[extropy-chat] Driver safety and the immortalist

[Spike]

> Kevin Freels

> I would have guessed that just by experience, but I was 
> wondering if there were better statistics than my "what I see while
driving down 
> the road" set.  Also, I am a bit biased against SUVs anyways so I
would 
> notice the single occupant SUVs more than I would take notice of an
SUV full of people.



I drive in the carpool lane every day to work and back
along a 10 km corridor along the southern end of San
Francisco Bay.  Most days we have that lane all to 
ourselves as we zip past thousands, nay, millions of SUVs.

That State Road 237 is a prime example of pavement that
is chronically rough.  If you have friends who work at
the Yahoo headquarters, ask them about their commute.
Were the state to resurface that pavement to glassy 
smoothness, perhaps the proletariat would shift from SUVs
toward racy little buggies, which would have the effect of
fewer vehicles going offroad into ecologically sensitive
areas, simply because fewer vehicles could go there.

The kind of car you are most likely to see crammed full
of people is one that is on the way to the local high school.
That car is most likely to be small and junky, the kind
most often driven by that crowd, the kind we drove when
we were that age.  

Kevin, think of it as the four-wheeled version of the 
universal housing paradox: large families cram into tiny 
2 bedroom shacks, whereas the huge luxurious homes 
generally shelter only two people, both of whom actually 
spend most of their time away in an office somewhere and 
merely sleep in that mansion. 

spike