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More cars than there are drivers
There are now more cars in the US than there are drivers!
The average household now has 1.75 drivers but 1.90 "personal vehicles." By comparison, the average household has 0.86 adult-size bicycles. The car population has been gaining on the driver population for some time. Cars have become as specialized as shoes, experts say, with different designs for different uses. Reference to full NY Times story (free registration required): http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/30/bu...30TRAF.html?th |
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#2
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More cars than there are drivers
On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 13:18:20 GMT, "Mike Kruger"
wrote: There are now more cars in the US than there are drivers! The average household now has 1.75 drivers but 1.90 "personal vehicles." By comparison, the average household has 0.86 adult-size bicycles. This puts me on the high side of both curves. My single person household has two cars and six bicycles. :-) jeverett3ATearthlinkDOTnet http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3 |
#3
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More cars than there are drivers
In article m,
"Mike Kruger" writes: There are now more cars in the US than there are drivers! The average household now has 1.75 drivers but 1.90 "personal vehicles." By comparison, the average household has 0.86 adult-size bicycles. The car population has been gaining on the driver population for some time. Cars have become as specialized as shoes, experts say, with different designs for different uses. Non-sustainable consumerism, run rampant. Car Free Day is coming up. Big fat soggy deal, eh? cheers, Tom -- -- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden. I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca |
#4
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More cars than there are drivers
Mike Kruger said snippity snip
Cars have become as specialized as shoes, experts say, with different designs for different uses. snip that strikes me funny. i would guess that most automobile drivers ride exclusively on roads regardless of what kind of car they're driving. and i would also guess that at least 95% (78.976% of all statistics are made up) of all "off road vehicles" or SUVs never actually see any sort of serious off road use. look at cyclists now. i have two bikes: a "road bike", and a "mountain bike." there are also "touring bikes", hybrids, sport comfort bikes, bmx bikes, trick bikes, dirt jumping bikes, time trial bikes, etc. and they are very infrequently put to their intended use. look at towels. there are hand towels, bath towels, wash cloths, blah blah blah. fans: ceiling, window, box, etc. for the zillion and one quarter things one can imagine there are a zillion and three quarters variaitions on each. what the real root of the problem (if you can call it that) is, IMHO, oh no here it comes the big dirty leftist word CONSUMERISM, and unless you use a sharpened stick to cook, prepare, and eat your food while in the nude in your mud and dung hut, you are most likely guilty of it. everyone wants more of whatever it is they want and who really wants six charcoal grey K-cars in their garage? variation on a theme makes it convieniant to buy more stuff whether we need it or not. BTW, anyone want to buy a mountain bike? alfred klek |
#5
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More cars than there are drivers
While I dont begrudge anyone of driving thier vehicles, I do find it
absurd of the amount of vehicles many familes have. But its not all thier fault of course. Its part of how our lifestyles have changed. We have went from living in cities to living in rural subdivisons. While in the city the kids can walk to the deli, the dad can walk to the hardware store etc. in the rural settings alot of activities revolve around the automobile. Im not a SUV, or light truck hater, but its a fad that isnt cool because these vehicles dont have to get good milege or stand up to many safty restrictions. I've always been buy a product for what you need, and research the product. Obviously when i watch a SUV roll by and a 75 yr old woman is driving it, most likely she isnt going to go off roading. And in my area they arent buying them for bad weather cause we dont get bad weather. Its a fad though, in the 80s it was the minivan. Im sure the next fad will be smaller cars or something along those lines. I think we have fallen in love with our cars to terrible proportions. Just look at obesity in this Nation. If we walked, and biked more often this wouldnt be happening. "Alfred Klek" wrote in message om... Mike Kruger said snippity snip Cars have become as specialized as shoes, experts say, with different designs for different uses. snip that strikes me funny. i would guess that most automobile drivers ride exclusively on roads regardless of what kind of car they're driving. and i would also guess that at least 95% (78.976% of all statistics are made up) of all "off road vehicles" or SUVs never actually see any sort of serious off road use. look at cyclists now. i have two bikes: a "road bike", and a "mountain bike." there are also "touring bikes", hybrids, sport comfort bikes, bmx bikes, trick bikes, dirt jumping bikes, time trial bikes, etc. and they are very infrequently put to their intended use. look at towels. there are hand towels, bath towels, wash cloths, blah blah blah. fans: ceiling, window, box, etc. for the zillion and one quarter things one can imagine there are a zillion and three quarters variaitions on each. what the real root of the problem (if you can call it that) is, IMHO, oh no here it comes the big dirty leftist word CONSUMERISM, and unless you use a sharpened stick to cook, prepare, and eat your food while in the nude in your mud and dung hut, you are most likely guilty of it. everyone wants more of whatever it is they want and who really wants six charcoal grey K-cars in their garage? variation on a theme makes it convieniant to buy more stuff whether we need it or not. BTW, anyone want to buy a mountain bike? alfred klek |
