Bikes are the Real Polluters

Posted by CODEPINK Staff

"Could Bike Lanes Cause Pollution?" wonders the Wall Street Journal in a piece apparently devoted to forwarding the crackpot theories of a Bay-Area "gadfly."

At a time when most other cities are encouraging biking as green transport, the 65-year-old [Rob Anderson argues] that urban bicycle boosting could actually be bad for the environment. . . . Cars always will vastly outnumber bikes, he reasons, so allotting more street space to cyclists could cause more traffic jams, more idling and more pollution.

Meanwhile, cyclists are being hurt and worse—four have died in the last two years, since Anderson stymied construction of a city-wide bike-friendly initiative. (Truth be told, of course, there's no guarantee the initiative would have prevented the injuries.)

It's a silly story—sillier for the coverage, but deeply regretful for the political impact of the silliness.