Do The Math: Drive Slower & Save Gas

Good luck finding a 1kW unit (perhaps Sunpower,

Found out by going to wikipedia's entry on stirling engines,

and clicking on the image of the very pretty stirling engine on the right side:

Michael

What vehicle(s) ?

Doesn't happen here so why does it there ?

Graham

Yes, I've heard about this. Ironic given the frequently stated reason of safety for their purchase ! They perfrom badly in collisions too, since they're exempt from the regulations for cars.

I still don't get why there should be so many rollovers in the rush hour though !

You might care to note Jim's silly answer.

Graham

Which models ? We don't have any called punk in the UK ! :~)

Graham

Mixed info here.....

" Almost 90% of rollover accidents involve a single vehicle and about a quarter of the 42,000 car-crash fatalities every year are in rollovers. "

But doesn't explictly mention SUVs

" NHTSA released figures this summer showing the number of SUV rollover deaths rose 14 percent in 2002 to more than 2,400. "

That's almost as many deaths as the total UK number btw !

Graham

Just because they seem set up to solicit lawsuits, you doubt their veracity? ;-)

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Average speed here on the freeways is at least 75MPH. They recently clocked/photographed a Hyundai up on Loop 101 in Scottsdale doing

...Jim Thompson

If these people would stop thinking they are invincible and wear their seatbelt, a rollover is just a carnival ride. I rolled a Jeep and drove it home after a guy winched me "greasy side down" again.. I was buckled in tho. It wasn't even a "C ticket ride".

I lookerd at some statistics and it seems 9 out of 10 rollovers happen when the vehicle leaves the road. I know that is how mine happened. My old Jeep slid into the grass, caught a wheel and went over. It was actually not an unpleasant ride and there was no reason I could have been injured ... unless I was sitting on my seat belt. I was buckled in tight and it was just a slow motion "oh S*IT" moment then I was hanging upside down trying to get all the dirt out of my eyes. It's amazing how much dirt accumulates on the floor without you noticing. Fortunately my beer was safe. It was in one of those gimballed drink holders you use on a boat.. ;-)

That's true around here as well. Small car gets tapped, spins out, leaves road, tires dig into dirt/gravel/whatever and the vehicle rolls.

Don't you just hate that slow motion effect? I had one of those where I was sliding sideways for ~200', sliding toward a telephone pole... stopped about 1' from it... whew ;-)

Bwahahahaha!

...Jim Thompson

There's nothing exceptional about 75 mph. How are these cars rolling over ?

Graham

Weenie cars that easily spin out... roll details were already presented in another post.

...Jim Thompson

Since we don't see these kind of problems here, I guess it must just be down to bad driving.

Graham

An ME I know in Costa Mesa who writes for car magazines rolled a Jeep Liberty doing a slalom between traffic cones on a *dry* *flat* test track*. No way you'd ever do that in any kind of normal sedan. He was shaken up and had some minor injuries, but then it wasn't along US1 or anything like that with death and disaster waiting down an embankment. The Ford Explorer has a certain rep, for which they tried to finger the tire manufacturer. Didn't help that the roof was weak and often caved in during a rollover, unlike the sturdy Jeeps.

According to the above link, it rolls readily with all kinds of different tires on it.

• 8 traffic cones in a straight line, 70 feet apart, at 40mph

The Liberty is rated two stars of five for rollover resistance. Most SUVs are 2 or 3, only the Aztek is 4. 2 stars indicates a 30-40% chance of rollover in a single car accident.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

remember Robocop and

martin

I know. Everything's perfect on your side of the pond ;-)

...Jim Thompson

How does the Hummer rate? I think it's about time I thoroughly annoyed the greenie weenies and went out and bought an H1... and also take the tax deduction... let them pay $10K toward my purchase ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Actually, all car crashes are caused by the loose nut behind the wheel. :-)

Here's how to solve the traffic fatality problem:

Cheers! Rich

In the 1970's and ever since and even now, most cars get the best fuel economy at speeds around 45-50 MPH when moving steadily. Usually this is the slowest speed at which the engine works reasonably comfortably when you are using top gear.

However, I don't think the USA will do any better with low speed limits now than back in the days of the 55 MPH limit. That appears to have done about as well as Prohibition. If the gubmint is going to hand down any mandates to save fuel, they would be better off demanding (or probably better off still by subsidizing via tax breaks) cars with low air resistance and able to get 40 MPG at 75-80 MPH.

Too many Americans have too much to do with too little time and are basically freedom loving outlaws anyway for lower speed limits to work. If anyone manages to actually enforce a 55 MPH speed limit on interstates, the voters will tell him from the voting booth to work on his resume!

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)