House Republican Whip, Eric Cantor, has targeted the Federal Safe Routes to School program as wasteful government spending as part of his YouCut program. Each week, Rep. Cantor asks people to vote for which of five options they would cut from the federal budget. Republicans then hold a floor vote in the House of Representatives to try and eliminate the program that gets the most votes.
This week, the Federal Safe Routes to School program is one of Rep. Cantor’s choices to cut. He argues that SRTS duplicates other bicycling and walking programs, and that bicycling and walking infrastructure is a local government responsibility. We need your help to show Rep. Cantor that Safe Routes to School is important to his constituents and that it is not wasteful spending.
Please take a minute and go to this link on the League of American Bicyclists website to send a letter to your House Representative and let your rep know how important the Federal SRTS program is and those efforts and funds are NOT duplicative of other local programs.
Please click on this link to send your message directly to your House Representative.
I have written to my Congressman.
ReplyDeleteVision Zero explicitly states that the responsibility is shared by the system designers and the road user:
"1. The designers of the system are always ultimately responsible for the design, operation and use of the road transport system and thereby responsible for the level of safety within the entire system.
2. Road users are responsible for following the rules for using the road transport system set by the system designers.
3. If road users fail to obey these rules due to lack of knowledge, acceptance or ability, or if injuries occur, the system designers are required to take necessary further steps to counteract people being killed or seriously injured."
‘Ethical rules’ have been proposed to guide the system designers. Two of these are:
•"Life and health can never be exchanged for other benefits within the society"
•"Whenever someone is killed or seriously injured, necessary steps must be taken to avoid a similar event".