Reply #9: What would be the fuel efficiency consequences of heat seeking missile... [View All]

[NNadir]

mounts (rear facing) being placed on the Twike? Does DOT have any regulations about missile firings?

I hate to mention it, but experience in Iraq, ironically the place we've gone to steal oil for Hummers, has shown that for all their weight, Hummers aren't very well armoured.

On the serious side, it doesn't seem to me that a Twike is particularly more dangerous than a motorcycle. Some people justify their dumb SUV's on the grounds that they want their kids to be safer in a collision. As usual, being dumb Americans, they have very weak insight into the issue of risk analysis. For instance the danger mass differentials in collisions (Hummer vs Honda Insight) is somewhat offset by the smaller target area that the smaller car represents. As many of us know, a small car is often more forgiving of errors, and it is easier to avoid accidents in the first place. Of course, if you really want to get into overall risk, you need to include some variables not normally included, like the risk of gasoline's combustion products causing cancer, the risk of the kid you protect in a Hummer being killed in an oil inspired war or terrorist attack, the risk of the kid being killed in a global warming inspired famine, etc, etc...