The Oil Drum

Over time, I think we've gotten a sense of how TOD readers feel about various transportation issues. Now I've put together a poll to find out what the reality is: how prevalent is driving (and how many miles a day do people drive)? How many people have a hybrid? How many people use a bike as their predominant form of transportation? What about subways, light rails, or even walking?

Update [2006-5-15 16:25:5 by Yankee]: I usually read Treehugger everyday, but I must have missed their post from the other day called "Have You Reduced Your Dependence on Cars?" 90 Treehuggers left comments, and a lot of their sentiments seem pretty similar to the ones seen here.

I was dismayed to hear the story "SUV Buyers Defy High Price of Gas in France" on NPR this morning. This piece discusses how SUVs are becoming ever more popular in France, to the extent that Renault and Peugeot are going to be coming out with new SUVs in 2006 and 2007, respectively. (On the other hand, the mayor of Paris is considering banning SUV traffic in the city center during rush hour, and there's a rogue group of anti-SUV activists who let the air out of the tires of the SUVs they come across.)

Personally, I liked having at my disposal Roscoe Bartlett's famous comment about how we'd be hardpressed to argue that Europeans are worse off than we are because they have higher gas prices and drive smaller cars: "I see as many smiles on their faces as I see on Americans' faces." I hope this is a trend that isn't going to catch on.