Americans use 50% of petrol!

[c.j.jaxxon]

LOL! They must've got 'em because they LIKED'em!!laugh!

[Genie]

I know...but our roads aren't like yours. We don't have room for them on most of our roads - city or country.

You know how your road signs are high up so they can be seen above vans and lorries?

They only started raising most signs up to that level over here on many roads in the last few years.

And like you, I worry about the effect on the environment.

True, all vehicles damage it, but these 4X4's are the worst, and here in the UK it's a divisive topic...

[c.j.jaxxon]

Are you talking about the big 4x4s and SUVs or the smaller ones?

[c.j.jaxxon]

Are you talking about the big 4x4s or the mid-size to smaller ones?

[AngieRiley]

aRH but Godbless 'em, they also account for Over 50% of All Online Credit Card Transactions.

So assuming there's a future without Fossile fuel and The Net still exists, We'll be OK, Sorted Init!?

[Genie]

Most of them ('big' or "small") are too big for our roads...seriously. You can't see round them or through them when you are in a normal car. We don't have nearly as many dual carriageways as you do (your freeways), and the roads between towns are often trunk roads, so seeing round or thru a vehicle to overtake or just see ahead can be a help.

[Brickboy240]

Long time since I posted here, but a favorite Irish-American is back.

Ugh...another lets bash the Yanks thread...yawn. You guys never tire of this...do you?

Yes, Americans are addicted to cars and oil...I am not going to argue that. But the source of the blame is many-fold....

First, America is MUCH larger and MORE spread out than Europe or the UK. Therefore, centralized trains and mass transit is only workable in certain areas, where everyone is clustered together, like New York or Chicago. Since the North American continent IS larger, when the immigrants came from England or Europe or whereever, they did not want to live all crammed up together as they did in Europe or the UK, so they naturally spread out. Ameircans lived spread out long before the automobile, but since gasoline remained relatively cheap for so long, we kept up with the automobile and continued to build our country around the automobile and everyone continued spreading out across the continent.

Flash foreward to today...gasoline has gotten to be expensive and many of us DO realize we must change our ways. I know of several fellow yanks that HAVE gottn rid of the gas guzzler large cars. My wife and I are two of them...we now drive 4 cylinder Volvos and love them and the lower petrol bills that go along with them.

I see lots of hybrid cars now...right here in Texas. My brother owns one. I also work with some people that are trying to bring German based biodiesel technology to life here in the States. Its going to happen, but it will take time.

Not everyone in America is oblivious to the oil problem...don't put us all in that box, please. Thats stereotyping, is it not?

Changing everyone to more fuel efficient cars or changing America away from oil will not happen overnight. Everyone loves to blame Bush, but truth be told, Clinton before him did little more to encourage weening the country off foreign oil or away from big cars. Actually, didn't the Hummer come about during the Clinton years? I believe it did. Contrary to popular belief, Bill Clinton and Al Gore were NOT really big crusaders for the environment as they would love for you to believe.

The big oil companies are part of the problem, because they throw lots of money at the US govt. and the US auto industry to keep the status quo. Not just US oil companies, but British Petroleum and France's Fina/Total and Venezuela's Citgo also have powerful lobbyists that keep alternative fuels and other choices away from American consumers.

There are many many sides to this equasion. I work in the petrochemical industry in Houston, Texas...ground zero... and I can tell you laot about this industry and why the prices are high and who the big players are in keeping thing like they are. Believe it or not, but the environmentalists also have a stake in this game and are also part of the overall problem.

If you all have any questions, please ask. I have read alot of BS and typical anti-American statements tossed about, with little or no explanations or rationale behind them. its time to do away with some of the myths, lies and downright stupidity on this subject....they're really getting out of control.

- Brickboy240

[c.j.jaxxon]

You explained it well!

[strictlybroadband]

Americans aren't to blame for the disaster that now awaits them - it's the oil industry and car companies that have made America the way it is and now Americans (especially poorer Americans) who have to suffer.

America didn't have to be built spread out - it was the lie of eternal cheap oil that led to America being built this way. Which sane country would build massive cities in the desert? Places like Phoenix, Houston and LA will die in the next century - they are not sustainable - and the blame lies with the oil and car industry.

LA could have been a compact, well-planned city like Manhattan. Instead, Dunlop bought the tram system and closed it down to increase the market for tyres. Those big companies should now be made to pay to fix what they've done. But they won't be because both Republicans and Democrats are in bed with the corporations.

After 15 years of road building, China has realised its error and is now promoting cycling and mass transit. If China can see the error of its ways, why can't America? You guys are heading for a precipice. You need better leaders but you don't seem to have much of a choice.

[mart]

OMG its Bimmercat.

Mart