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Student Killed Driving Solar Car
Lev13than writes "Tragedy struck the University of Toronto's Blue Sky Solar Racing Team on Thursday when 21-year old student Andrew Frow was killed in a car accident. It appears that Frow lost control of the low-riding experimental car and was struck by a minivan head-on. The team was driving from Stratford to Waterloo (about an hour west of Toronto) as part of a tour of universities in Ontario and Quebec to mark the one-year anniversary of the 2003 Blackout. This is a big setback for solar power advocates, especially as the blackout anniversary will pass with remedial legislation stranded in Congress. More information on the accident is available here." The vehicle's design is not really street-safe - this will be a problem as more efficient, lighter cars share the road with Hummers.
Maybe bulky, horribly inefficient vehicles like Hummers shouldn't be allowed on the road..
Maybe the car companies should get government funding to develop more energy-concious cars?
Or, at the very least, stop getting funding from Big Oil.
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori
Seriously...
They clog up the carpool lane (as well as any other you might want to pass in) and now they're striking out against advances in technology that would surely spell their demise...
Michalangelo Progr
It seems to be the American way to be wasteful these days.
Should have taken the Jubilee line
I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
I heard the sun was in his eyes, and he couldn't see the oncoming traffic.
Ha Ha
They are fuel hogs. The increased consumption of gasoline increases our dependency on foreign powers and further pollutes the earth.
They are dangerous to other drivers. With their gargantuous mass and high bumpers, they will do much more harm in a collision than a reasonably sized vehicle.
This in turn makes people think theat if they too buy a larger vehicle they might stand a chance in an accident - furthuring my first point about fuel consumption.
Conserve Oil, Recycle, Boycott Walmart
I agree that his death is tragic.
On the other hand, a hero he is not. He got in a traffic accident and lost his life in a car that should never have been driven in traffic. Saying that the vehicle is the image of progress and green compliance is unrealistic at best - if all cars were as light and underpowered as that solar car had been, gasoline consumption would be less than a tenth of what it is today. The sad truth of it is, he died demonstrating something that we all know already - that the solar cars are nothing more than pie in the sky dreams. Only by removing crash survivability as a design criterion are they able to produce something that can get you from one place to another. Progress is not trading our safety for some environmental activists' peace of mind. I find myself both sad and angry - he was clearly a giver instead of a taker, but he was giving his time doing the wrong thing.
I submitted this story last night, and it didn't get posted.
> Anyway, the car could have changed the way that
> people live.
It sure changed they way the driver lived.
As an out of control vehicle it could have has easily been hit by a truck as a Hummer and had the same outcome, perhaps even an impact with a small hybrid Prius would have had the same outcome (but been far more ironic).
It could have been hit by a MINI Cooper and still killed the guy.
I hope their fudning is given to another team with common sense.
Ave Molech Setting
They overdid weight reduction, and the thing was blown sideways into the path of another vehicle. Too much sail area for the vehicle weight.
Yup that is our problem.. Must ban mini vans since one intentionally killed this poor college student trying to save the earth..
They are evil and must be removed from the face of the planet..
Then we must sue the car makers for selling the evil devices..
---- Booth was a patriot ----