Up Front
UP FRONT
ON A CONTINUING FUEL SHORTAGE AND UNYIELDING ANTI-BIKE SENTIMENT
CONSIDER THIS. In a recent speech, Secretary of Transportation Claude S. Brinegar said, “Without question there is a serious and long-term energy shortage facing America. We must stop ignoring it, stop hoping that it will go away, and get on with solving it. This situation— this ticking time bomb—is potentially the most serious threat to our way of life since Pearl Harbor.
“America’s oil demand is presently about 17 million barrels per day—and again growing. To meet this need, we produce only some 10 million barrels of oil per day from 500,000 wells—an average of about 20 barrels per day per well. Saudi Arabia, by contrast, could easily produce an equal amount of oil, if it chose to, from about 700 wells—wells that average over 15,000 barrels per day. Faced with such disparities—500,000 wells vs. 700—it’s little wonder that the balance of energy power has shifted to the Middle East—along with $60-$70 billion per year of the free world’s monetary resources.
“President Ford now opposes increased gasoline taxes or rationing as a means to stimulate energy conservation, but at the same time he has warned that he will not hesitate to recommend sterner measures if voluntary efforts fall short. I very much hope that such sterner measures are not necessary. But we must, at the soonest possible time, cut our dependence on oil imports. The President has called for a 1,000,000 B/D reduction in imports compared to forecast levels by the end of next year. This is now our challenge.
“Since the nation’s transportation system uses nearly 60 percent of all the liquid oil consumed in the United States, meeting the President’s challenge is clearly going to require some changes in our travel and shipping habits.
“Here are three major programs our department is working on that can significantly reduce our energy appetite. I solicit the strong support of the Highway Users Federation in carrying out these programs, for they are in your best interests, as well as those of the nation as a whole.
“First: We must find effective ways to discourage people from using the family automobile so casually and so wastefully.
“We now have some 102 million automobiles in the United States—one for every two people in the nation. These 102 million automobiles use over five million barrels a day of petroleum—five million out of our total usage of 17 million. Quite clearly, any serious effort to save fuel must concentrate on the family automobile.
“I see at least three high-priority approaches to this most difficult problem:
“(a) We must continue our public efforts to convince the average driver that the fuel outlook is indeed serious and that, for the good of the nation, he must voluntarily reduce unnecessary driving. Higher gasoline prices have helped to indirectly convey this message, but only when the seriousness of the situation is voluntarily accepted nationwide will we start to get the kind of fuel reductions we really need.
“If the average car owner, now driving 13,000 miles a year, could cut back by 10 percent—and as a former businessman I’ve always found that just about everything can be cut 10 percent with a little pressure—he could save some 100 gallons of fuel a year—about two-thirds of the 1,000,000 B/D import reduction that the President has called for. And not so incidentally, such a reduction would also save the inflation-pressed motorists over $5 billion a year in fuel costs.
“Our studies indicate quite clearly that such savings are possible without seriously affecting jobs or living standards. The proof that we had the national will to achieve these savings would, I assure you, make quite an impression on the Arab oil cartel.
“(b) We must turn the urban and suburban automobile into an effective mass transit vehicle. Somewhere between 30 and 35 million private automobiles are used each day mainly to go back and forth to work. This fleet represents at least 120 million daily transit seats, more than 40 times the available seats of the nation’s public transit systems.
“But how efficiently are these automobiles used? You know the answer as well as I, for we only have to examine our own personal habits. Automobile urban work-trip occupancy now averages only 1.4 persons, and in autooriented cities like Los Angeles, where I lived and commuted for a decade, the rate is only 1.1 persons per car.”
Okay, the problem of fuel consumption is something for all of us who comprise the general public to consider. It is obvious that we should either utilize the carrying capacity of our generally large cars, or drive more economical vehicles with less carrying capacity whenever possible.
Now, keeping all of this in mind, I want to know why government, private business, and public sentiment against the motorcycle remain. (Remember a motorcycle is one of the few vehicles on the road today that is economical with one person on board.)
And that sentiment does remain.
1. The Environmental Protection Agency on several occasions has tried to legislate bikes off the road without giving manufacturers sufficient time to comply with rulings.
2. Street motorcycles are not allowed on several state park roads, primarily in campgrounds. Dirt motorcycles should not be allowed there, but street bikes with camping equipment, whose owners want the same consideration given those in automobiles should!
3. Motorcycles are not allowed on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey.
4. During the recent energy crisis, many gas station owners would not pump gas for cyclists attempting to use their machines to commute and thereby save gas.
And 5. As far as public sentiment goes, consider this. One CYCLE WORLD staff member was riding home one night and was persued by a full-sized sedan he had passed. The sedan owner finally caught up. He was furious and began telling the CYCLE WORLD staffer how he should drive slower to conserve energy. Now that’s ironic. A 10-mpg sedan owner telling a 40-mpg motorcyclist to conserve energy—and in the middle of winter!
I could go on, but it would serve no purpose. Antimotorcycle sentiment exists and it is ridiculous. Motorcyclists are people—just like automobile drivers and, therefore, they are entitled to identical privileges. And certainly, bikers should not be discriminated against at a time when the experts are telling us that energy should not be wasted.
