The Warwick Beacon, of Warwick, Rhode Island has a story (here) about how escalating gas prices aren't keeping high school kids from driving to school. My favorite bits:
Vets cheerleader Rachel Ferrara thinks she knows why. The junior said her mother
would be driving her around if she didn’t have a car and in the end no gasoline
would have been saved. So, in Ferrara’s case, mom has increased her gas
allowance.
Note to Rachel, it doesn't count as independence if it goes away without a car. That is just conditional dependance. Learn to get around on your own.
A random poll of Vets students at lunch Friday found them paying $25 to $60
a week for gasoline.
Vets junior Stephanie Gilman, who drives a 97 Volvo and works at Inskip
Motors, couldn’t imagine at what cost gasoline would have to climb before she
gives up driving. As it is now, her mother is helping with a weekly $40 gas
allowance.
Are you kidding me?!? Where are these kids driving? Even when I was driving full-time, my wife and I combined for less than $50 a week and we each were driving 30 miles a day to and from work with the occasional weekend trip to visit the folks (between 60 and 120 miles each way). I want to rail against the idea of a gas allowance, but looking back, it probably would have been better if my parents had me on one when I was growing up.
Mark Rossi, who lives within a mile of Vets and said he could easily walk or
ride his bicycle, still drives his 97 Toyota Camry. He believes he could rally a
few friends to help share the cost but prefers the independence and the latitude
to sleep just a bit later and still make it to class on time.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you with the current American mentality. Within a mile? Really? How much sleep is that really saving?
Fox11AZ.com has a story that has been on numerous other news websites about how the most dangerous part of the commute isn't the chance of an accident, but rather breathing the exhaust from the cars in front of you:
"The air coming into your car is the worst air in the whole city," said
Scott Fruin, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health at USC Keck School of
Medicine.
This is news?
So how can you make your commute safer? Drive with the windows up and set
the air on re-circulate. But the best way to survive your commute is to cut your
commute.
Or, not use a car. That way you not only lower the danger for yourself, but also for everyone else.
-Matt
Direct link to REI Cycling store
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