Remove the muffler from your Prius...

[eluminator]

Just tie a tin can to the rear bumper.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

...or rig a baseball card in the wheel rim. Fwip-fwip-fwip... :laughing:

 

[Mike Painter]

Your post reminded me of a certain city in California that banned plastic shopping bags since they sit in landfills for years and don't degrade.... Same city hands out free condems like candy. Hmmm, what are those made out of again? :laughing:

Most of Europe is banning them also.
Condoms are made of latex, which are sort of biodegradable as opposed to the *much* larger and orders of magnitude more plastic bags.

 

[Black Rose]

Mount a whistle on the front bumper.

Nah, hockey cards in the spokes of the rims....worked great when I was a kid

 

[RyanA]

I'm starting a new business - Kevlar playing cards! :laughing:


...Hey, that would be pretty cool. Ti frame, tungsten inserts for customizable balance... :naughty:

Unfortunately Kevlar or Baseball cards (as mentioned by Photon Wrangler) would have an inappropriate rate of fwip-fwip viscosity and could lead to explosion if exposed to an open flame, potentially leading to serious injury or even death. Thus voiding the warranty.:shrug:

 

[RyanA]

Nah, hockey cards in the spokes of the rims....worked great when I was a kid

HOCKEY CARDS!!!! You madman! Are you aware of the ramifications of this. It's a class 32 felony in 27 states.

 

[Black Rose]

HOCKEY CARDS!!!! You madman! Are you aware of the ramifications of this. It's a class 32 felony in 27 states.

Actually I am. Thinking back to my childhood days, I put a lot of cards that were worth big $$$ through the spokes of my bike

 

[Monocrom]

Most of Europe is banning them also.
Condoms are made of latex, which are sort of biodegradable as opposed to the *much* larger and orders of magnitude more plastic bags.

Politically speaking, Europe and California are not that far apart.

I guess "sort of biodegradeable" is a tiny bit better. But in terms of magnitude, the sheer number of condoms might realistically outnumber the volume of plastic bags; in California.

Regarding hybrid cars.....

Toyota and other brands that offer hybrid models could just install extra loud mufflers. You know, like the type that teens put on their pocket rockets; so they can pretend they have a car with some power under the hood.

 

[yuandrew]

Long beach isn't too far away from my location. Anyone want to plan a "small engine run-up party" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW7MKZfQoAs

Bring your own Lawn mower, Weed Eater, Backpack Leaf Blower, Chain Saw, Motor Bike, Go-Ped, Sea Doo, Evinrude, or other small engine you may have.

 

[LowBat]

Your post reminded me of a certain city in California that banned plastic shopping bags since they sit in landfills for years and don't degrade

I thought the whole idea of plastic bags was to stop using paper and save the trees. What's next, grocery bags made of hemp?

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

I thought the whole idea of plastic bags was to stop using paper and save the trees. What's next, grocery bags made of hemp?

Don't give the California treehuggers any ideas. They'll do it. By the way, it wasn't one city in California that banned plastic bags. It was basically the whole state. Our governor passed a law requiring each business that uses plastic trash bags to pay for disposal bins to be placed at their business and they also have to pay for their recycling (hauling away). Many stores refused to pay that cost and went with paper bags or cardboard boxes.

As for having too quiet hybrids, I somewhat agree with the lawmakers. My dad has a Prius. When you back up out of a parking lot, people walking behind you have no idea that your engine is on and you're backing up. I wouldn't mind having the car beeping when backing up as long as I had the option of turning it off. Semitrucks usually have that feature as well. Backing up silently isn't just unsafe for the blind but for everyone. That is one of two safety design flaws of hybrids. The other is having 500+ volt wires running throughout the frame of the car. Don't get in an accident in one. A rescue crew will hesitate in using the jaws of life to cut you out for fear of being electrocuted.

