drivers speeding away - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

01-24-2007, 09:24 AM

Hello fellow environment guardians.
This came to my attention when reading clean air tips at [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

"Avoid rapid acceleration (putting the pedal to the metal) which can produce
more than 40 times the emissions of normal driving."

That means when ever a driver gets pissed off from seeing a cyclists and
speeds up to get away from you like you are vermin he is polluting the air
40X more than if you were not there in front of him.
I know it IS there fault but that puts my world out of wack cause I believed
I was improving air quality and now it is a few degrees less so.

Also, idling more that 30 seconds is worse than shutting off the motor
and starting up again. I guesss some intersections they could get everyone
shutting off the motor then. haha

01-24-2007, 09:58 AM

On 2007-01-24, nash <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>
> "Avoid rapid acceleration (putting the pedal to the metal) which can produce
> more than 40 times the emissions of normal driving."
>
> That means when ever a driver gets pissed off from seeing a cyclists and
> speeds up to get away from you like you are vermin he is polluting the air
> 40X more than if you were not there in front of him.
> I know it IS there fault but that puts my world out of wack cause I believed
> I was improving air quality and now it is a few degrees less so.

*******s will just find another excuse to be *******s if you aren't there.
Quit worrying about it and ride.

> Also, idling more that 30 seconds is worse than shutting off the motor
> and starting up again. I guesss some intersections they could get everyone
> shutting off the motor then. haha

I do that at tain tracks if I can't see the end of the train, or if it's
crawling through the crossing.

--

__o Kristian Zoerhoff
_'\(,_ [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
(_)/ (_)

01-24-2007, 10:14 AM

On Jan 24, 12:58 pm, Kristian M Zoerhoff <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>
wrote:
> On 2007-01-24, nash <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>
>
>
> > "Avoid rapid acceleration (putting the pedal to the metal) which can produce
> > more than 40 times the emissions of normal driving."
>
> > That means when ever a driver gets pissed off from seeing a cyclists and
> > speeds up to get away from you like you are vermin he is polluting the air
> > 40X more than if you were not there in front of him.
> > I know it IS there fault but that puts my world out of wack cause I believed
> > I was improving air quality and now it is a few degrees less so.*******s will just find another excuse to be *******s if you >>aren't there.

Making a difference? Har har. Best reason to ride is because you like
to. If it eases traffic or pollution, so be it, but it's likely just a
drop in the bucket. Ride for the same reason the Dutch do--it's silly
to use a car for most trips. Ride because bikes are neat and elegant
and make you look cool. Don't ride to be a self righteous hippie (not
saying that you are :-P), let the benefits happen due to coincidence.
"Damn, my butt got smaller! Oh, that's right, I've been riding that
bicycle thing..."

> Quit worrying about it and ride.
>
> > Also, idling more that 30 seconds is worse than shutting off the motor
> > and starting up again. I guesss some intersections they could get everyone
> > shutting off the motor then. hahaI do that at tain tracks if I can't see the end of the train, or if it's
> crawling through the crossing.

I always shut off the car if I'm waiting for somebody, at a RR
crossing, etc. It's the law in much of Scandinavia AFAIK. Around here
though, people leave their cars running when they shop at the
convenience store on the corner, as if shutting them off is some sort
of burden. Saw a guy's car stolen due to this. Amusingly enough, he was
plastered. I told him it was just the caring neighborhood youth trying
to keep him out of a DUI...

01-24-2007, 10:49 AM

Also, idling more that 30 seconds is worse than shutting off the motor
>> > and starting up again. I guesss some intersections they could get
>> > everyone

Intersections are normally 30 seconds per change green to red and red to
green.
Any idling more than that is uneccessary. It really unnerves me.
My Dad was a mechanic and he said the ignition would wear out. Came from
the same old wives tale that turning the TV on and off wears it out or uses
more power than watching it for hours. And the PC come to think of it.
Both TV and PC monitor probably use about 5 light bulbs of energy to run. I
wonder what it is with LCD and HDTV, everything being energy star compliant
these days.

