 |
| Every two-wheeler is One Less SUV on the road. |
I found the illustration here, a sticker on a scooter proudly designating it as "One Less SUV," on the Southeast Florida Scooters Yahoo group.
Its message is that one economical scooter (or motorcycle) can replace one wasteful sport utility vehicle on roads and in parking lots.
Everybody (who doesn't own one) loves to hate SUVs, especially when the hulking vehicles are employed to carry one small human being to his office job and back every day. This wastes gas and wastes space.
Whenever there is a gas price crisis I fantasize about laws that would limit SUVs to 50 mph to save gas, confine them to the right lane to reduce traffic or make city parking spaces too short to accommodate them.
Revenge! Pitchforks and torches!
Such sentiments are beneath me. But I do believe that, in some parts of the World, scooters, motorcycles (and bicycles, too) could make city life more pleasant.
I am not blind to the problems: motorcycles and scooters can be a significant source of noise pollution if unregulated. Safety is a concern (for bicyclists, too).
Additionally, except for South Florida (where I live) and Hawaii, almost no part of the United States lends itself to year-around riding. That is not to say we couldn't do more of it. Why not ride your motorcycle to work today?
For those who do, ride in pride. You are doing everyone a favor.
How much does it rain there? That's my biggest problem n the Texas Gulf Coast... Well, rain and heat. We've had drought the last two years. I did get soaked on the way home from work a few months ago. I had some rain pants but no jacket. That has now been remedied (and some boot covers, too), but normally I won't ride if there's over a 50% chance. Heat is a bigger problem. Afternoon commute time is the hottest part of the day, and if ambient temperature is 95-98, it's 10-15 hotter on the freeway.
ReplyDeleteStill, I put 5000 miles on the Bullet the first 12 months, reducing my commuter-car's mileage from 20,000 to 15,000.