by Larry Lagarde

Could this pedal car be a sign of our transportation future?



As comical as that sounds, the reality appears quite harsh, particularly for homeowners in suburban areas across the USA.

Although summer is still months away, the cost of oil is approaching $110/barrel (it reached a record $109 today) and the average cost of gasoline across the USA is now averaging $3.24/gal. By June, gas is likely to average $3.45/gal. and the trend is only expected to continue. In fact, oil analysts project $150/barrel oil in just 4 years and that's without any major world calamities, new political instabilities or outbreaks of war.
Chart right: Average cost of gasoline in the USA the last 6 years - courtesy GasBuddy.com

Why This Is Bad In General For Suburban Homeowners
With real estate already in a slump, sharply rising fuel costs will have the greatest effect on homeowners in the far reaches of suburbia. Not only will they have to pay more for every trip they drive, they'll have to eat the same rising costs for all consumer goods that the rest of the country faces. In a reversal of a 70 year old trend, buyers will opt for homes in city centers, making it even harder to sell suburban homes.

Hopefully, an inventor out there will come up with a reliable and affordable alternative source of propulsion for the world's personal motor vehicles. Otherwise, as I wrote on TreeHugger, Mad Max, here we come.

As to the video displayed above, the occupants of Michel de Broin's Buick pedal car were stopped, ticketed and are set to go to court on April 3rd. The charge: operating an unsafe vehicle. Whether that charge will stick remains to be seen. Technically by Ontario's standards, the pedal car is a bike and bikes are allowed to operate on Ontario's roadways. Plus, the Buick pedal car was driven in Montreal without getting a ticket (police stopped them there too). Photo right: Police ticketing the pedal car in Toronto - photo by Benny Zenga

Labels: pedal-car