[lowem]

Autoduel time : "The right of way goes to the biggest guns"
For a completely new level of road rage possibilities, consider packing one of these :
[url]http://www.voodoo.cz/falcon/o/M61A1.gif[link[/url]

[gg3]

One of those "This vehicle insured by Smith & Wesson" bumper stickers, affixed to a suitably visible point on the back of the scooter, might also be a useful deterrent.
I'm thinking it would be really interesting to develop a cheap effective "black-box" video cam & recorder that could be attached to scooters and other small vehicles, and provide four channels (front, left, right, rear) of simultaneous video at a high enough resolution & frame rate to be useful as evidence in court.
For example a front-end device that could be plugged into to an i-Pod. In fact the new i-Pods let you store & show photos, so this could be really simple to do.
Then you put a sticker on the scooter that says "Equipped with Safety-Cam, continuous fulltime video recording."

Perps tend to give it up when they see themselves on video. Recently a house burglar in England was caught on a home safety-cam connected via internet to off-prem storage. When the police showed him the tapes he just sighed and 'fessed up, pled guilty before the judge, and is presently off to prison.
Imagine your hypothetical idiot driver, cellphone in one hand, open container in the other, swerving across two lanes of traffic to nearly run you off the road... and thirty minutes later, sitting in the back of the patrol car with handcuffs on.
(This will also encourage safer driving habits all'round, i.e. you want to be able to turn over the iPod for evidence, and not be embarrassed by that archived footage of your own "exceeding the posted limit," right?)

Useful ideas for stickers to affix to gas-guzzlers:
"Osama loves my SUV"
"Support Al Qaeda: waste energy"
"I'm a draft-dogding baby-boomer wasting my kids' fuel while your kids are fighting & dying to protect me!"
"Sacrifice? In wartime? That's someone else's job!"

[Specop_007]

Ahhh, the stereotypical "Its the SUV's fault" whine whine whine.
I LOVE IT!!
*peaks out window at his Expedition* Yep, shes a fine lookin vehicle.

[k_semler]

Don't you realize it is like a gun, if a sentient being comes even close to it, that being automatically goes on a killing spree!
<--/end liberal mode/-->
Hmm, my guns must not be working then. Haven't went on a killing spree yet.

[eastbay]

Actually it is the SUV's fault. They shouldn't have the right to exist on this earth. Kill them all IMO. Dig them all up afterwards and kill them again. Then pour sand in their dead headlights.
I had a happy experience tonight at around 8pm. A Hummer going well over 80 passed me (and everyone else) on a local freeway, 580, as I was going 60 in my Civic. About a minute later a bike cop cruises by us and nails him.
That's a happy moment.

[k_semler]

WOW!! An inanimate object not emmiting any mind-altering substances, (such as THC, Alcohol, Opids), can make an otherwise safe and sane person a dangerous driver or a raving psychopath bent on killing everything? Please point to conclusive scientific evidence indicating that this is indeed true.

If I beat someone to death with a rock, do you blame the rock for being there, or do you blame the person who made a concious effort to use that otherwise harmless tool as a weapon? I hope you would blame the person. Do you blame computers for crackers, matches for arsonists, kitchen knifes for stabbings? I would hope not. So why is a gun or a vehicle any different? Is it because you have not been trained in the proper operation of these tools? A hammer, axe, knife, match, gun, and vehicle are mere tools incapable of actions on thier own behalf, (unless there is a severe malfunction), it is the person operating these tools that determine if they are used as weapons, or as a tool.

Dangerous persons, or those persons incapable of controlling any given tool should not use these tools. I do not know how to fly a Boeing 747, (or any aircraft for that matter), yet I do not expect to just hop in the pilot's seat and operate the aircraft in a safe and competent manner. Any other tool is exactly the same, persons without adequate training should not operate them. It does not matter if the person is driving a 1980 VW Rabbit, or a 2003 Ford Excursion. A person that is incapable of operating these machines places life, limb, and property in grave danger. In compedent hands, these machines would be of no danger. Inadequate training, insane persons, fools, and malfunctions in manufacture, (which is still a human problem) result in death, dismemberment and destruction. non-sentient matter is not responsible for how it is used, as it has no control over its operation.

[eastbay]

Large personal use trucks and SUV's need to be rounded up and shredded. And the pieces need to be melted down.

For their own good.

Eastbay

[jato]

Naw, let the SUVs starve to death.

[eastbay]

Naw, let the SUVs starve to death.

I can live with that. But I say shoot the large personal trucks, two to the center of mass and one to the face, then bury 'em, and dig 'em up and kill 'em again... pour samd in their headlights and THEN shred 'em and melt 'em down.

