The bike fantasy: Life without cars

Bike activists in SF are not just pro-bike; they are anti-car. Their latest fantasy, in the wake of high gas prices, is that the US will someday soon abandon the private automobile in favor of transit and bikes, as if automobiles are intrinsically wedded to fossil fuels. SF bike activist Sue Vaughn is the latest to retail that illusion:

"People have this idea that the American dream is a home in the suburbs with a lawn and a two-car garage," she says. "I call that the 'American delusion' because it cannot be perpetuated." As the world's oil supply dwindles and the effects of global warming due to oil consumption become clearer, Vaughn says that Americans must begin to envision a lifestyle without cars. (BeyondChron, Feb. 8, 2005)

In fact more and more people are already driving vehicles powered by hybrid technology. The real delusion is to believe that motor vehicles will be obsolete when fossil fuel becomes scarce and/or more expensive. A car-free US will never happen. That the bike people believe that it will is an indication of how far from being reality-based they are. Why is San Francisco allowing these fantasists to remake city streets? Because most city voters don't know this is what's happening.