No on Question 1

Quincycles urges Massachusetts voters to vote  “No on Question 1” on Tuesday, November 4, 2014.

Do you want to drastically cut your gas tax? Then ride your bicycle to work, or walk to the store, or take public transportation on your next trip to Boston. Those are proven ways to lower your gas tax. However, as a matter of public health and safety, Quincycles supports gas tax indexing and urges voters to vote NO on Question 1.

Recently, members of Quincycles heard a presentation given by Steve Miller of the Harvard School of Public Health. Steve introduced us to innovative safety-focused engineering designs from around the world, some of which are being implemented in Boston and Cambridge that allow motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists to share the roads in safer and smarter ways in congested urban areas like Quincy. These infrastructure improvements have proven results of lowering the amount of injuries and fatalities and have increased the safety for all who use the roads. One example is a Dutch designed intersection where the four corners of an intersection are expanded to make the distance to cross the street shorter for pedestrians, rounded to protect bicyclists from right-turning trucks and cars, while at the same time maintaining the usual flow of traffic.

However, these safety-focused designs require financial commitment. They are not prohibitively expensive, but they are new and become more difficult to implement if there are not sufficient revenues to support them. A NO vote on Question 1, to maintain gas tax indexing, is a vote to support the necessary revenues the Department of Transportation needs to both maintain and improve upon our current network of roads, bridges, and highways. A NO vote allows gas tax revenues to increase with inflation to support both repair and maintenance projects, and also for investment in innovative and safety-focused infrastructure designs with a proven track record of public safety and effectiveness.

We understand that tax increases are not popular. However, we also believe that residents of the Commonwealth want and deserve the safest roads that money can buy.  For the sake of public health and safety, we urge a vote of NO on Question 1.  Together, let’s think in fresh new ways, and make the necessary investments, to make our streets and roads as safe and user friendly as possible.  And again, if you want to cut your gas tax, then ride your bike!

Quincycles Board of Directors

Joe Hern, Tim Lanham, Irene Lutts, Mike Smeglin, Maura O’Gara, Nathan Pipho