Piggybacking on yesterday’s post, I thought I would discuss the larger concept that underlies rounded curb corners. Again, for reference, you may want to watch the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwPpuPfkjss&feature=player_profilepage
Suburban designs take most of their inspirations from the needs and desires of drivers, so let’s take a moment to look inside the mind of a typical motorist, whom I will call Minnie (Minnie the Motorist, or Minnie Driver, which ever you prefer). Minnie, not unlike the engineers that design suburban streets, is an economic rationalist: time and gas are money. Thus, Minnie wants to be able to get from Point A to Point B in as little time as possible using as little fuel as necessary. Engineers have figured out that satisfying Minnie’s basic desire can be accomplished by doing what all manufacturers of low-quality products do: cut corners (in this case, literally). Although Minnie thinks these intersections are ugly and wouldn’t be caught dead walking across one of them, she enjoys the fact that she can speed around 90 degree turns, cutting about 1.5 seconds off of her driving time for each of these turns that she makes. That can add up to a whole 10, 20, or even 30 minutes in a year! Since Minnie is the average American female, she earns a little over $34,000 in gross income per year, meaning that she takes in about $17 per hour. Assuming she saves 30 minutes of driving time per year with rounded corners (a very, very liberal estimate), rounded corner features would be worth $8.50 per year to Minnie, or 0.025% of her income. Also, since the average gas price is $2.50 per gallon and the average car gets 22.4 miles per gallon (average SUV gets 18 miles per gallon), and assuming that the average suburban surface street has a speed limit of 40 miles per hour, saving 30 minutes (20 miles) of driving time would be worth $2.23 for cars and $2.78 for SUVs in yearly gas expenses. This means that Minnie’s convenience is saving her somewhere between $10 and $12 per year, or less than an hour’s worth of work! Some convenience!
But Minnie is easily satisfied by small conveniences such as this. It’s the same attitude that is involved when a car that has been tailgating you passes you only to be stopped by the traffic light one car length in front of yours. Don't you think that person is satisfied by her better position? Of course she is, and you are undoubtedly jealous of her. We all like it when we save time and money, no matter how inconsequential, and being cheap and efficient aren’t inherently bad things, but there comes a point where this kind of attitude can become counterproductive and no longer cost-effective. Is the minute amount of money “saved” with rounded corners worth the costs (obesity, sense of community, safety) that come along with discouraging pedestrian activities? In other words, should the average American take a “loss” of $12 per year to make sure that pedestrians are given a fair chance at crossing the street? You tell me… I’m biased.
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3 comments:
I'm not a person to nickel and dime things, so at the risk of offending motorists, I vote for the pedestrian!
Hi Ryan, this is dad. Been enjoying reading your bloggs. As an avid driver/comuter I get to experience firsthand the Minnies and Mickeys out there who hug my bumper, as I'm doing the speed limit, then at the last minuite whip around me and speed on down the street only to make a quick right turn around one of those rounded corners. Although, I'm not sure even a squared corner would slow Mickey down and God help any pedestrien in t he way. I disagree with your concept of the reason for thier actions, ie: money savings. I believe the mousey little twitts have little concept of saving and are just downright selfish and rude. Take it from a 180mile per dayer,I squeaze 33mpg out of that old car and I meet them at the next light almost every time. Keep up the good work!!!
Thanks for your comments!
I agree that most motorists are probably not thinking of money when they are driving (although I do, but that's because I hate spending money on driving), but it's what they think about the majority of the time when they are out of their cars. I'm not a big fan of worrying about money, mainly because there are other things more important to put your time into (and besides that, I'm not a worrier), but I would be completely in favor of convincing people to worry about money when they are driving. Althought there are other things they should also be thinking about, such as sharing the road, a little good-old-fashioned miserliness could help change driving behaviors.
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