July 16: International Ride to Work Day
For the seventeenth consecutive year, this Wednesday will mark the annual Ride to Work Day. The event, which falls every year on the third Wednesday of July, is intended to promote fuel savings and the reduced traffic which comes as a result of motorcycle and scooter riding. This, of course, is an event we can get behind. As motorcycle and scooter sales worldwide increase due to fuel prices which have likely not yet hit their apogee, more and more ex-drivers are ditching their automobiles in an effort to save big money on their fuel bills. Still, it is currently estimated that just over 1-percent of these riders choose to commute to work on their two-wheelers.
Benefits to ridin' to work are many, including the aforementioned fuel savings and lower traffic, less damage to roadways, quicker commutes in places where lane-sharing is permissible and the fact that riding is fun. Don't think that riding to work makes a big difference? If every day were Ride to Work Day, fifteen-million gallons of fuel, and the associated CO2 emissions, could be saved per year. That, friends, is a big number although it is probably a conservative estimate given that American drivers consumed 9.3 million gallons of gasoline per day in 2007.
[Source: Ride to Work Day]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
brn 4:48PM (7/14/2008)
Let's not forget TONS more dangerous. Scooters and motorcycles make Smart cars look safe.
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tom 5:13PM (7/14/2008)
So this is kind of like Bike to Work Day, only for lazy people.
PS- I ride a Vespa to work every day.
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tomlahav 6:00PM (7/14/2008)
this is silly. Why not have the "International Ride A BUS to work day" instead? makes a whole lot more sense. Or better yet, "International Work From Home Day".
Much greener :)
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Whopper 10:46AM (7/15/2008)
@brn
TONS more dangerous because an entire "cell phone generation" has to "chat" while driving. I ride to work every day so my exposure is higher. This has afforded me the opportunity to practice accident avoidence frequently. The single common denominator is some driver who didn't see me because he/she was distracted with the cell phone. I wonder how many people on this blog are guilty of this very thing, have caused others to take evasive action and don't even know it.
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