From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Fri Feb 07 2003 - 17:35:02 MST
>> That is part of what I was getting at when I said that micro cars
>> lead to a different style of driving. 'Aggressive' drivers won't
>> last long in a micro.
> I guess here in Italy we are all going to die :-))
Alfio makes a good point: the traffic fatality rate in Italy is
about 12 per 100,000; in the US it's about 15. So "safety" can't
be the primary explanation for the absence of micros from the US
market. Perceived safety, perhaps.
I admit that when I got my present job, I traded in my Dodge Neon
(a compact, but not micro--indeed, it's about the only car in the
price range I could fit into) for a Subaru Forester, a mid-sized
SUV with very high safety ratings. It didn't hurt my gas mileage
much either: the Neon was bad as compacts go (about 35 mpg), and
the Forester very good as SUVs go (about 30 mpg).
While I certainly make no apologies for exercising the right to
spend my own money on my own safety, the question remains as to
whether the investment is a rational one. If had instead bought
a 90 mpg hybrid car, which was available when I bought the SUV,
would the amount of money I saved on gas (which is considerable,
since I drive about 30,000 miles a year) have been better spent
on increasing my safety in some other way?
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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