[rogerhb]

Remove all the road-signs, road-markings, speed-limits, highway-code and vehicle-fitness rules.

This would rapidly increase the number of fatalities on the roads thus making it less desirable except for boy-racers.

[Aedo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('johnmarkos', 'A')nother technology I thought of today as I was bicycling to work -- protective exoskeletons for the riders of two-wheeled vehicles!

[johnmarkos]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aedo', 'G')reat idea! I am no longer riding my bike to work following a serious accident where I fractured my back after flying over the car that turned into me (on the bright side I didn't end up in a wheelchair!)

[Backtosteam]

Didn't know exactly where to post this, but I didn't want to start another thread. I'm flabbergasted by this article. I see Detroit looking like Philly did in the 60's and 70's after all the manufucturing left the area. My favorite quote has to be...

"By 2010, efficient gas-electric hybrid engines were widely available on the big vehicles Americans wanted from GM and Ford."

They have got to be kidding. Denial is so powerful.


Detroit 2015

[bentstrider]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SHiFTY', 'I') don't think that's realistic; in fact I think that's a totalitarian way of going about things.
What you want to reduce is unneccessary car journeys, especially commuting to work and back. By taxing fuel and providing fast, relable train services, much of europe does this.
Cars are great for holidays, off-peak driving, et ceterera.
For example here in the UK, I catch trains to work every day, costs me 25 pounds a week for a pass. Don't need a car to get to work at all.
If I want to go on holiday, I hire a brand new VW diesel for 100 pounds a weekend. Simple!

[skyemoor]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'A')nd where do you plan on doing with the suburbanites? For the purposes of this little 10 question post, we=suburbanites.

1.We are going to need trains and buses in order to get to work.

[ubercynicmeister]

Hi Macsporan!

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Macsporan', 'A')nother thing about cars is that they kill people, lots of them, all the time.

I read somewhere that about 80 million people have died of car since the dawn of the last century. Thats more than WWs I and II combined. And lets not talk about the wounded, paralysed and maimed and what that has cost the world in grief and money.

Still less would you want to know what all these roads cost to keep up every year.

They are expensive, inefficient and dangerous so let's be rid of them.

Me, I'm a train nut.

[DarkDawg]

Hydrogen vehicles are a reality. The problem is infrastructure and building all the necessary refueling stations. The good news is that with renewable energy (Hydro, Solar), producing Hydrogen can ultimately be the cleanest path. Like others have said; however, the future problems come in terms of cost for the masses, and production of all the other necessary components, steel, plastics, tires, etc...

My money is on horses and disagree on them being too expensive. They pay for themselves in terms of the work they can produce. A single horse can haul a lot more weight than any human on a bike, and do it faster, especially in mountainous regions. They can be used to pump water or plow fields or any other brute-force labor that will be required when tshtf. Trust me, you will want a loyal mount and good sword come panic time. A bike won't get you through the crazy mobs.

As for using horses strictly for personal travel, like commuting, then it really depends on the distance and terrain. Bikes do have many advantages as long as roads are smooth and relatively flat. We can't all be like Lance!

[johnmarkos]

New poll on the private automobile and how/whether to eliminate it.

[FatherOfTwo]

I wish I could vote for bicycles, but they don't work everywhere all of the time. Ever tried riding a bike in -40 with 3 feet of snow? Fun when you're a teenager, dangerous and frustrating when you're an adult trying to get to work.
It's either got to be more telecommuting, better public transport or a radically more efficient form of personal transportation (assuming we have the spare energy and time to transform the infrastructure.)

My $0.02.

[johnmarkos]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnDenver', 'T')he anti-smoking movement would be a good model. Get the trial lawyers to hit car companies, municipalities and car drivers with a barrage of lawsuits. Certainly, cars are producing toxic fumes like cigarettes. My brother told me (I don't know if this is right or not) that sampling near high-volume roads shows the soil to be contaminated with heavy metals like a toxic waste dump. Maybe you can file some sort of action with the EPA. Lots for planned roadways and parking lots could be combed for endangered species, no matter how minute. Car manufacturers could also be sued like gun manufacturers, for contributing to the death of human beings. In short, any excuse, no matter how flimsy, should be exploited to entangle automakers/developers/oil companies in litigation. You're bound to run into some sympathetic judges or juries somewhere in the system. Anyway, the goal isn't so much to win the lawsuits, but to use an L. Ron Hubbard style strategy of harassing car culture with the legal system.

People with respiratory/allergy problems may be very enthusiastic about "no car zones".

[untothislast]

The best way to eradicate our dependence on the private automobile, would be by making everywhere so homogeneous that no one feels the need to travel. We could do this by introducing completely bland styles of architecture - making extensive use of featureless concrete and glass - and by having exactly the same shops, malls and department stores in every . . . oh, yeah, we're already doing it.

[johnmarkos]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('FatherOfTwo', 'I') wish I could vote for bicycles, but they don't work everywhere all of the time. Ever tried riding a bike in -40 with 3 feet of snow? Fun when you're a teenager, dangerous and frustrating when you're an adult trying to get to work.

[ALBY]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('johnmarkos', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnDenver', 'T')he anti-smoking movement would be a good model. Get the trial lawyers to hit car companies, municipalities and car drivers with a barrage of lawsuits.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ALBY', 'T')o turn around and burn up our remaining national wealth in a devisive fit of revisionist self loathing would be tragic to say the least.

[ALBY]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ALBY', 'p')sychology of previous investment

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ALBY', '
')Not at all.

I'm ready for the next thing. I just think depending on lawyers and the courts is a poor way to go about doing it.

[johnmarkos]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ALBY', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('johnmarkos', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnDenver', 'T')he anti-smoking movement would be a good model. Get the trial lawyers to hit car companies, municipalities and car drivers with a barrage of lawsuits.

[ALBY]

[quote="johnmarkosIf the strength and frequency of recent hurricanes can be ascribed to global climate change, then the auto's obvious property damages already reach into the hundreds of billions in the U.S. alone.[/quote]

obvious ? really ? how would you apportion damages between peronal autos, electric generating plants, chemical plants and other polluters ? here ? overseas ?

also, who would you litigate against ?

the government basically built the interstate system, taxes fuel, issues drivers licenses, cafe standards.. etc. what liability do auto manufacturers and oil companies really have considering the widespread government promotion and subsidy of personal automobiles and the attendant infrastructure ?

point is, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. the idea of litigating against corporations in these matters is preposterous. in fact, i could argue that the litigous nature of our society is a contributing factor to the clusterfuck in which we now find ourselves.

[johnmarkos]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ALBY', 'p')oint is, we have nobody to blame but ourselves.