catsittingstill

Obama's Transportation Secretary made an announcement last week:

LaHood says the government is going to give bicycling — and walking, too — the same importance as automobiles in transportation planning and the selection of projects for federal money. The former Republican congressman quietly announced the "sea change" in transportation policy last month.

This is wonderful. Should have happened a long time ago, of course. Finally transportation will not continue to make bicyclists' lives unnecessarily difficult by arrangements made for the supreme convenience of cars. Freaking about time. Anything that increases bike and walking transport helps with air pollution including global warming, with traffic congestion, with finding parking, and with human health. If the Obama administration actually sticks to this (a big if, in my mind) it's a win win win win situation.

Of course, there will always be some people who can't share.

At a recent House hearing, Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, suggested jokingly to a Transportation Department official that one explanation for the new policy is that the secretary's thinking has been clouded by drugs.

Somebody needs to explain that, while motor vehicles have effectively been an only child for a long time, they have brothers and sisters now, and they will have to learn to share.