Just noticed that today Dave Yonke of the Toledo Blade in his Blog Keywords made a comment about the high price of gas followed by a wistful reference to wishing he could be riding a Vespa instead.
Here's the blog: Gas Prices and Holidays
Here's the quote I take issue with:
Sigh. Wish we had better alternatives in the United States. I would ride a Vespa scooter or even a bicycle to work when the weather is OK if there were separate lanes. But it's far too dangerous out there on the main roads with all the crazy car, SUV, and pickup drivers distracted by cell phones, screaming babies and spilled coffee.
Mr. Yonke . . . I've started riding a motor scooter on September 16, 2005 (it was a 2005 Yamaha Vino 125) - just a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit and days after I paid $3.20/gallon for gas at a local station. I saw the handwriting on the wall then. And since then, I've put up with the crazy car drivers for almost almost three years now. As examples - I been pursued by one angry Jeep Liberty owner simply because he wanted me in front instead of behind him on the road; I've been tailgated by others who didn't like my presence on the road and a ticked off guy in a Hummer told me to "Take it on the sidewalk." I've kept going despite all of that because I know where things are going.
I changed my ride at the end of July last year to a 2007 Vespa LX150 because it has better pick-up and handles Toledo's bumpy roads much better. So far I've ridden it not only around Toledo, but also to Maumee, Sylvania, Oregon, Lambertville, Bowling Green, Archbold and Fremont. I expect to go even farther in the future. It was and continues to be an eyeopening and horizon broadening experience.
Risk? Certainly, but if it isn't taken; if an example is not set, change will be long, hard and expensive in coming. I obviously won't effect (yes, I mean effect not affect) much change - I'm a nobody at the least and irritant at the worst to most folks.
However, you, sir, as member of the media, along with your colleagues, can have lots of influence. I assert it is time now for all of you to set such an example. Drop your SUV and try to ride a scooter. And just don't be "Sunshine soldier" either, but that type that's willing to do it in the cold and rain too.
1 comment:
Sorry, Mike, but you won't catch me on a scooter. I lost a dear friend last year in a motorcycle accident. He had been riding a bike for 30 years, but in one brief moment he died from "internal decapitation."
I have a family to provide for. In addition, I can't do much of a job as a journalist if I'm dead.
Better to drive along in my 40 mpg civic than to lose my life trying to effect a new era in transportation.
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