StudioGlyphic » Cars

The most dangerous thing you could do today…

glyphic — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:39:43 +0000

…is driving a car. Especially if you are commuting to work.

The commute to and from work is easily one of the most mind-numbing yet dangerous activities many of us engage in on a regular basis. You take the same route, get comfortable with the same traffic patterns, and engage in an activity that you have down to a muscle memory. It promotes complacency.

So in an effort to deal with the boredom, a lot of us turn to talking on the phone, texting, reading and sending emails, yelling at the radio, putting on makeup, shaving, and eating breakfast on the go.

Over the past two decades we’ve also seen a steady progression in both size and power in the cars we drive. It used to be that a car with greater than 300 hp could be considered a supercar. Now 300 hp just means it’s an entry-level luxury sports coupe, sports sedan, or SUV. These vehicles are easily 2800 lbs in weight, and some are close to two tons. Furthermore, they’ve come with a built-in illusion of safety with their 6 airbag systems, electronic traction control, and ABS, leading to riskier driving behavior.

Unfortunately the advances in distraction technology and vehicle power and mass haven’t really had an effect on the laws of physics.

Analogies to Assist in Understanding Bodily Injuries
Due to Motor Vehicle Collision

A fall off a 3.3 feet desk results in a speed at impact of 10 m.p.h. A 10 m.p.h. change in speed (Delta-V) in a motor vehicle collision is equivalent to falling off a desk. Similarly, a 15 m.p.h. change in speed is equivalent to falling 7.5 feet – off a step ladder. A 20 m.p.h. change in speed is equivalent to falling 13.4 feet – off the roof of a one story building. A 25 m.p.h. change in speed is equivalent to falling 20.5 feet – off a two-story building. A 30 m.p.h. change in speed is equivalent to falling 30 feet – off a three-story building.

A less than 20 m.p.h. motor vehicle collision should not be considered a “low speed” in regards to the human body. A fall off a 7.5 foot ladder (10 m.p.h.) may fracture an extremity. Many who fall from the roof of a one story building (15 m.p.h.) sustain injuries. Most who fall from the roof of a two-story building (20 m.p.h.) sustain injuries.

If it sounds like I’m trying to scare you, I am. What you ought to do with that fear, however, is to put both hands on the wheel, pay more attention, put down the devices, turn on your headlights, watch the guy in front, behind, and to your sides, and be ready to use your horn at a moment’s notice. It might save your life.

Everything’s Gone Green

glyphic — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:54:33 +0000

Dodge EV Concept. Electric.

Honda Insight. Gasoline-electric hybrid.

Mini E. Electric.

The LA Auto Show takes place November 21-30 at the LA Convention Center.

NaBloPoMo 16

Why I look forward to $5 a gallon fuel

glyphic — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:22:12 +0000

I’m tired of these fuckers obstructing my view.

Hang up and drive!

glyphic — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:50:27 +0000

Effective July 1, drivers in California will not be allowed to use their mobile phones while driving, unless they have a hands-free device or are using the walkie-talkie feature.

Things to note:

The fine will be $20 for the first offense, and $50 for subsequent offenses. Penalty assessments can be added on, dramatically increasing the fine.

can

The city of Beverly Hills already has big signs up warning people about the coming date. I can’t wait to see those people pulled off to the side of the road for this; we might even get some cop-slapping video action. More details at the DMV’s website.

Loose Ends

glyphic — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:45:55 +0000

Paul Potts

Paul Potts came back for the finals last night:

Paul Potts Final Performance: Nessun Dorma

Results of Britain’s Got Talent Final and winning Performance

The former cell phone salesman has won 100,000GBP and will perform before the queen. Congrats!

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Tulsarama!

Unfortunately, the water that leaked into the chamber completely destroyed the car.

The chamber was built to withstand a nuclear attack and included containers of oil and gasoline, in case the vehicles of the future didn’t use these substances. However, the people of 1957 had no idea that something as simple as water would ruin their gift to the future. They probably also had no idea that Plymouth would cease to exist as a brand, a decision made at the turn of the century by Chrysler’s German owners.

