Sad news...

[Trekhawk]

bikerchick68 -

You're absolutely right about taxes and biking. I too drive, and certainly pay my share of taxes.
What's really interesting to me is that the cars and car taxes here in NC apparently aren't even providing enough $ to expand and repair the roads. They're looking at toll roads and other funding solutions. That expansion wouldn't be necessary with more bikers. Plus we *really* don't cause the kind of wear and tear on the roads that motorized vehicles do....
*sigh* Gotta love living in the south - where the pickups roam free...

On another thread there was an interesting article posted (sorry cant remember by who) about tax and cycling, the author was sick of people saying cyclists didnt pay tax, registration etc etc. He worked out that by cycling instead of using your car you were actually paying more than your share because you were not causing as much wear and tear to the road. There was a lot more to the article and it stated a lot of good facts and figures.

[tomgrrrl]

Here's a link to the elementary school where she taught and the website they put up with her photo and information http://www.oakknollschool.com/Mazzei/Mazzei.html

....apparently, according to something else I read, CALTRANS (the state Highway agency responsible for this section of road) had recently (within the past couple of years) reconfigured the bike lane....here's what someone else wrote about it:

"I shuddered when I read about Rose Mazzezi's death this past
weekend. This is the very spot where a friend of mine, Larry Witham,
had a serious accident on his bike that landed him in the hospital
and physical therapy for months. Larry was riding in the same place
Rose was, and the driver changed lanes and hit Larry from behind.
The driver has no insurance, and was cited for "unsafe lane
change" -- Larry could've died.

Larry is convinced that part of the problem has to do with the
recent lane reconfiguration that Caltrans implemented; he'd like to
see it changed to its former state. He's been working with his
lawyer, etc but not getting ver far. Larry's since moved out of the
area but wants to connect with this group to find out more from
local riders, and try to lobby to get changes made to that
particular interchange."

Perhaps a fitting legacy to this young woman would be for those of us in the Bay Area to lobby CALTRANS to fix this hazard!!

[MomOnBike]

Digging deep in the bowels of my memory, it seems to me that the vehicular taxes we pay only account for ~ 30% of the costs of roads. The rest comes from property taxes, etc. Thus the steam coming from my ears when I'm told that I on my bike "don't pay taxes."

I'll cut the rest of the rant short, we've all heard/declaimed it.

On a related note, I hear that in Japan if you hit a bicyclist your licence is jerked. Period. End of discussion. And they tax cars based on engine displacement. The combo makes for small, well designed cars driven by polite drivers. This almost makes me want to move to Japan. Almost.