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Half Cars | |||||||||||||||||
Narrow cars could be made for commuters. The cars could be two-seaters with the passenger behind the driver. The idea isinstead of gathering people into a big car pool, make the carssmaller to fit their most common use. These cars are narrow enough so that two could drive side-by-sidein a standard lane. During non-peak hours each car takes a lane as it does now.During high traffic times, some lane(s) will be designated for use by half cars only incenting small car drivers. The half car lanes would yield double the existing throughput,without needing to enhance roads. Cities would be motivated tohelp commuters with taxes breaks on these cars, to keep roadcosts down. If the program became succesful enough, normal sized cars wouldbecome the exception, and these smaller, lighter, vehicles would dominate the traffic.
yillyman, Nov 14 2006
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I like this idea, but I've got a few qualms about it. In order to maintain the same level of stability as a standard-sized car, these cars would have to be scaled proportionately. This means they'd have to be half the height of normal cars, so the passengers would probably have to be in a reclined position. That or take the loss in stability.
Smart Cars sort of use the half car idea, only they're shortened instead of being thinner. The Smart company is having a hard time selling these in the US because of safety concerns, and I'm afraid half cars would be subject to the same scrutiny.
I may b wrong on the psychology of drivers but it seems to me that multiplying the mix of regular and slim cars will stimulate motivations for the wrong cars to slip into each other's lanes with a massive increase of mayhem and acidents. Motorcycles already slip between slim openings and the accident rate of motorcycles is notorious. Asse from that each car will have its own engine and an increase in engines can only increase pollution.
Once computer aided driving (auto-pilot) systems become common place, then there will be significant effort given to route planning, like the FAA does with commercial flights.
This type of system offers the user the ability to have vehicles with limited controls and reclining seating, since you don't need to see where you are going. So vehicles could feasibly become very narrow and still have excellent stability.
Many of the traffic bottlenecks will become a thing of the past. Your parking space will be planned out for you before you even arrive. There won't be a need to stop at intersections needlessly. There will be so much more statistical data available for transportation specialists, that we will know within a minute during rush hour as to how long it will take us to get to or from work.
For a far fetched idea:Vehicles could be wedged together for the portion of the trip that they share, to "wind draft" the vehicles to reduce drag. One vehicle would nose into the rear of the vehicle in front of them. The vehicle computers would systematically share the load so that all drivers share the related expenses.
I follow this idea but in america one person drives the biggest vehicle sold on the lot, and our kids fight for the gas. You need to get hugh incentives in place to get people to do it. Even then crash test may stop it, or put it in a seperate class rating closer to motorcycle.
I agree with your idea, however I do have some reservations about putting very small cars on the road with large vehicles and aggressive drivers. I think it would be safer to have separate roadways, slower speeds and weight restrictions on the vehicles.
Venture Vehicles is a coming out with a enclosed motorcycle-car hybrid that's got the passenger behind the driver. It tilts to turn, but it's as safe as a car. It's called the VentureOne. Check it out. It's pretty cool. http://www.venturevehicles.com/