Drive 55?

[Dobbs 3K 0]

How about "The government does its job and finds a real solution to the national energy problem, so we don't have to take a measure from 30 years ago as a bandaid solution?"

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

They'll have to shoot me before I'll drive that slow on the interstate.

 

This guy is tuff.

 

This guy is hyperbole.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

They'll have to shoot me before I'll drive that slow on the interstate.

 

This guy is tuff.

 

This guy is hyperbole.

 

Hard to tell sometimes online.

 

I agree, though. Let's not lower speed limits--they're already pretty low. There are lots of better ways to deal with the fuel crisis.

[EricMM 0]

Well, what, then?

 

I mean, I suppose that there is always smaller, lighter, more aerodynamic cars. But those apparently run the gauntlet from ugly to dorky to weird.

[Ripper 0]

Cars are lighter smaller and more aerodynamic. Pretty soon their won't be any metal in the things at all.

 

And fuck public transportation too. Unless it is EXTREMELY conveniant, fuck it right in the eye.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Well, what, then?

 

I mean, I suppose that there is always smaller, lighter, more aerodynamic cars. But those apparently run the gauntlet from ugly to dorky to weird.

 

CAFE standards would be a good start. I think fuel efficient cars will become more fashionable as fuel prices continue to rise and Southwest Asia continues to burn.

[EricMM 0]

Yeah, those are rules that could use better enforcing as well. Its ridiculous that SUV's and their ilk have LESS restrictions now than they did, as well as tax breaks based upon having LARGER SUV's.

 

sigh.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Basically we'll have to wait 'til 2009 for anything to get done about it.

[Guest Vitamin X]

How about "The government does its job and finds a real solution to the national energy problem, so we don't have to take a measure from 30 years ago as a bandaid solution?"

Basically we'll have to wait 'til 2009 for anything to get done about it.

 

Hey Invader and I agree on not just one, but two things! In the same topic!

 

And fuck public transportation too. Unless it is EXTREMELY conveniant, fuck it right in the eye.

What's your beef with public transportation, Ripper?

 

I'll have to say as someone who got VERY used to driving in Southern California/Florida that I thought it would be weird to adjust to taking mass transit more places. Light rail and streetcars have proved to me that they're much nicer alternative modes of transportation than busses, and other large cities will do themselves well to implement them more into thier communities. They're even trying to extend the Metrorail in Miami west and south towards the suburbs, which will alleviate traffic issues A LOT, not to mention the fuel/energy savings. And time, as well.

 

Also, you seem to have an obsession with optical fornication lately.

[Ripper 0]

Because I live in Atlanta and had to ride the abomination known as Marta.

 

It once took me 6 hours to get from my apartment, to the bank and back. I could drive to Florida in the same amount of time. The bank was maybe 30 miles away. I guess I would ride the train only but definately fuck buses in this city. Then the trains decide its a good idea to only run it once every 20 minutes during the mornings and when people are getting off work.

 

I guess my overall point is that I will not ride public transportation unless the commute is less time than actually driving. And since that NEVER happens here, fuck it.

 

And somethings eyes just need fucking.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

It once took me 6 hours to get from my apartment, to the bank and back. I could drive to Florida in the same amount of time. The bank was maybe 30 miles away. I guess I would ride the train only but definately fuck buses in this city. Then the trains decide its a good idea to only run it once every 20 minutes during the mornings and when people are getting off work.

 

Jesus that's fucking ridiculous.

 

I don't like driving and prefer walking/subway with one short bus ride perhaps. It's nicer and more relaxing. But that's just me. I don't mind leaving a few minutes earlier to not deal with nasty city street-related stress.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Because I live in Atlanta and had to ride the abomination known as Marta.

 

It once took me 6 hours to get from my apartment, to the bank and back. I could drive to Florida in the same amount of time. The bank was maybe 30 miles away. I guess I would ride the train only but definately fuck buses in this city. Then the trains decide its a good idea to only run it once every 20 minutes during the mornings and when people are getting off work.

 

I guess my overall point is that I will not ride public transportation unless the commute is less time than actually driving. And since that NEVER happens here, fuck it.

 

Wow, that is pretty ridiculous. I can get 30 miles from my house out to the Airport in 30 minutes using our trains. Marta's got some work to do.

[Ripper 0]

Its due to horrible route planning.