The Tulsarama! site has more photos in their gallery.

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MacArthur Maze Tanker Fire

Finally, it turns out that sometimes government agencies can get it together enough to get a vital piece of infrastructure rebuilt in 25 days. It also helped that they offered a $200,000 a day bonus for early completion, capped at $5m.

Full coverage at the Chronicle.

Tulsarama!

glyphic — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 22:12:48 +0000

Happy Centennial, Oklahoma!

On June 15, 1957, a new gold and white 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe was buried in a time capsule in downtown Tulsa, OK. The time capsule was part of Golden Jubilee Week: Tulsa’s celebration of Oklahoma’s semi-centennial.

Find out more at Buriedcar.com.

Update 2007-06-14:

The chamber where the Plymouth was buried may have leaked, letting in water from outside. Instead of a pristine model of Detroit steel, we may find a decaying, moldy rust heap.

Two-Thousand!

glyphic — Sun, 13 May 2007 21:39:30 +0000

This is my new toy:

It’s a 2003 S2000 with 49k miles. Many thanks to my wife who let me buy it even though she thinks convertibles are stupid.

The Choice, or An exercise in digressions and lazy editing.

glyphic — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 09:45:11 +0000

I’m stopped at a red light on Olympic Boulevard, one of several major arterials that criss-cross this city. It was renamed for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games and stretches 25 miles east-west from Montebello to Santa Monica. For me, Olympic will always be associated with LA’s Koreatown, and thus, have some kind of East Asian resonance about it, which makes almost no sense at all. Still, if I had to pick a focal point for Koreatown, it would be somewhere in the vicinity of Olympic Boulevard and Western Avenue. Korean restaurants, banks, supermarkets, shopping plazas, auto repair shops, hair salons, churches, and auto dealers spread to the north and east from this intersection, which has been the semi-permanent location of a large mural ad for Korean Air. Just north of this intersection sits the Wiltern, one of LA’s great Art Deco treasures, recently purchased by LG, a South Korean conglomerate that is likely to be best known for its electronics, particularly mobile phones.

Olympic Boulevard is my preferred route. The particular stretch of Olympic Boulevard that I travel skews toward residential and office developments, making it a great way to avoid the stop-and-go, turn into the parking lot, stop off for a Starbucks or McSandwich traffic that predominates on most of the other corridors. It also violates most of my urban planning sensibilities, but most of us learn to live as hypocrites to avoid killing ourselves. I have, however, stopped buying uber-Republican Michael Dell’s computer products. You have to judge hypocrisy by degrees.

There’s a Civic in the center painted quad-yellow median who would like to make a left-turn into a driveway for a small office complex. This is a perfectly legal maneuver, though, in this particular circumstance, a questionable one, since the volume of traffic makes it unlikely that an opportunity for a safe left turn will present itself in a reasonable amount of time. Driving, or route-planning, is often far more complex than simply finding the solution of Point A to Point B. At the very least, different routes need to be evaluated based on the legal top-speed allowed on those routes. Going from 4th (St.) and Olympic in Santa Monica to 4th (Ave.) and Olympic in Montebello would be faster if taking Interstate 10. Interstates and highways are referred to as freeways here in Southern California, though the term doesn’t really include those surface streets that also double as highways. The freeways are often given names based on their destination, loosely relative to downtown LA. Thus, the 101 is the Hollywood Freeway from downtown to Hollywood, but becomes the Ventura Freeway from Universal City to Ventura. Stranger still, the east-bound Ventura Freeway doesn’t end in Universal City. It switches from the 101 to the 134 to head into downtown Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena. The 110 is the Pasadena Freeway north of downtown, and the Harbor Freeway south of downtown. I-10 is the Santa Monica Freeway west of downtown and the San Bernardino Freeway east of downtown, though I like to think of that stretch as the Joe Speaker freeway, since he lives out that way. The Century Freeway is LA’s newest freeway and breaks tradition by taking its name from Century Boulevard, which it parallels from Norwalk to LAX. It never ends up in Century City, which is actually just a part of Los Angeles that used to be the massive 20th Century Fox studio lot.

