More than one car?

If you don't want to own a car, then don't! But before you criticize too much, you have to understand how and why the situation got to where it is today.

What has happened is based upon many factors.

For many cities, the main form of transportation was by trolley. Auto manufacurers saw an opportunity. They thought that if they could get rid of the trolleys, they could force more people onto their manufactured buses and private automobiles. In order to do this, they had to offer the trolley companies "offers that they couldn't refuse." They bought the trolleys out, and replaced them with noisy, inefficient buses which provided for a less comfortable ride than a trolley would. Because of this, there was less incentive to ride the buses, thus people invested extensively in automobile purchases. A by-product of this is that the oil companies also sought to benefit as there would be more people consuming their products.

By the late 1950s and early '60s, many people were moving to the suburbs. With the quarter-acre lots and decent sized homes available at reasonable prices, with property taxes being quite reasonable and with the fear of crime being greatly lessened, it provided an incentive for many people to relocate there. With these benefits come drawbacks, however. To live in many suburbs, people have to commute longer distances to perform necessary tasks, including shopping and going to work. So that many of these tasks could be completed efficiently, motorized vehicles seemed to be necessary. Second cars in households became commonplace. Through the decades, more and more people have moved to the suburbs to get away from urban decay. This urban sprawl has resulted in individuals travelling sometimes an hour or more to get to work.

Granted, there are some people like the neighbors that you mentioned who will stop at nothing to waste fuel.

In order for a more clean environment to emerge, you have to create incentives for the public to adopt so that such a situation can emerge. To begin, there need to be incentives for people to work, live and shop in an environment where they can walk or take public transportation to most of their destinations. This alone can reduce the need for multiple cars in one household. With the best opportunity for such a situations to exist being in cities and perhaps smaller towns as well, incentives for people to start enterprises and provide infrastructure in such a setting must exist. The barriers to providing such amenities cannot be too high. Excessive regulation causes people to move their business elsewhere.

Next, you have to make the cities safer. No one wants to live in a dangerous neighborhood! Some ways to do this include punishing violent crime and theft severly; rescind laws prohibiting vices; treat severe substance abuse problems as medical issues, not political issues and allow citizens the right to self defense by any means necessary. This alone will free up so many police resources that they can spend most of their time focusing on real crime, not inane activities. It will also reduce the tax burden on the populace.

In addition, there needs to be incentives for agriculture to prevail in our rural areas. Farmers need to be given incentives to grow crops not only for food but for industry. Hemp is an excellent example! It can be used for fuel, paper, soap, clothing and so forth. By allowing agriculture to prevail in the countryside, transportation costs can be cut, thereby reducing the overall need for fuel. If the need for housing in the suburbs were ever to decrease, many of the neighborhoods could be converted back to farmland.

In order for much of this to happen, there must be an effort by officials not to sell out their communitiues to the lowest bidder. Corporate welfare must be a thing of the past. Our officials are accountable to all the people, not special interests! Only then do we have the chance of a cleaner world.

The bottom line is that you'll never be able to get rid of all private cars, but you take steps to reduce both "vehicle overload" and to improve the quality of fuel available.

 

If I only have one car, what does my wife do at home with the children while I am at work an hour away?

Some people need two cars, not new ones, but more than one. And what
does having 10 cars even matter, you can only drive one at a time, not like you pollute more by owning them.

Country people arent blessed with public transit, and nothing but
your neighbors house is 10 minutes walk.

I can bike to town no problem, and prefer to do that when
movies are due, or toilet paper is needed from the store,
or to go to the post office, etc, but with a wife, 3 children, and no
job closer than 30 miles away, what would you suggest?

 

Holy Shit! It just so happens i agree with every post made by IronGoth on here.

 

California was talking about requiring emissions testing of lawn mowers a few years ago. Not sure whatever happened with that idea. I think weed wackers in CA have to be four stroke now but I'm not sure. I know Ryobi makes a little four stroke weed wacker with a special lubrication system that keeps the oil flowing all around.

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People have said that two strokes are dead but there is a future for them. There are a number of schemes now that can make a two-stroke run cleaner than the conventional two strokes. Active radical combustion is one possible approach.

http://dwolsten.tripod.com/articles/jan97.html
[size=+0]
"Honda claims the following improvements with the ARC:

Fuel economy improvement: 27% improvement on Honda's own real-life operating mode; 29% improvement at a steady 60 km/h
Reduction of hydrocarbon emission by 50%
Marked improvement in driveability.
[/size] "

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There was an engineer from Perth, Australia who attempted to produce a two-stroke engine. His name was Ralph Sarich and the company he started was Orbital Corporation, Ltd. Unfortunately, not one of his engines has yet been approved for mass production in automobiles.

http://www.orbeng.com.au/orbital/aboutOrbital/aboutOrbital.htm

 

Looks like he's mainly in modeling and research now. I didn't see anything on his site about the two-stroke.