 

In my case, instead of taking the bus towards the bank, I had to take it to the opposite direction to the bus station, wait to transfer to another bus (which was supposed to take about 45 minutes but it was late making it about a hour and a half) take that bus to another stop, transfer there where I waited again for the next bus which terminates it route at the mall where I had to go to the bank, Meaning I had to take another bus to another station further out to get from the mall this other station, take the train, back to the first bus and back home.

 

There are about 30 more routes that you just look at and think "What in the hell?"

 

They are trying to take Marta's contract now, and Marta always complains because they don't get any goverment support for the transist system, but seeing as they have been bickering since I got here (11 years ago) its never going to change.

 

Maybe I should just move to a city where the transit isn't totally screwed.

[Ripper 0]

Its due to horrible route planning.

 

In my case, instead of taking the bus towards the bank, I had to take it to the opposite direction to the bus station, wait to transfer to another bus (which was supposed to take about 45 minutes but it was late making it about a hour and a half) take that bus to another stop, transfer there where I waited again for the next bus which terminates it route at the mall where I had to go to the bank, Meaning I had to take another bus to another station further out to get from the mall this other station, take the train, back to the first bus and back home.

 

There are about 30 more routes that you just look at and think "What in the hell?"

 

They are trying to take Marta's contract now, and Marta always complains because they don't get any goverment support for the transist system, but seeing as they have been bickering since I got here (11 years ago) its never going to change.

 

Maybe I should just move to a city where the transit isn't totally screwed.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

It should be noted too, that unless you live in a large metro area, all the talk about public transportation and car pooling is basically useless. For example, I'm self-employed, and commute about a half hour to work. There's absolutely no public transportation or car pooling available to me, so gas prices and fuel economy have a huge impact on my pocket book. I take the interestate...reducing the speed limit wouldn't really help at all.

[EricMM 0]

You'd use less gas.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

You'd use less gas.

 

I'd also use less gas if we had electric or hybrid cars easily available, like we have talked about since I was in grade school in the 1980s.

[EricMM 0]

Yeah well we'll get right on that.

 

And when you get around to replacing that car of yours, whenever that should be, feel MORE than free to pick one up. But until then don't act like there isn't anything you can do...

[Perfxion 0]

Fuel Cells are only on very very few buses and test labs. Electric cars are like nowhere, and are a joke since Big Oil owns all the contracts and will work on the tech. Hybrids are the best best, but the problem is that they cost a lot more than normal cars, and in some areas STILL have waiting list for some models.

 

I would personally buy a Accord hybrid right now, but the problem is I am not going to pay the money of a BMW SUV for the price of a honda fucking coupe.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Exactly. Unless you're in the upper middle class or higher, the additional cost of a hybrid model is probably prohibitive. My understanding is that unless you plan on owning the car for at least 10 years, or drive more than 20,000 miles a year, you will not make up the difference in the price of the car, versus a standard gas-only model.

[Guest Vitamin X]

It should be noted too, that unless you live in a large metro area, all the talk about public transportation and car pooling is basically useless. For example, I'm self-employed, and commute about a half hour to work. There's absolutely no public transportation or car pooling available to me, so gas prices and fuel economy have a huge impact on my pocket book. I take the interestate...reducing the speed limit wouldn't really help at all.

 

Even for rural commuters, you have to understand that people who live in a large metro area have an adverse effect on how much gas prices and fuel economy will impact you. While I agree with you on not reducing the speed limit, the fact of the matter is that public transportation and carpooling (I personally dislike carpooling) and best of all biking more for commuters inside these large metro areas is a hell of a lot more helpful to the folks out where you live.

 

A couple more things, too.. If you're self employed, how often do you have to commute that half hour to work? And why? I work freelance in addition to my work at school and I don't have to go anywhere I don't have to. And thankfully, everyone has the choice to live closer to where they need to commute or not- you don't have to make the commute if you don't want to.

 

I personally bike anything under 10 miles, unless I need my car to haul things. It's just so much easier, and it's a lot nicer to be burning fat instead of fuel. Anything more, I take mass transit or my car.

 

I do also agree on the hybrid thing- Buying a car in the mid to upper 20k's is not feasible for many if not most Americans. And the savings on gas are minimal when considering the maintenance on those things. And they should lax up on a lot of the diesel laws. A lot of diesel burns way cleaner nowadays, not to mention biodiesel is becoming a lot more prevalent in many parts of the country (and you can use biodiesel in regular diesel cars for the most part). Lots of awesome little cars come in diesel versions abroad (I'm thinking in particular of the Mini Cooper, which I hope to have when I graduate) but aren't allowed here because of regulation laws. We can ease up on that as well.

