Posted on 07/08/2005 8:30:36 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
That is not typical. Generally, these cars do about as well as the Jetta TDI.
Incidentally, I got 50 mpg twenty years ago with a Nissan Sentra Diesel.
Buying a motorcycle did the same for me back in 1996. It is actually FUN as well.
Use toll roads. There are already toll roads in Florida and other states where the car just needs a simple electronic tag. The toll lanes automatically deduct the toll fee from an account. The car just slows down to maybe 30 MPH without stopping. (It will get better.) HOV lanes would have higher tolls. Let the market control traffic congestion. Also, it's the people that use the roads that pay for it.
"How is this any different from allowing single-rider motorcycles in carpool/HOV lanes"
Simple. A motorcycle takes up very little space. It may not sound like it would matter but it does. As a motorcycle commuter I can tell you it most definitely does.
HELLO Sailor! Wanna ride to work together? (wink, wink)
Sounds like a darwin award candidate.
You are allowed to use them. You choose not to.
I thought bikes were assumed to take up the same space in a lane as a car. Granted, bikers tend to reduce the following distances, but I wouldn't think that would make all that much difference in a single-lane environment.
On a slightly-related subject, do you happen to have any stats showing the relative safety of bike commuting vs. car commuting? I haven't been able to find anything specific to that, and don't really have the patience to plow through the raw DOT/NHTSA data to reconstruct it into a meaningful (read: unbiased) picture of motorcycling.
she lingers at a commuter lot until two strangers agree to ride with her.
This sounds like a bad idea.
Motorcycling is much more dangerous than driving. The thing is, almost anyone can drive a car without getting into too much trouble if they are careful. That is not enough for handling a motorcycle.
In a few years I put over 40,000 miles on my bike and I can tell you that it not only requires your constant attention, but even that is not enough for many people. It really is an aptitude thing. Many people simply should never own or ride a motorcycle, no matter how careful they are. They are quite literally an accident waiting to happen.
The size thing matters because a motorcycle can pass between cars if necessary. It can also easily use the shoulder for an escape route when it would be impractical or impossible with a car. Motorcycles also compress following distance when following other motorcycles. Without riding side by side, one can take the left rut and the other take the right. Although one is following the other technically, they are in separate "motorcycle lanes" within a single car lane.
Also, I am able to exploit gaps in traffic that even a tiny hybrid could not navigate without hitting something. I do it several times per commute.
not to insult truckers but i can't stand them on the freeway. they always seem to be in the way, blocking multiple lanes of traffic here. i have almost been in countless accidents because of them, due to the fact that they are always slower moving than the rest of traffic.
however, my solution is different than most peoples, i'd rather they be allowed to run at the higher speeds as everyone else, its the speed differential that causes most problems and backup around here (55 for trucks, 70 for the rest)
And braking energy, that's usually dissipated in friction and heat in a gas-powered car, is used to recharge the batteries in a hybrid. That's the "free lunch" benefit of hybrids.
Then why not a diesel hybrid?
Buy a riceburner, then reward people driving those ugly things. Yea right.
I am aware of the necessity for awareness when riding, as I have been riding since I was 9 (starting on dirtbikes, obviously). I have owned 5 different road bikes, the last being a zx-11. The only two "accidents" I ever had both occured under 5mph, with only me on the bike, and involved the bike simply going over (once because of a patch of soft dirt on a back road, and once due to a puddle of oil in a parking lot). I am mostly looking for ammunition to help educate my wife that motorcycles aren't the guaranteed death warrant she has come to see them as. I am not entirely sure how she came to that conclusion, since I had a bike when we met, and she actually enjoyed going on rides, but even if it doesn't result in my being able to get another bike, I'd like to help her change her attitude.
I drive a hybrid, the Prius. Here in NC there aren't that many HOV lanes, and I don't think single person hybrid cars can use them, but I don't get the fuss. This sounds like the libs crying because some people earn more because they work harder. If you don't like it, or want to drive in the HOV lane, get a hybrid or a passenger. Sheesh.
I have a Prius, too. At highway speeds I think both the gas and electric motors are running, but it still takes less gas....
Yeah, I got in the 40s with an old 89 civic hatch, 87 unleaded gas. I get 30 plus in my 02 protege 5, and 30 in a 91 prizm. Not too far from the hybrids really, without the battery/power issues. I use synthentic oil in the cars, use torque and momentum rather than overshifting, and throw in a bottle of lucas fuel additive once every 4 or 5 fillups.
Very true, but that it the concept. In a modern locomotive, the diesil engine is purely a generator.
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