 

[RyanA]

Not to play devils advocate, but excepting the blind, pedestrians can check for reverse lights and drivers can (should) check their rearview mirrors/look back. Remember that most reverse alarms are on vehicles limited visibility (no rear windows, and or trailers) Also, (yada, yada continue rant) pedestrians and drivers need to remain aware that in terms of accidents parking lots are among the most likely - if not THE most likley - place where they can occur. While gadgets are nice they won't compensate for personal responsibility/awareness. Chances are that if someone doesn't bother checking their rearview they aren't very likely to activate their reverse alarm either. Unless hitting pedestrians is a common occurrence for them, in which case maybe driving isn't a good option.

 

[TONY M]

Pedestrians should look where they are going!

Seriously I would hate some low life try to sue me if I hit him/her when driving a electric car in a reasonable and safe manner on the basis that they couldn't hear me when they just didn't look.

I have only driven one hybrid car, a Honda. I did not like it much as I got BETTER fuel economy from my regular gas (petrol) car... Since then 2 of my neighbours have each bought hybrids, and they are not impressed either.

I say ban the hybrid!:devil:

 

[powernoodle]

Maybe blind people should not be walking out in traffic.

 

[Monocrom]

I say ban the hybrid!:devil:

Not a bad idea.... Considering that car companies who make hybrids are basically "dumping".

When you sell a much more expensive car at a lower price, so that consumers buy from you, (rather than from your competition) that's called dumping. And it's illegal. Often used by a bigger company, they eat the cost of a product in order to either put a smaller company out of business or hurt the profits of a just-as-large competitor. Take any hybrid car and add $10,000 to the asking-price. That's what it should retail for, considering the costs involved in making it. But since the hybrid-making car companies are seen as doing something to be more Green, no one really kicks up much of a fuss.

 

[jtr1962]

Maybe blind people should not be walking out in traffic.

I tend to agree. The CA legislature seems willing to create problems for everyone else in order to cater to a very small minority. Besides that, the thought of a blind person crossing the street on their own just doesn't make sense. This is a solution in search of a problem. Hearing cars isn't a reliable way to determine if it's safe. Try closing your eyes and crossing a busy street. I can almost guarantee you'll get hit by a car. Often by the time you first hear a car traveling 45 mph, it'll be on top of you within a second or two. A backup alarm for parking lot situations might make sense, but even here I don't get why people don't back into spots instead of pulling in. My mom does this all the time. Backing in is far less dangerous than backing out. And she gets to face forward when pulling out.

 

[BVH]

Crate a solution for which there is no problem! Completely useless poititian - and I'm from CA? How embarrassing for me.

 

[jtr1962]

Crate a solution for which there is no problem! Completely useless poititian - and I'm from CA? How embarrassing for me.

Don't feel bad-the NYC Council is another legislative body which excels at writing pointless laws. It wouldn't surprise me if they decide to write a similar law also.

 

[TONY M]

Not a bad idea.... Considering that car companies who make hybrids are basically "dumping".

When you sell a much more expensive car at a lower price, so that consumers buy from you, (rather than from your competition) that's called dumping. And it's illegal. Often used by a bigger company, they eat the cost of a product in order to either put a smaller company out of business or hurt the profits of a just-as-large competitor. Take any hybrid car and add $10,000 to the asking-price. That's what it should retail for, considering the costs involved in making it. But since the hybrid-making car companies are seen as doing something to be more Green, no one really kicks up much of a fuss.

Yeah I'm just not impressed that other regular (similary sized), and cheaper cars can get better fuel economy. That to me totally defeats the purpose of having a hybrid! Why devise a much more complicated and expensive system that turns out to be less efficient than a similar standard car?..... .....Because it APPEARS to be green?
Car manufacturers are up to all sorts of tricks...

I should note that I am just going by my experience and that of both of my neighbours who own hybrids in relation to the fuel economy of the hybrid car.

 

[jzmtl]

Yeah I'm just not impressed that other regular (similary sized), and cheaper cars can get better fuel economy.

Don't even open that can of worms... Diesel cars can get better mileage than hybrid, but it isn't hip, you don't get any tree hugger points so no politician will promote it.