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More cars than there are drivers
On 8 Sep 2003 14:09:50 -0700, Green Hill wrote:
weather cause we dont get bad weather. Its a fad though, in the 80s it was the minivan. Im sure the next fad will be smaller cars or At least the minivan was a useful fad. They were maximally functional for the people who used them, and had a minimum of what wasn't needed by those people. They're damn comfortable, now, too...and handle better than an SUV. Notice that they all end up the same thing? Station wagons: As much interior space as fits over four wheels. Minivan: Same shape, just scaled up. SUV: Station wagon, on large wheels. And people call their SUVs "trucks", but they never put a load in them or get them dirty, let alone go farther off road than a dirt road or a lawn. The small cars have been here since the 70s, and don't appear to be going away. Personally, I don't like them, but they're great for those who do. -- Rick Onanian |
#7
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More cars than there are drivers
ah yes the minivan, a fine fine vehicle. i spent a week in one once and it
was pretty nice, definately not the lap of luxury, but with 6 adults it was pretty good. did basically the same trip in an SUV (dodge durango) a year later and felt less than happy for it (although i did become quite freindly with the girl sitting next to me, college field trip rah rah rah). i agree with you all, an SUV to my eyes is a bloated station wagon, and a station wagon is nice, an SUV is unpleaseant. alfred klek |
#8
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More cars than there are drivers
In article , Alfred Klek
wrote: ah yes the minivan, a fine fine vehicle. i spent a week in one once and it was pretty nice, definately not the lap of luxury, but with 6 adults it was pretty good. did basically the same trip in an SUV (dodge durango) a year later and felt less than happy for it (although i did become quite freindly with the girl sitting next to me, college field trip rah rah rah). i agree with you all, an SUV to my eyes is a bloated station wagon, and a station wagon is nice, an SUV is unpleaseant. alfred klek Minivans are great if you don't mind sloppy handling (but they're no worse than SUV's in this regard). Mine is comfortable, OK on fuel, has fabulous sound quality from its radio and holds lots of anything. It's really a perfect long-distance ride. I don't like SUV's because the ones I've driven handle poorly and are uncomfortable. They apparently tend to have poor gas mileage too. Of course, minivans suffer from terminal image problems. But I ride a bike in street clothes so what do I know. |
#9
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More cars than there are drivers
Leonard Migliore wrote in message ...
In article , Alfred Klek wrote: ah yes the minivan, a fine fine vehicle. i spent a week in one once and it was pretty nice, definately not the lap of luxury, but with 6 adults it was pretty good. did basically the same trip in an SUV (dodge durango) a year later and felt less than happy for it (although i did become quite freindly with the girl sitting next to me, college field trip rah rah rah). i agree with you all, an SUV to my eyes is a bloated station wagon, and a station wagon is nice, an SUV is unpleaseant. alfred klek Minivans are great if you don't mind sloppy handling (but they're no worse than SUV's in this regard). Mine is comfortable, OK on fuel, has fabulous sound quality from its radio and holds lots of anything. It's really a perfect long-distance ride. I don't like SUV's because the ones I've driven handle poorly and are uncomfortable. They apparently tend to have poor gas mileage too. Of course, minivans suffer from terminal image problems. But I ride a bike in street clothes so what do I know. The difference IMHO is the minivan is classed as a car, so it has to adhear to certain saftey and gas mileage regulations, makes sense right its on a car chasis. While a SUV is classified as a truck in most cases and doesnt have to adhear to safty or mileage regulations. Funny thing is some of thses SUVs are built on car platforms. Everyone drives these SUV's thinking they have optium room and safty, which I havent found to be the case. I suspect most people when they buy a vehicle never really do much more research then how they look and what the window sticker says. If they did research the vehicle they want to buy, and fully test drove all classes of vehicles, I think we might see less SUVs, trucks. But Im not against SUV's really, im against gas guzzlers, ineficient vehicles, and safty death traps. Now many people make sny remarks about smaller cars, which nowadays have 4 to 5 airbags, i have to laugh. Just because something is bigger doesnt make it safer. And I wont even adress that, SUVs could be made safer and have better mileage. Its all about priorties i think. |
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