I find that my bike is really pretty useful for coping with at least one type of government heavy-handedness: It is great for getting around the huge outbreaks of orange traffic cones and barrels that have practically shut down large parts of Lubbock during the last few years. Both of the major thoroughfares near my home are down to one lane, one for the eternally under-construction Marsha Sharp Porkway, the other for one or the other of the city’s own mass of street projects. To add insult to injury, the major cross street that intersects these is now cone-blocked as well.
Normally, it is very dangerous to ride on main Lubbock streets, since Lubbock drivers are some of the craziest and most heedless to be found anywhere. These days, however, with motor traffic forced to slow down to bike speed or stop altogether, it is easy to just zip right by them in the bike lanes or along the curb. The city and Texas Department of Transportation have not yet started to extend the cone/barrel plague onto the curbs and sidewalks but they’re probably working on it.