I can compromise.

EastBay

[k_semler]

I say ban all aircraft, ships, cars, bicycles, push scooters, and legs. We should make everyone go places in padded hampster balls that are incapable of moving up or down hills, and not accelerate faster than 3 MPH. SAFETY AT ALL COSTS!

We must also ban the ever-so-dangerous solution known as dihydrogen monoxide. Thousands of people die from accidental inhalation of this substance every year, if heated, it can be explosive, and under cool temperatures it forms a solid which when walked on is very slick and increases the potential risk for accidents. Much of the dihydrogen monoxide is also polluted and presents a danger to public health. WE MUST BAN DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE!!

[BlisteredWhippet]

While this is a fun topic with a lot of fun responses, you may have left out one aspect of the experience in question, which is riding a scooter. Not an Expedition.
#1, A weapon isn't going to save you from getting creamed.
#2, Theres no place to put ostentatious bumper stickers on a scooter.
#3, If they don't see you what difference does a little sign make?
#4, Cameras can't replace the rider's skill.
In short the scooter rider must be a better driver than anyone else on the road by far.
When gas goes to 5.00/gal these wide, spacious American roads will be ours.

[Antimatter]

[OldSprocket]

I have the impression that many tailgaters have no idea what they're doing. They go as fast as they can without making a decision (up to your bumper) then stay there. Since they can see over a little car or scooter, it's perfectly safe. For them.
Similar in ways to the way we use oil. Use as much as you want until only us special people can afford it.
Most auto drivers have no idea how to drive behind a scooter or how to pass a bicycle. It's not usually malice. They just don't think. It helps that they have never experienced travel outside the cage they drive.
When gas gets expensive enough, our legislators will probably give right-of-way to SUVs so they don't waste gas by slowing to 50 behind your scooter.

[gg3]

k_semler, what you fail to recognize is that the abuse of the tool has become the paradigm case for the use of the tool.
The tool is in theory designed to carry multiple passengers and/or heavy/bulky cargo over rough terrain. (In fact some of them will even get stuck on a wet suburban lawn, which is downright pathetic, like a bulldozer that can't actually push dirt!) In that application, the fact that it gets single-digit mileage might be forgivable. If you're a contractor, or you live in the country and have to deal with snow or slides or washed-out roads, sure, that might justify having something with wheels taller than your kid.
However, put a single occupant in it and drive it over smooth pavements as a commuter vehicle, and that constitutes abuse of the tool, which is hastening the time when the rest of us won't be able to afford to heat our houses or drive anything with four wheels.

The fact that advertising billboards perched over crowded freeways show those vehicles bounding through mountain blizzards, is of no more relevance than the fact that Viagra is supposed to be for guys who really do have trouble getting ready for action. The car manufacturers know that the mountains are a fantasy, just as Pfeizer knows that stud-healthy guys with no real need will pop those little blue pills like jelly beans.
How'bout you call up five or six general engineering contractors, and ask them if they would send in a Caterpillar D-9 or D-11 to do a job they could do with a D-4. They will ask you if you're crazy or just drunk. They know, because their profit margin depends on it, that you do not do overkill when you choose your tools.
Tools are not toys.
The fact that someone "wants to" drive a single-digit behemoth through the morning smog to their office parking space, is irrelevant. Since when is "I Want" a moral commandment?

[mgibbons19]

I was hit on my bike on the way to the mall two weeks ago. It hurt. A lot. It was the pickup's fault.
The cyclist has to be a better rider/driver by default. Reminds me of the saying "You don't want 'He had the right of way' on your tombstone."
Expensive gas should be nice for cyclists.

[frankthetank]

Hint: Carry Bear pepper spray....

SUV's in this area are selling like hotcakes...NOT...i've seen so many Expos, Explorers with forsale signs on them...

I've actually driven an Expedition a few times...actually was very smooth, slow as hell, but smooth...

[jesus_of_suburbia_old]

An SUV killed my father and raped my mother!!!

[lotrfan55345]

I know a family of 3 that has 3 SUV's. An Ford Excursion, GMC Yukon Denali and a flashy Benz G55.

The most "off-roading" I've seen them done is driving on their snowy unplowed driveway.

When they have party, it is somehow required that everyone who comes to that party has to drive an ovesized SUV along the lines of an Excurision. One time we coulnd't get out of our driveway because of all the oversized SUV's.

[Grimnir]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lotrfan55345', 'G')MC Yukon Denali

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Grimnir', '
')Is a person who buys an SUV because ANWAR will fix everything in a "Yukon Denial"?