Car Party Is Over
I was horrified to hear of the hit-and-run incident on Montague Road (Rte. 63) in North Amherst. Two bicyclers were hit on a Saturday night; one was killed, the other was severely injured. I happened to be riding my own bicycle near that scene right about that time and this could easily have happened to me.
Growing numbers of people choose to ride bicycles, mopeds, and small scooters to lessen our impact on the environment. We ride out of necessity; some of us cannot afford cars or rising gas prices. We are risking our lives on the road in competition with automobiles and SUVs. There is little maintenance on the sides of the roads. There are often no sides at all. There is glass from broken bottles and accidents.
There has been a lot of talk lately about reconstructing roads to create jobs and boost the economy. While we are at it, it is time to construct special lanes for bicyclers, mopeds and small scooters. A more immediate, less expensive action would be to make speed limits 25 miles per hour three miles from the center of towns like Amherst or Northampton. Laws would allow bikers to ride a yard away from sides of roads and from crumbling pavement. Cars would be required to follow (not tailgate) behind bikers and pass at least a car width when the left is clear.
As gas prices rise and pumps run dry, and as greenhouse emissions increase, we are going to see a lot more people on bicycles, mopeds, and small scooters. It is time to wean ourselves off our automobile habit. America, the big automobile party is over.
John-Forrest Bamberger
Amherst
Cap and Trade a Bad Idea
The claim that it is economically and strategically necessary for the United States to pass any sort of cap and trade bill contains little truth and a lot of postulation. In truth, cap and trade legislation would cost huge amounts of capital while accomplishing very little (something like reducing global temperatures by a few tenths of a degree 100 years from now). It is true that severe climate change could spark conflict in some areas, but this is in no way a justification for another ineffectual government program that would cost our economy trillions of dollars.
Take Senator Kerry's example of Pakistan. Would it be smart for them to stop building factories and cut greenhouse gases in the hope that it would prevent water shortages in the future? Of course not, because Pakistan gains much more than it loses by continuing to become an industrial nation. To tell Third World countries that the most dire issue they face is climate change flies in the face of logic and reason.
Conor Hennessey
South Hadley
