Gas Pains (2 news stories)

No garage, no driveway, no exterior outlets. Lots of people live in condos and apartments. I've lived in NYC, Philadelphia, Chicago, DC and the DC suburbs and I have never lived in a home that had an exterior outlet that could be used for plugging in a car. Many people have to park in a large lot that is not near the building they live in or they park on the street, often unable to find a space that is closer than several blocks away from their homes.

Just because your life fits a certain mold doesn't mean everyone's life is like that. You think people are lazy, I think people don't even try to consider the fact that we don't all live like you do.

 

My apartment garage has a garage door opener and thus an electric outlet. I use it to power my block heater. When I was at school, there were outlets near 10% of the parking spots so I'd plug in my block heater there as well.

 

I wouldn't lock in home heating oil... I'd dump the furnace! Time for a ground source heat pump.

 

Society is not fixed. It adapts. When 50% of the cars on dealer lots are plug-in hybrids, apartment buildings will be advertising "electric outlets available in parking areas." Each [numbered] spot will have an electric plug with a lock box on it. The apartment owner will have a key. Apartment buildings will be advertising "electric outlets available in parking areas." Society will adapt. For those that have to park their cars on the street ... I'm sure someone will invent something for them. Entrepreneurs have a way of inventing some pretty unforeseen, ingenious ideas.

 

Funny there are quite a few hills I complain about daily on my trip to and from work. Illinois has a lot of hills. It just so happens my route takes me past the highest point in McHenry county.

 

MYTH #1 55 saves gas

In the 70's 55 did save gas, in todays world with aerodynamic cars and computer controlled engine management systems, 55 actually wastes gas in most cars, 65 is more efficient. I had a 2001 crown vic that got 26 MPG at 68 MPH but only 24 MPG at 55. Both speeds with the CC set.

MYTH #2
55 doesn't make the roads any safer, in fact it increases chances of collisions due to the majority of people who drive fast no matter what. When the average legal speed limit was increased to 65 MPH the collision and death rate on major highways dropped.

 

Only true for vehicles powered by overly large gas engines, in which case the engine is too lightly loaded to be efficient. With a sensibly powered car, or even better a Prius, 55 MPH will always give better mileage than 65 or 70 MPH. It's simple physics, and no matter how much people want it to be different, that's the way it is.

I don't see how you can reasonably attribute accidents from illegal driving to a 55 MPH speed limit. We can make the roads safer and save gas by removing the speeding scofflaws from our nation's highways.

Tom

 

Okay fine. Just don't call people lazy because they live in a high-density area with no garage or driveway.

 

acdii #1 if that crown vic was powered a V-8, and I'm sure it was, I would have to see that proven by a third party testing company to believe that story.

#2 I've been a firefighter/paramedic for the past 30 years, your second statement does not meet reality. With the extra 10 MPH you stated, not only does the time you have to react to a situation go down, but the additional damage to property and persons goes up. I have seen head-on, rear-end, and roll-over crashes at 55 and 65 MPH. You might get out of the hospital after a few weeks after the 55 MPH crash, but the 65 MPH crash will give you that long dirt nap more often than not.

 

What I never understood was that if there are no speed limits in the US greater then 80 then why have a car that is able to do 120+. If law makers were serious about protecting citizens from speeder then make laws to restrict max speed limits in cars. States use the speeding ticket as a revenue generator... period. Speed and stop light cameras are the same thing.

Speed limits in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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"Needs space for the bat bags"

That's funny.

We've fit 3 kids plus 3 bat bags and two adults in our Prius, plus room for folding chairs. Bat bags are not that big...

Wonder what kind of fuel economy that giant stroller is getting, as well? Unless you have triplets...get a smaller stroller.

 

"We need the size for the bat bags":frusty: Afterall, bat bags don't fit in a prius!