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Low Emission Cars Continue to Gain Popularity
Rio writes "A company may soon offer American motorists a new option to save on high gas prices -- vehicles powered by lithium batteries. From the article: 'Just plug in these cars for about five hours or so and you'll get about 300 miles on a single charge.' The vehicles cost about $35,000 or about double what buyers would pay for a gas-powered model." Relatedly acidrain writes to tell us The BBC is reporting that a prototype of the new "Clever car" (Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport) is starting to make the rounds on European test tracks. The car is one meter wide and less polluting than normal vehicles. It has a top speed of 100 km/h (60mph) and uses a novel tilting chassis to make it safe and maneuverable.
Oh ?
How about:
a) Invest in oil companies.
b) Don't pick the largest engine displacement when buying a new car.
Actually at least where I live, a bicyclist who isn't turning and is in the lane of traffic in the right median/gutter has the right of way at an intersection versus a car immediately to their left who wants to turn. A motorist wanting to make a right-hand turn has to wait for both pedestrians and cyclists to clear. This is pretty standard: turning traffic almost always has a 'lower priority' than traffic going straight. Motorists just tend not to think about the fact that when they're in the right lane waiting to turn, there is actually another "lane of traffic" to their right (bicycles driving in the right edge of the lane), which may be going straight. In some places they've actually painted a "bicycle lane" there to make it more obvious, but this isn't the case at most intersections.
... well, guess you won't ever do that again.
When I ride, I generally stop and walk my bike across busy intersections in the crosswalk with the peds, but I'm not a commuter and can afford the time. Still, I can't count though the number of times I've nearly been run down, both as a pedestrian and a walking-cyclist, in the crosswalk by drivers making right-hand turns who don't yield, regardless of the status of the signals. (I.e., they're making a right-turn-on-red and think that the people in the crosswalk have to yield.)
And no, you don't want to put cyclists on the sidewalks, because bicycles actually move (in an city) much closer to the speed of cars than pedestrians, and would be a hazard there. Also, as pretty much any cyclist can attest, about the only thing more unpredictable than a clueless driver is a clueless pedestrian. At least a car can't change it's velocity 180-degrees in half a second, a person can and many frequently do. You can make certain assumptions about a car going in a certain direction at a certain speed, but you can't do that about a person. If that bozo in front of you stops to pick up a quarter, your bicycle's front tire is going to be giving him a wedgie before you can do a damn thing about it, at even a fairly low speed.
The 'solution' is for everyone to just obey the traffic laws, and to pay more attention the bigger the vehicle you're driving.
Slightly OT: I'm of the opinion that the penalty you should pay for moving violations should be based on the curb weight of your vehicle: if Susie Soccer Mom wants to drive a 6,000 lb Escalade, then she can pay $1 a pound when she fails to yield at an intersection. If a motorcyclist / pedestrian / motor-scooter does, they should also pay proportionally, since the damage they're going to do to anyone they hit is going to be less. I would keep it with commercial vehicles and semis also. If you blow through a red light with a 200,000-lb trailer
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Look at how many idiot drivers fail to see emergency vehicles with lights and sirens blaring, and tell me that they'll notice loud pipes.
REPLY
In the past few years a popular German auto maker ran a series of commercials where their car was operated on a noise city street. Traffic. Construction. Emergency vehicles. "Cars that go boom"(loud music, if you can call that music.)
The windows go up and complete silence. A hand turns of the gain on the onboard sound system and Bach or Brahms comes pouring out of the TV set. Lovely. Cars marketed by playing up the fact that you are isolated from the driving environment as much as possible. Coming soon will be blinders to go with the ear-plugs. Wait...they are here..see many cars with narrow windows, big pillars, heavy window tinting and "wings" added on that all cause problems for driver visibility.
Add to that many car magazines that cater the "luxury and performance segment" will rate a car LOWER if you are not sufficiently soundproofed, as outside annoyances like Police, Fire, and EMS sires, will seriously fuck up your driving experience when they impinge upon your enjoyment of a 5000000 watt 30 speaker Dolby DTS digital 70.1 surround sound system. [Numerical exadurations intentional]
Anyhow, to the point, auto makers and car enthusiasts are turning their cars into boxes where they can be blind and deaf while motoring about.
When you want quite and blind get yourself a coffin and get out of the fucking car before you put other motorists or pedestrians into their own coffins.
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