[EricMM 0]

Minicoopers are hard to get, they're like the iPods, 03 iPods, of the car world. Overinflated costs.

 

They SHOULD have more diesel in this country, but our memories are tainted by 80's diesel, and we don't know that there has been almost three decades of refinement in Europe.

 

Of course people should bike. I bike to work everyday as long as it's not raining or I don't have something else I'll need my car for. My preferred part besides the exercise and the good sleep that comes with it is that you're going at your own pace. No traffic. No getting stuck in a backup for even ten minutes. That shit kills me.

[Jingus 0]

Yeah, those are rules that could use better enforcing as well. Its ridiculous that SUV's and their ilk have LESS restrictions now than they did, as well as tax breaks based upon having LARGER SUV's.

Yep. Here in TX, small cars are taxed much higher than big trucks and vans. You pay more tax for a Corolla than you do for a friggin' Hummer.

 

 

And yeah, in my experience, public transportation is either useless or nonexistant. I live a few miles north of Dallas, and guess what? There's NO public transportation out here, a mere half-hour from the heart of downtown. No trains. No buses. Nothing. And I don't have a car, and my balance and coordination have always been so bad that I can't ride a bike (and the psycho leadfooted drivers out here make riding a bike into a complicated suicide method anyway). And if I wanna walk, I gotta do it in the tall grass, cuz there's no fucking sidewalks. If you don't have a personal vehicle out here, you're boned.

 

Same thing when I lived in a suburb of Savannah, GA. No public trans. You basically had to be in the downtown area already just to catch a bus. And things weren't much better in Nashville TN either: no trains, limited sidewalks for pedestrians. There was a bus line, but the schedules were ludicrously complicated and counter-intuitive in their design, plus they just plain didn't go anywhere except the main roads.

 

And I can hear some damn yankee right now saying, "Why don't you just take a cab?" If you have to ask, then you've never been to the South. There are very, very few cabs out there, and they all cost about triple what their northern counterparts do.

 

 

 

As for speed limits, shit, nobody obeys the ones we already have. No point in turning mild crime into moderate crime. People already drive too damn fast. Why else would auto wrecks be the #1 cause of death in this country?

[Guest Vitamin X]

I like seeing a bona fide southerner using the term "damn yankee". The South is hell when it comes to this shit, definitely. That's what you get in backwards conservative red state territory, I suppose.

 

How the hell are you getting around then, Jingus?

[Guest George's Box]

He built a car that runs on DXM. The Robitussin Rocket.

[EricMM 0]

Yeah seriously I commiserate that you live in the south where everything is bigger and badder and no one would ride a bus, and everyone drives a pickup. But that is a pit the south dug themselves into. PT is what you make of it.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I bought a Yaris which gets 35-38 mpg and I live 7 miles from work and most of that 7 miles is on the highway. My little contribution to everything. It was only $14,000 which is roughly half of the cost of a Toyota Hybrid model while still getting better gas milage than just about every non-toyota car out there by at least 5 mpg.

 

When I have to be to work at 4 am I buzz down 50 about 80 since theres no traffic or cops out..otherwise I end up doing about 65 when its 55. The 13 bypass is 65 and people end up going 75 on that..its always fun being next to a tractor trailer doing 75 in my feather weight of a car. Im not 100% sure but I think maryland must have a 10 mph leeway on the speed limit, though they do like busting out of towners coming back from Ocean City right out where I live.

 

And if I get busted for speeding..then it'll probably slow me down cause I cant afford my insurance to go back up again.

[Jingus 0]

How the hell are you getting around then, Jingus?

I don't. Yet my mom still bitches that I need to go find a job so I can buy a car. She apparently doesn't see the inherent logical contradiction here.

[EricMM 0]

Get a beater.

[Jingus 0]

A what?

 

Do you mean "beater" as in Beater, the orcs' nickname for the legendary Elven sword Orcrist? Sorry, it's buried with Thorin's body underneath the Lonely Mountain.

 

Or do you mean "beater" as short for wifebeater t-shirt? Already wearing one. (It's fuckin' hot in Texas.)