such as speed limits and one-way streets, that applied to all vehicles.

Then cars completely took over."