Saturday, August 27, 2005

Step up to that box containing soap

If we set maximum road limits why then do we allow the production, purchase and utilization of cars that far surpass these restrictions? I think that all civilian vehicles should be constructed with a built in speed limiter that prevents owners from surpassing the maximum prescribed speed (in Victoria’s case - 100 kms per-hour).

Why do you need a car that goes past this speed?

The pros and cons of taking such a step, as I see it, are as follows:


Pros

- A significantly reduced road-toll

- A reduced demand for petrol/gas

- At an individual level, less money being pointlessly injected into the police coffers (through speeding fines)

- The life span of motorists cars will be improved

Cons

- A significant devotion of political capital would be required

- A significant amount of money would need to be spent revolutionizing our car manufacturing industry

- The way in which we trade with other countries would have to be rethought. This would require some very sensitive negotiations

- Stupid men would protest viciously.


And on the subject of cars, why is it necessary to build the V8, gas guzzling monsters that I still see on the roads every day? They are noisy, they pollute, and they provide the clearest of incentives to drive recklessly.

Why do we need them?

Now I’m sure that fans of the big broom brooms will label me a ‘tree hugger’ for suggesting that these petroleum whores on wheels are devastating for the environment - so be it. I have no doubt that the cry ‘it’s my right to drive whatever I want’ will come out in full effect. To that I say - it is not a persons right to tip pollutants directly into the sea, and it certainly isn’t an individuals right to defecate in a public space. Why are those rights stripped from the citizenry? Because our oceans and our public spaces are communal areas that are shared by one and all. A newsflash: the air that we breath is also a communal resource shared by all humanity - so when you pump your foot on the pedal of your outrageously anti-economical, smoke blower, you are blowing smoke into a sky that will look down on, not just the rest of us, but future generations as well.

Do we need these cars?

The only thing I can think of to make a case for keeping them is that those aforementioned stupid men would suddenly find themselves searching for an alternative to what is an obvious vehicular façade for their phallic inadequacies.

3 comments:

cj goad ~ photography said...

Manufacturers build them just because they can... and considering most cars are only driven in crowded cities they never need reach maximum highway speeds anyway. And it gives Phallically challenged men a reason to tell easily susceptible women how fast their cars can go, without ever having to prove it.
:-)

Anonymous said...

Yup, been asking the same question since I was a little kid. Personally the fastest I ever go is 120 - 130 max, but only on the highways, and usually 130 just to pass trucks. I don't think cars need to go faster than that. *shrug*
-E.S.

Don Quixote said...

Exactly, powerful cars are for mucho men with too much money and too little brains.

:)