Active radical combustion has benefits and will be brought to market in spite of anyone else's shortcomings.

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you know, in the end, the technical progress will be useless untill we change our basic attitude. Greed.... Technical help is just a tool... remember...what are you here for?... Just think about it for 40 sec.

 

I have to do this 4 times a day, at least. Every day. I get smelly people, i get rude people, i get violent people...the ones who wont stop talking to you...I get the chewing gum on the seats, the dirt, the odours...loud people, the phonecalls, the swearing, the comments, the insults...the ones who cough and splutter in your face, the heavy-breathing perverts, groups of boys and young men intimidating me, and even, at times, serious abuse. Rarely do i get through a whole journey without being abused in one way or another by at least someone...

My point is that this is what the outside world has become. And it is exactly because ive actually experienced all this that i want to stand up and make a difference. I realise how desperately change is needed in this world. I see the decline daily.

And so i ask myself-exactly why is the world in decline like this? Why do people have no respect for their environment, their own planet? My conclusion-they have no respect for it because its ugly. Its grey. Its unnatural. Why maintain something so hideous? Why not just give up, spit, drop litter...and rebel. Rebel against the others, who are doing absolutely NOTHING to help the situation. Who continue to use their cars, despite the fact that this is making things considerably worse, because of their "need" for "privacy and leisure"...

Its doing absolutely no good just hiding. Well use our cars, because the outside worlds become too mean to integrate properly with. Other people have become cruel and ugly. In my car they cant get me. This kind of thought, although a seemingly practical short-term solution, is NOT going to help things to improve. This kind of thought and action is pure neglect, and a bizarre form of selfishness...I say bizarre because, surely one cant hide inside cars forever? Surely one day youll have to take journies on public transport, actually walk a few miles, or be put in situations where you will have to face the public? Also, why do you not want to do these things? We were born to live...It should be safe for us to roam freely, on foot, in complete safety, wherever we please, whenever we wish. As this is NOT possible, we should be doing all we can to MAKE it so. As i said before, weve been blessed with so much. Why deliberately disable ourselves?

I experience bus and train journies every single day, and so am more than worthy to comment. I do not want people to hide. It is natural for human beings to mix, to discover eachother, to live together. It is natural for us to meet strangers every day(considering how many billions of us there are on this spinning orb)...If we work together to make things safer, rather than thinking only of our own personal, immediate wants and needs...this can happen. Until it does, or until i die(probably from the gradual buildup of unnatural chemicals and fumes in my body) i will continue to make my feelings known.

Xx

 

I missed your post gypsy, but thanx Its reassuring to see that some people are actually thinking there could be alternatives.

Xx

 

well, you are only 21, usually it's not somebody your age is interested to grasp.... things about selflessness and other boring stuff (adrenaline and ego are quite important for guys your age, but not always of course)
Maybe all in capitalism isn't what we need right now, i mean, i really dont like communism, for sure, but maybe we need to go beyond the system we have today....

 

Very valid points! Yours is a situation where a multiple vehicle situation is needed. I was mainly offering insight in my post above as to the alternatives available so that people would be given an incentive for people to move back to the cities, rely more on public transport therby increasing the incentive for such folks to consider getting rid of one of their cars. FTR, while this question may or may not have been directed to me, I thought I'd give you my opinion.

Excellent points! Moreover, having an extra vehicle can reduce the need for rental costs should your primary vehicle break down.

FTR, you make an excellent case for used cars. While you always "buy someone else's problem" with such a car, that problem doesn't always have to be serious. The previous owner may simply not have the need for that car or may want or need something different. New cars are not always a panacea, either.

Your lifestyle requires that you have at least two motor vehicles. For anyone to tell you otherwise is absurd!

The only things that I might suggest should your finances allow for it would be to purchase highly fuel-efficient vehicles. Besides hybrids, diesels could be such an option. My only concerns with hybrids would be the maintenance costs that would arise should something go wrong 'down the road.' Also, getting a motorcycle license and owning a scooter or small displacement motorcycle (under 900 cc.) might also be worth considering.