SN

01-24-2007, 11:22 AM

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 18:24:44 GMT, "nash" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>
wrote:

> Also, idling more that 30 seconds is worse than shutting off the motor
>and starting up again. I guesss some intersections they could get everyone
>shutting off the motor then. haha

I think this practice is getting popular in Japan. I recall seeing a
feature on TV (some news program perhaps) where people were standing
at intersection holding signs encouraging drivers to shut off their
engines (I can't read Japanese) while waiting at the light.

jeverett3<AT>sbcglobal<DOT>net (John V. Everett)

01-24-2007, 11:34 AM

On Jan 24, 4:22 pm, John Everett
<[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].BOTS.net> wrote:
> On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 18:24:44 GMT, "nash" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>
> wrote:
>
> > Also, idling more that 30 seconds is worse than shutting off the motor
> >and starting up again. I guesss some intersections they could get everyone
> >shutting off the motor then. hahaI think this practice is getting popular in Japan. I recall seeing a
> feature on TV (some news program perhaps) where people were standing
> at intersection holding signs encouraging drivers to shut off their
> engines (I can't read Japanese) while waiting at the light.
>
> jeverett3<AT>sbcglobal<DOT>net (John V. Everett)

I thought a couple of car manufactures had already made cars that do
this automatically, shut off the engine after 20 seconds and restart
once you put your foot on the accelerator. I think Audi made one.

01-24-2007, 11:51 AM

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 19:49:45 GMT, "nash" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>
wrote:

>My Dad was a mechanic and he said the ignition would wear out. Came from
>the same old wives tale that turning the TV on and off wears it out or uses
>more power than watching it for hours. And the PC come to think of it.
>Both TV and PC monitor probably use about 5 light bulbs of energy to run. I
>wonder what it is with LCD and HDTV, everything being energy star compliant
>these days.

Ignitions before the 1990s or so did wear out. Anyone that learned to
tap the starter to jog the brushes to a better position because they
were worn knows this. No old wives tale about it - restoring old cars
leaves you with lots of experience with the procedure. Still have the
jimmy bar I used leaning against the garage wall. The Saabs and Volvos
are long gone...

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

01-24-2007, 12:12 PM

On 24 Jan 2007 12:34:37 -0800, "Marz" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:

>I thought a couple of car manufactures had already made cars that do
>this automatically, shut off the engine after 20 seconds and restart
>once you put your foot on the accelerator. I think Audi made one.

My Prius does it, but the hybrids aren't exactly examples of ordinary
gas driven cars.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

01-24-2007, 12:39 PM

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 18:24:44 GMT, "nash" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>
may have said:

>Hello fellow environment guardians.
>This came to my attention when reading clean air tips at [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
>
>"Avoid rapid acceleration (putting the pedal to the metal) which can produce
>more than 40 times the emissions of normal driving."
>
>That means when ever a driver gets pissed off from seeing a cyclists and
>speeds up to get away from you like you are vermin he is polluting the air
>40X more than if you were not there in front of him.
>I know it IS there fault but that puts my world out of wack cause I believed
>I was improving air quality and now it is a few degrees less so.

Blame the traffic planners who insist on using one roadway for all
purposes. Expect the regulations to put even Segways out into traffic
in places where that is not already the case; IME the planners all
drive cars, and seldom have a clue about the implications of the
policies they institute.

> Also, idling more that 30 seconds is worse than shutting off the motor
>and starting up again. I guesss some intersections they could get everyone
>shutting off the motor then. haha

This assertion is true only for modern, fuel-injected vehicles with
efficient fuel delivery systems. For the older carbureted engines, it
was more like two or three minutes.

VW tried a stop/start engine with one of their Diesels[1], and Cushman
successfully does it with their gas-engine golf carts and personnel
carriers, but most gasoline-powered autos would have problems with
such a system. Also, the inevitable small delay in taking off from
the intersection would slow the progress of traffic too much in many
situaions, resulting in a significant increase in emissions as drivers
accelerated harder to try to beat the next light change.

[1] The 1980's-era VW Rabbit was nominally available with a Diesel
coupled to an automatic transmission; that model had a fairly massive
flywheel (ordinarily not used with an automatic) which was
electrically clutched to provide restart energy so that the engine
could come to a full stop when the vehicle was halted. It sort of
worked, but consumers intensely disliked the immediate cessation of
air conditioning effectiveness when the vehicle stopped, so it was
seldom sold outside of cold-climate markets.

--
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Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

01-24-2007, 06:37 PM

"nash" wrote: (clip) I believed I was improving air quality and now it is
a few degrees less so. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So if, God forbid, you were to be the victim of a hit-run, you would share
in the guilt?