So now I am faced with the choice that faces many drivers. I have the opportunity to “be a nice guy” and let the Civic attempt his left turn in front of my stopped car, or “be the asshole” and pull forward by 6 feet and block him from getting in my way. It may be that I’m becoming old before my time, but I’d be willing to risk good money on the notion that driving in LA has become more aggressive over the past ten years. It’s probably a combination of factors, including a healthy economy, the proliferation of cars with more powerful engines and the illusion of safety, and the natural tendency to learn behaviors from others. The end result is that the words “courtesy” and “yield” have been dropped from the LA driving lexicon, replaced by vulgarities unsuited for some of our readers at home. It seems to me that being courteous and allowing grace for minor infractions of the law, written or otherwise, would make for a better driving experience for all concerned. At the very least, the individual driver who leaves the ego at home and doesn’t allow the chaos around him to affect his mood is less likely to get himself into trouble for revenge or cock-blockery.

I let the Civic through. At the same time, an early 90′s American sedan cruised along in the right-turn lane. For him, a green right arrow signals his right of way. Few drivers expect a car to appear out of nowhere, especially from the midst of two solid lanes of cars stopped at a red light. Yet, the unexpected happens every day to someone on these streets. Maybe several someones.

As I drove away I wondered if I should have prevented the accident by thwarting the Civic driver’s desire to do something stupid. But doing so would have made me look like an asshole, and at the end of the day, if the price of a complete stranger’s untarnished opinion of me only amounts to thousands of dollars in car repairs and a little hospitalization, it is well worth it.

Tesla Roadster

glyphic — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 22:13:50 +0000

The electric sports car is finally here, and it looks pretty damn hot:

Tesla Motors is a brand new car company whose first product is a roadster designed by a Lotus designer, engineered by a bunch of Lotus engineers, and manufactured in the Lotus factory. The configuration is that of a mid-engined, real-wheel drive two-seater with a bunch of batteries in place of where the engine would be. My kind of car.

The electric motor puts out 248 hp at peak and redlines at 13,500 rpm. Torque is instantly available (of course), so off the line, you’ll smoke the competition (without any of the smoke). Zero to sixty in about four seconds. Neat.

The range of the car is 250 miles, which doesn’t quite get you from LA to Vegas in one charge. There is a portable charging kit for longer trips, but since recharging the car takes about 3.5 hours, this still doesn’t quite get you to Vegas. As a commuter car, a weekend driver, the mileage range should be more than most people need on a daily or weekly basis. The batteries are estimated to last at least 100,000 miles, and I believe are covered under warranty for that period. Assuming that owners will charge the car overnight, energy costs are estimated at 1 or 2 cents per mile. My 1991 MR2 gets 18 mpg and costs about 10 cents a mile using premium gasoline.

The $100,000 price tag attached to the Tesla Roadster makes the discussion of efficiency and costs somewhat academic. Little two-seater sports cars appeal to a niche for whom efficiency and cost are secondary to styling and performance. This is a car for the environmentally-conscious affluent performance nut and/or technology geek. Future models from Tesla will include a car for “the rest of us” (fuck that!) that presumably costs less and seats more. The hot flagship roadster will primarily generate publicity for the technology and bring in curious people who might just drive out in a new electric sedan.

Official Site: Tesla Motors

Wired: Batteries Included

LA Times: Look, Ma, no gas — and yet zero to 60 in just four seconds

YouTube: Tesla Roadster Video

An airbag saved my life

glyphic — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 17:09:23 +0000

Be careful when lifting off the throttle in the rain. You might end up hitting the center barrier.

I’m ok. Unfortunately the car isn’t. Drive safely out there.