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Category: horseless carriages.

click it or ticket.

Posted on by Marko

Libertarian/conservative small-government fruitcake New Hampshire doesn’t have a mandatory seatbelt law for adults. The New Hampshire seatbelt use rate is 75%.*

Neighboring Massachusetts, the Northeastern bastion of progressivism and Laws-Will-Fix-It-ism, has a mandatory seatbelt law. The Massachusetts seatbelt use rate is 73.20%.*

Is it that we New Hampshirites have enough common sense that we don’t need the threat of a fine to think buckling up is a pretty good idea, or is it that our Massachusetts neighbors are so much less responsible that they do need that threat to have a seatbelt use rate that’s almost as good as ours?

Of course, you can’t argue this with a fan of mandatory seatbelt laws. They’d take one look at the numbers and claim that a.) NH’s rate would be even better with a mandatory seatbelt law, and that b.) MA’s would be ever so much worse without it, thereby proving the need for it.

 

*Source for the compliance rate data: NHTSA data for 2011, the most recent year available.

“…in the cold november rain…”

Posted on by Marko

 

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My view right now as I am sitting in the office of my local car hospital while Frostbite One, a.k.a. the Grand Marnier, gets its snow shoes put on and a wheel bearing replaced. Also, this office is massively over-heated, and I hope they’ll be done before I am nothing but a puddle on the floor.

I’m on the Surface, which is connected to the Great Link via my iPhone’s “Personal Hotspot” feature, which turns the phone into a WiFi router. This future, it does not suck.

Tomorrow we’re doing a family Thanksgiving, with the special guest being the turkey Robin brought home from work. Her employer shells out for Thanksgiving turkeys for every single employee and contractor every year, which is a nice gesture. As we don’t watch sportsball at Castle Frostbite, we’ll have to find some other passive activity by which to fall into a food coma.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it, and warm greetings and a friendly wave of the turkey drumstick to the rest of you. I have an awful lot to be thankful for this year, and much of it is because of my awesome readers. You guys and girls are the best. Grade A. Top notch. I wish I could have you all over for a turkey dinner, even if that means I’d have to buy a turkey the size of a humpback whale.

 

that little french car I used to drive.

Posted on by Marko

2cv_pinkdylan_frome

I had a Citroen 2CV when I was in my early Twenties, and I remember it very fondly.

On paper, it looks like a genuine POS. It had a 27HP two-cylinder engine and a top speed of 70MPH with a tail wind, and the sheet metal of the body was so thin you could push it in with your hand, but the little thing was fun to drive, and surprisingly utilitarian. The engine was stone axe simple and very easy to work on without having to take it to a shop. The canvas top rolled all the way down to the top of the rear window and turned the 2CV into a quasi-convertible capable of hauling oversized loads. Overall, the 2CV is one of those cars that’s more than just paper specs or the sum of its parts. The two BMWs I owned have been vastly superior in technology and performance, but I enjoyed the 2CV just as much. It was the difference between flying a Piper Cub and a well-appointed Beech Baron 58. The Baron will get you there much faster and in greater luxury, but that doesn’t make the trip in the Cub any less enjoyable.

What’s the car you remember most fondly from your early driving years?