> We don’t require the services of cars and trucks.
You require roads. And you require road rules and traffic signals (but most of you pay not a blind bit of notice to either).
> We don’t tear up the pavement like trucks. We don’t cause the same damages as cars and trucks.
So why should that absolve cyclists from being licensed? And paying road taxes just like everyone else? And observing the Road Rules?
Why should cyclists get to use for free something that someone else has paid for?
> If the taxes and fees paid equates to rights, then shouldn’t the guys who truck M1 battle tanks on our Interstates be able to abuse car drivers?
The cars and trucks have all paid their fair share and are not free-loading.
>>You require roads. And you require road rules and traffic signals (but most of you pay not a blind bit of notice to either).
So why should that absolve cyclists from being licensed? And paying road taxes just like everyone else? And observing the Road Rules?
Why should cyclists get to use for free something that someone else has paid for?
The cars and trucks have all paid their fair share and are not free-loading.<<
You forget that bicycles were actually on the roads BEFORE cars, and never paid taxes. (check some 19th and early 20th century photographs if you don’t believe me).
The reason cars and trucks pay taxes is because they actually tear up the roads. Maintenance on paved bike trails is not done because of the damage bikes do. It is because of the ravages of time: washouts, root damage, etc. You can’t say that about cars and trucks.
The actual cost bicycles visit on roads is essentially zero. And to add to that, by far the lions share of bicyclists also own cars, trucks, etc. This is a non-starter.
I have a class C and a Class M license, so surely I’m qualified to ride a bicycle on the streets. No?