Posted on 05/22/2009 7:28:29 AM PDT by GOP_Lady
No, they aren’t.
Forcing them to be smaller before the technology exists to make them safe at that size is another matter.
Funny thing is, a 30 mph speed limit would increase fuel usage and therefore emissions for most cars.
Not if all cars are ‘light’. Think of bumper car derby.
If they’re forced to drive around in tiny little deathtraps, maybe Americans will learn to drive better. It seems like as our cars get safer, our drivers become more dangerous.
When Car & Driver tested a Smart, they observed 35mpg in their testing. I can think of several compact sedans that can nearly match that, seat four, cost less, and don’t require premium.
You may have answered your own question...
You must be thinking of TODAY's cars. The new, more expensive, but but more efficient and safer car will achieve its greater efficiency with its one cylinder Briggs & Stratton engine that charges the Diehard battery and has a top speed of 35 mph. The extra 5 mph is for passing the Q-tips.
My Harley gets 40-45 mpg and it’s a *trike*.
Stock 2 wheel Night Trains get upwards of 50-60.
[it only seats one wildly happy passenger, though]....:))
If not for my window-scenery gazing habit, we would’ve run over a Smart car last year.
We’d passed a semi on the hill a mile before our exit and were going back into the right lane to catch our exit when I happened to look to the right at a particularly lovely twilit pasture full of Holsteins.
Literally out of nowhere, a Smart car was passing us on the “sui-cide” and if I hadn’t wondered where the headlights beside us were coming from *way* down below my door, we’d have accidentally squashed the guy with our Yukon.
Hubby swerved to miss him and the Smart-ass “gunned it” past us and flipped *us* the bird.
I have not cared for the cars since.
From what ~I’ve~ experienced of them thus far, self-absorbed jerks seem to drive them.
"Researchers at Harvard University and the Brookings Institution found that, on average, for every 100 pounds shaved off new cars to meet CAFE standards, between 440 and 780 additional people were killed in auto accidents - or a total of 2,200 to 3,900 lives lost per model year."See post 13 ... a SMART car at 1,600 lbs is 1,400 pounds less than a Camry. That is an indication that Obama just sentenced 6,160 to 10,920 random drivers to death. Tyranny is whimsical - Steyn was right.
What year is yours?
If they really were serious, they make them again.
Mine is 22 years old, fun, comfy, fast as light'nieng\\, and hardly ever needs gas.
“so the driver can pay a toll” ROFL ... more likely so he can shout out “don’t you know who He is?”
Right you are. Tolls and taxes are for Republicans.
I am so not getting this. A VW diesel does a hell of a lot better than this, and it's a real car. 4 real seats, a trunk, AC, ABS, airbags, etc/ and unlike the smart car, it is not a roll-over waiting to happen.
No one in the DOT knows anything about cars ... is that the problem?
I have seen crash test with Smartcars. They FLY when hit. If the initial impact doesn’t kill you, then being flung about (possibly into another vehicle) will.
I've seen them crash, flip and slam on shows like cops'' and when the smoke clears the perps open the doors and run away.
Often the car looks like you could just flip it over and it would drive away.
That's the Chrysler Lee I. built!
One bump while driving one of these 4 wheeled soda can coffins and you're history, after all the Environmental causes trumps human safety where this evil govt is concerned!!
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