Not only do all tax-paying non-drivers subsidise drivers, but we all pay for the prioritising of driver convenience in a multitude of other ways. We pay with our attention, for example white-knucklingly fearful close supervision of small kids anywhere near a road used by cars. +

Our kids pay with later and less independence - they don’t have the opportunity to roam the neighbourhood with their friends independently. We cycle blocks out of their way to avoid busy routes designed for the convenience of drivers. +

Public funds go towards road repairs caused by cars leaving less money for community support. We pay by having to endure traffic noise. We pay in dealing with localised pollution and climate change. +

We pay by public funds being allocated to policing to enforce road rules and dealing with the aftermath of car crashes. (Not to mention the life-changing consequences of car crash deaths and injuries) +

We pay with our own health & for healthcare costs of a more sedentary life encouraged into private car ownership by sprawl and poorly funded alternative forms of transport. +

Traffic safety and cycling advocates spend hours and hours every week of unpaid volunteer time slogging away for years and years for a few hundred metres of safe cycling & pedestrian infrastructure. Other community advocates slog away to get funding diverted to their causes. +

Of course some people pay more than others. For example Black people have paid with their very neighbourhoods and their health. +

The idea that people who are lucky enough to earn an income high enough to get taxed should have more rights than people who don’t pay tax is abhorrent. The idea that a person who rides a bike doesn’t deserve to be protected based on how much tax they pay is abhorrent.