Speaking to my heart here.

Which is a subsidy.

It's also why we say that cars are heavily subsidized: road maintenance, parking spaces, large bridges... all costs that would be significantly down if urban areas were organized around public transit and active transit.

Car infrastructure is a cost paid by all for the benefit of only a part of society.

Hmm. My e-bike is an electric motor slapped on a slightly-beefier-than-normal frame. The only electronics besides the motor is a simpler than dirt lcd-screen interface with spedometer, odometer, and buttons for controlling the mode and speed. The device doesn't connect to anything besides the motor, and that's by design.

I have on occasion used bikeshare-style e-bikes when visiting certain cities. Those are certainly tracked. But I feel like the "conventional" e-bikes like the one I described above surely outnumber the bikeshares by several factors.

Or just don't get an auto loan: Just get an old toyota instead.

Or move house to somewhere close enough to work and amenities to walk/bike/bus (if possible)

are there any studdded bike tires (I would love them for my ebike)?

Yeah, but while there are motorists, biking around is fucking terrifying, at least where I live. I have no idea how I did it when I was in school.

I'm all for biking, but there's no need to sweep the risks under the rug.

The stats are hard to compare - there's some overlap in the types of commutes that are viable for both cycling and driving, and they're going to vary a ton depending on how bike-friendly the roads are in any given area.

Like, do we even consider automotive deaths that happen on the interstate? There's no bikes there to compare to. Or cyclist deaths in car-free regions? There's no cars to compare to. I'm not aware of any comparison that selects only for care-bike shared spaces... but a look at the raw numbers:

In 2024 there were 1,103 pedalcyclist fatalities, accounting for 2.8 percent of all traffic fatalities.

(US) https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/#!/PublicationList/19 (2024 Bicyclists and Other Cyclists Traffic Safety Facts)

So... 2.8% of traffic fatalities were cyclists. I can't find a credible breakdown of traffic numbers: the important stat being the number of cyclists vs the number of motorized vehicles (or more accurately, the number of people in those vehicles - i.e., a single car with a driver and a passenger is 2). Is the number of cyclists (in 2024) 2.8% of all people on the road? ...I don't have the numbers to answer that, but just by observing anecdotally how often I see a bike vs people in a motorized vehicle, I'd guess it's WAY less than 2.8%.

And if the total number of cycles is infact less than 2.8%, then cycling is more dangerous than driving. Let's say it's 0.5% of total traffic (which still feels way way), that would put cycling at a bit over 5 times more likely to result in dying than driving a car would.

TLDR: the stats I'm finding don't do a great job of accurately comparing the risks of driving vs cycling, but the raw data doesn't paint a very pretty picture from the fatality angle. What I can say confidently is that we need better infrastructure to keep bicycle traffic and 2,000+ lb explosion-powered missile on wheels traffic separate.

Still TLDR: Fuck cars, but not data.

Geez! How bad is the traffic around there? I've always been able to find a gap.