Another of the children’s books that I was blessed to read a gazillion times was “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.” If you give a mouse a cookie, chances are he’ll ask you for a glass of milk to go with it. If you give him a glass of milk, chances are, he’ll ask you for a straw. Then a napkin, then a mirror to check for a milk moustache, then scissors for a little trim, and on and on.
If you give a house a garage, chances are the household will buy as many cars as there are bays, plus a spare…that is, unless the garage houses the house’s overflow of Stuff and the cars spill onto the driveway and street.
How many people drove more than 30 minutes to work today? How many people are this instant scoffing that they would LOVE to drive “only” 30 minutes to work? How many people regularly spend an hour or more, each way, commuting to and from work? The mind REELS at the lost productivity.
The heart breaks at the lost living.
Happily, since the Great Majority enjoys the privacy of individual coaches, a certain amount of productivity occurs as owner/operators work IN their car/offices…which is to say while operating moving equipment, amidst lots of other moving equipment, with other owner/operators doin’ THEIR thing.
In 2000, I took a driving course that came “with” purchase of a particular car. Driving Dynamics, it was called. SenSAtional. It changed my life and I am NOT exaggerating. As just a HUGE fer instance, there is no “blind spot” if your mirrors are positioned rightly. Make no mistake, not having to look over your shoulder to change lanes in traffic that is sailing along at 70 or 80 miles as hour is a BIG plus. I’m right smack in the middle of the Baby Boom…we were taught to drive by the P.E. teachers/coaches. Whether Driver’s Education SHOULD be taught in high school is one debate but separately, in retrospect, I AM interested to know the rationale behind gym teacher = driving instructor.
One of the things I “learned”…more like, a gist that I recall without specifics…had to do with the number of feet a car will go forward, no matter HOW quick you are to “slam on the brakes.” I want to say that it takes .06 seconds to get your foot from the accelerator to the brake, and I feel like I remember the numbers 60 and 90. I sort of want to say that, regardless how swift a driver’s reaction time, a car traveling at 60 mph will still move forward 90 feet BEFORE the brakes are applied. It seems unlikely that a driving course would give us examples of cars driving at 90 mph. Of course, I’m not even sure those are the numbers although the point-six seconds sounds reasonable. To make a short story long, the casualness of tailgating is an ongoing and substantial hazard to life and property.
In the same spirit, that pen you’re holding? A projectile.
California banned talking on a phone while driving, unless it’s hands-free, but what do they say about the MILLIONS of us who are driving around holding three more shots of caffeine in a cup that is hot enough to warrant a “sleeve?” Not a word about the people who simultaneously drive and shave, apply make-up, smoke, change channels, hold dogs, discipline children, write notes, read maps, READ BOOKS. I have seen all this and more…not only on the streets of Los Angeles, but on the freeways…including, oddly, application of aerosol deoderant.
When the Rescue plan was a mere Bailout Proposal, I was talking to someone at one of the financial houses, “Sooo, whadyya think…reward the Bad Guys and one more fix for the Crack Addicts, or let ‘em sweat it out in Financial Rehab?”
“They HAVE to pass it.”
“Why?”
She went on to say that credit was “completely” frozen…that, by way of example, the lease was up on her car and that even she couldn’t even get financing for another lease.
I’m gonna be honest here, this doesn’t sound like a crisis to me.
We have lots and lots…and lots upon lots…indeed, we have ACRES of Used Cars.
We are long and debilitatingly at war, even ostriches have come face to face with our Oil Situation, our economy is in the crapper and so is national morale…separately from Obamamania, of course…and we would throw MORE Assistance Money at Detroit?
I’m sure I oversimplify, but I also don’t buy the bullshit that everything is always more complicated than we realize. The only thing that’s rocket science is rocket science. Literally, all things considered, I cannot imagine why we would roll even ONE car off the line that isn’t at least a hybrid. Stipulating exceptions…there are always exceptions…commercial vehicles, emergency vehicles, whatever. So stipulated. But for regular transportation for regular people, no, I cannot imagine the Reason. If they build it, we will come?
Light rail. Light rail. Light rail. Electricity.
Free up the oil for AvJet product supply line. We want MORE airlines. We want CHEAPER airfares. For all the Stuff that all the people are spending all the money to get all the other people to buy, I believe that people on the move always spend more money than people at home. Think about how you bleed money on a vacation.
Then think how you can’t afford the airfare even if you could afford the hotel bill, which presupposes that you even get that kind of vacation time where you work.
Not only people but the entire economy endures abiding negative impact from our LOUSY transportation systems. People and entire ECONOMIES, note the plural, endure abiding loss of revenue because travel is prohibitively expensive to the rank and file.
Feed the classes, dine with the masses. Feed the masses, dine with the classes.
We won’t even have to fight Big Oil to make it happen. ExxonMobil Aviation, who knew?
http://www.exxonmobilaviation.com/AviationGlobal/default.asp