The Future of Motorcycles…as Cars.
Oct 14th, 2008 by Leo
“They’re too fast and dangerous!” “Noisy!” “Who do they think they are?” were all popular sentiments about a hundred years ago against people driving cars… Cars were seen as toys for the rich and a safety problem for the general population. The US has such a strong love affair with cars that it’s hard to imagine it ever being another way. We love cars so much that no one questions the (more than) 40,000 automobile deaths every year (that’s greater than the total number of Americans killed by terrorists in US history). No one in government has ever dared suggest that perhaps we should drive less or drive less powerful automobiles… I’m not saying that’s a good thing, but it goes to show that people can learn to accept a certain level of risk even though it, and the lifestyle it promotes (i.e., long highway commutes) has been proven deadly. But it took nearly 40 years before the average person warmed up to automobiles (and could afford them). Soon people felt it was every person’s right to own one.
Motorcycles and scooters seem to be where automobiles were a hundred years ago in terms of public opinion. So can motorcycles and scooters become the cars of the future? What would it take to speed this process of acceptance?
Related posts:
Maybe even higher gas prices
Bloombergs plan to tax vehicles in NYC failed, but what if a similar plan was put in place that exempted motorcycles / scooters? It certainly would make it safer to ride on 2 wheels in the city if the traffic was only motorcycles, scooters and buses…and I bet a lot more people would consider a motorcycle as everyday transportation – or at least not consider it something that’s just “noisy and dangerous”.
“Very happy with transaction. Thanks very much.”
It would take a few things:
1. Higher fuel prices/taxes on fuel
2. City congestion tax (like London) w/bikes exempted
3. Marketing $$$ by the bike manufacturers and advocacy groups to communicate the benefits and real-world advantages of riding a bike