Scooters and how to save the world

Ha, so I had a brilliant revelation on how to take care of the transportation problem in this country. The answer is as simple as it is brilliant. Although it will require some small sacrifices, it's a price many should be willing to pay.

My idea is this, have everybody who drives an SUV trade it in for a reasonable sized car, truck, wagon, or minivan and a scooter. The thing is this: SUV's don't really serve any transportation need. They're mostly compensation for shortcomings. If the size of the SUV is any indicator, I'd say that some people have some very, very shortcomings. I figure that if the people would get over themselves, they'd be willing to use some common sense.

Here's why my plan works. Fact: scooters can get up to 100 miles per gallon. I have a commute for 40 minutes a day, I have to fill my scooter up once a week. It costs me roughly $4. Let's take an H2 for example. GM doesn't provide exact fuel economy specs, but estimates range from high single digit mileage, to low double digits. They have a fuel tank of 32 gallons. At $3 per gallon, a fill-up is about $150; the cost to drive an H2 only in the gas is about $.30/mile. I drive about 100 miles per week this means that the H2 driver is paying about $30 in gas/week. If the price of a scooter is $1800 new, this means that I can buy a scooter about every 14 months and still come out about even. To add insult to injury, a bare bones H2 runs about 53,000; fully loaded 70,000ish. Note to self: when I see H2 laugh and point at the driver. On second thought, this person is also probably so insecure, he'll run me down just to prove how tough he is, therefore, I probably better not do it too obviously.

Granted there are limits, for instance, you can't go much above 35 miles/hour, or in icy/snowy conditions. That's why you buy the reasonable, useful, but not as ostentatious, car, truck, wagon, or minivan.

But seriously people, the money is such a small aspect of the benefits of riding a scooter. For one thing, I've had mine for 8 months and I still like riding it. Another is that I'm no longer bound by the constraints of parking. Anywhere I can put it is probably a valid parking space. One of the best parts about scooting is that you've been adopted into a sort of informal club. It's the club of people who finally caught on to how cool scooters are and how we have nothing to prove. Seriously, it's pretty common to have other scooteers wave at you. Not only that, but scooters are an automatic conversation starter. This might help the insecure H2 driver strike up a conversation that otherwise he might be too chicken to do. I mean really, what do you do with the H2? "Hey baby, you wanna check out my monstrous compensatory vehicle?" NO! Think scooter. "Hey baby, you wanna jump on and take a spin with me?" Don't take my word for it, rent a scooter for a day and try it. She'll laugh think you're cool and probably say yes.
Can you imagine a world where there are twice as many lanes available for travel If more people rode scooters, that's what would happen. With more lanes, there would be less traffic, and less road rage. Also, can you imagine what would happen in a 15 scooter accident? Everybody would get up, brush themselves off, and be on their way. Except for the one guy who got a boo-boo on his knee. He'd get a band-aid and then be on his way.

Another note, I'm in Colorado which is about as scooter friendly as a place can be. In Utah, I know that the politicians haven't caught up with the practicality of a scooter. So before you buy one, check with your local laws.

More later as well as links to what kinds of scooters are available.