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

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

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



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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

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

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

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

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.

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.