Big Cars are killing Americans

[MossRoad]

Our local city buses have bike racks on the front. You can ride your bike to the bus stop, load it on the bike rack, and go where you need to go.

 

[lostcause]

In my opinion many seem to have a need to pin blame on something intangible, or at least someone else in order to divert blame. The cars are too big. Cell phones cause accidents. Guns kill people. The bartender never should have served that many drinks. Cancer is the tobacco company's fault. Fast food restaurants need to sell smaller sizes. The SUV rolled over at 85mph due to faulty tires. There's been hundreds more in my lifetime already. Take a step back, put on your big boy (or girl) pants and learn about personal responsibility. Accidents happen, but so does carelessness. You can't legislate against accidents, but you do have some control over carelessness - if you choose. When I was young, if you did something stupid you got smacked around and didn't do it again. Now, your family sues someone else because it can't be your fault.

I've never had an employee (yet) get in an accident on the way to work in their car, but I did have one who occasionally rode a bike on a 20 mile commute to work. He was an accomplished cyclist and did this ride whenever he didn't need to be somewhere else right after work. One morning he was a few hours late because he had a problem with a slippery road. He got banged up a little and decided that his desire to provide for his family was better handled in a motor vehicle. Statistics aren't always everything.

I was once on a motorcycle stopped at a traffic light and got rear ended by a truck and pushed into traffic because the driver didn't see the motorcycle taking that space on the road. Clearly the other driver's fault, but had I been driving a truck I would have been in far less risk. I have a very small older fiberglass shelled car that I occasionally drive on weekends. If I get t-boned by a Prius while driving it, I'm dead. I don't step into a crosswalk unless I'm sure the traffic is stopped or slowing to acknowledge me being there. It doesn't matter who was right or wrong, I'm still dead. I temper my rights and freedoms with whatever choices I think will keep me alive longer. Add in parallel parking assist, lane change warning, automatic lights, TPMS, and god knows what ever other features we have, and we're probably now two generations into dumbing down the skill level of drivers. I don't like it, but unless people change in general, then I have to.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

Yes, we need better affordable public transportation in urban areas. However, it's just too expensive for sparsely populated areas.

And I would have had a hard time carrying the ton of wood pellets I brought home today, and the mile and a half walk from the public road to the house would have been a little difficult, especially if I were carrying those pellets.

 

[MasseyFerg231]

I’ll get a smart car right after they start making smart concrete trucks.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

I’ll get a smart car right after they start making smart concrete trucks.

I worked for a gravel and ready-mix company before I retired. The founder of the company affectionately known as "Chief" had a riddle he told often:
"Do you know why there is only one seat in a mixer truck?


Answer: "So the driver will know where to sit."

He had been dealing with drivers of varying skills for 60 years, so it is the voice of experience.

 

[mikester]

My complaint is with the numbnuts driving around with large empty low hanging trailer hitches or bike racks. It's bad enough that new pickup truck bumpers are higher than car bumpers, I see lots of new dimples in the fronts of cars in parking lots caused by soccer moms and poser dads backing up their monster trucks until the trailer hitches connect with the front ends of someone elses vehicles.

 

[LouNY]

My complaint is with the numbnuts driving around with large empty low hanging trailer hitches or bike racks. It's bad enough that new pickup truck bumpers are higher than car bumpers, I see lots of new dimples in the fronts of cars in parking lots caused by soccer moms and poser dads backing up their monster trucks until the trailer hitches connect with the front ends of someone elses vehicles.

I leave my hitch in on my pickup, for the idiots that park by feel.

 

[Tinhack]

I leave my hitch in on my pickup, for the idiots that park by feel.

Or those that back up without looking. I spotted fresh paint chips on mine. I put the hitch in since I was going to pick up a new Rotary Cutter. Forgot to take it out then went to the grocery store. When I did go to take it out, there was the paint. That had to leave a mark. At least it protected my spare tire. I think I'll get a lock for mine and leave it in now.

With all the self driving cars or drivers with a phone in one hand and coffee in the other, I wish I had an old Army tank to drive.

 

[Egon]

There are places where the bumper hitch must be removed from its sleeve if it is not being used.

 

[5030]

Should lawyers be allowed to advertise their services?

I call them 'ambulance chasers'..