We have such a complaint-oriented society!! It wasn't just pedestrians, but BLIND pedestrians that I was reading about. Is this REALLY a problem? maybe we should put one of those air-activated deer whistles in the grill? LOL is there no end to the WHINING in this country? PEOPLE PEOPLE. It is not your birth-right, or the government's responsibility, to make sure you have a perfect, successful, error-free life!
Re: Prius to stealthy Sorry you forgot to mention the very important topic of baseball players and steroids. That's much more important than the other topics you mentioned.
Re: Prius to stealthy I really don't believe this - it's just plain outrageous. Also, interesting to me is the time period congress expects it to happen, 2-4 years. Whereas legislation which causes auto makers to increase the fuel effeciency of new vehicles has 10 years+ to comply.
One of the first things folks should do is look at the accident statistics to see if there is evidence of a problem: Year Pedestrians Pedalcyclists 2006 4,784 773 2005 4,892 786 2004 4,675 727 2003 4,774 629 2002 4,851 665 2001 4,901 732 2000 4,763 693 1999 4,939 754 1998 5,228 760 1997 5,321 814 1996 5,449 765 1995 5,584 833 1994 5,489 802 Source: FARS Encyclopedia These USA national statistics suggest there has been no significant change, other than the reduced fatalities of the 1990s flat-lined in the 2000s. So the next question will be to see at how a high-hybrid state, California, compares to the USA: Year USA Pedestrians USA Pedalcyclists CA Pedestrians CA Pedalcyclists CA ped. percent CA cycle percent 2006 4,784 773 717 141 15.0% 18.2% 2005 4,892 786 742 115 15.2% 14.6% 2004 4,675 727 684 110 14.6% 15.1% 2003 4,774 629 704 106 14.7% 16.9% 2002 4,851 665 709 116 14.6% 17.4% Source: California Again, the numbers are not far off enough to show a trend of hybrid vehicles being more dangerous than regular cars. There is an obvious spike in 2006 for California cyclists but this one year is inconsistent with the total number. The 2006 cyclist year might also correspond with an increase in unskilled people trying to use a bicycle to avoid the high cost of gas. The new cyclists may not realize they are invisible to traffic, thinking they are still as visible as they were in their car. Bob Wilson
Ludicrous: causing laughter because of absurdity; provoking or deserving derision; ridiculous; laughable.
Re: Prius to stealthy Maybe we can use baseball cards instead of playing cards in our spokes to make noise. We could even make sure the baseball cards were of players caught using steroids to raise everyone's awareness...
This comes up all the time. I like the post in another thread about the BLIND should be required to wear reflective vests, blinking strobe lights on their heads when they're in crosswalks and GPS in their canes so we are alerted to their presence! Isn't that what the radio/CD player is for? Crank up the tunes, it's spring! Oh, right, there's a law against playing music too loud from the car too. What is wrong with people? Like the Pepsi commercial WAKE UP PEOPLE!
This is the one that gets me--what ABOUT deaf people? Do we have to legislate that all cars have strobe lights and mega-vibrational speakers to make sure everyone is covered? It is MY responsibility to watch out for pedestrians. If anyone--blind or not--can't find a way to cross a road safely--they should no more be out walking alone than I should be driving if I can't pay attention to 'em.
