tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/motor-vehicles-118/articles
Motor vehicles – The Conversation
2023-01-05T16:19:06Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/192154
2023-01-05T16:19:06Z
2023-01-05T16:19:06Z
Foams used in car seats and mattresses are hard to recycle – we made a plant-based version that avoids polyurethane’s health risks, too
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501976/original/file-20221219-16-5a8mrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C92%2C4091%2C2881&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You may be sitting on polyurethane foam right now.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/golden-sponge-foam-texture-royalty-free-image/134942499">Akhmad Bayuri/iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>A new plant-based substitute for polyurethane foam eliminates the health risk of the material, commonly found in insulation, car seats and other types of cushioning, and it’s more environmentally sustainable, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-01022-3">our new research shows</a>.</p>
<p>Polyurethane foams are all around you, anywhere a lightweight material is needed for cushioning or structural support. But they’re typically made using chemicals that are <a href="https://www.osha.gov/isocyanates">suspected carcinogens</a>.</p>
<p>Polyurethanes are typically produced in a very fast reaction between two chemicals made by the petrochemical industry: polyols and isocyanates. While much work has gone into finding replacements for the polyol component of polyurethane foams, the isocyanate component has largely remained, despite its <a href="https://www.osha.gov/isocyanates">consequences for human health</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/D0GC01659D">Bio-based foams</a> can avoid that component.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488841/original/file-20221008-59028-9iaitu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four chunks of bio-based foam, looking a lot like brownies on a tray." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488841/original/file-20221008-59028-9iaitu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488841/original/file-20221008-59028-9iaitu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=184&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488841/original/file-20221008-59028-9iaitu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=184&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488841/original/file-20221008-59028-9iaitu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=184&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488841/original/file-20221008-59028-9iaitu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488841/original/file-20221008-59028-9iaitu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488841/original/file-20221008-59028-9iaitu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These bio-based foams avoid the need for petroleum products.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Srikanth Pilla</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We created a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-01022-3">durable bio-based foam</a> using lignin, a byproduct of the paper pulping industry, and a vegetable oil-based curing agent that introduces flexibility and toughness to the final material.</p>
<p>At the heart of the innovation is the ability to create a system that “gels,” both in the sense that the materials are compatible with one another and that they physically create a gel quickly so that the addition of a foaming agent can create the lightweight structure associated with polyurethane foams.</p>
<p>Lignin is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/D1GC02744A">difficult material to convert into a usable chemical</a>, given its complicated and heterogeneous structure. We used this structure to create a network of bonds that enabled what we believe is the world’s first lignin-based nonisocyanate foam.</p>
<p>The foam can also be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/C7GC01496A">recycled</a> because it has bonds that can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-020-00614-w">unzip</a> the chemical network after it has formed. The main components used to produce the foam can then be extracted and used again.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Polyurethane foams are the world’s sixth-most-produced plastic yet among the least <a href="https://www.americanchemistry.com/industry-groups/center-for-the-polyurethanes-industry-cpi/applications-benefits/sustainability">recycled materials</a>. They are also designed for durability, meaning they will remain in the environment for several generations. </p>
<p>They contribute to the plastic waste problem for the world’s oceans, land and air, and to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127861">human health problems</a>. Today, plastics can be found in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2016.01.002">virtually every creature in the terrestrial ecosystem</a>. And since most plastics are made from petroleum products, they’re connected to fossil fuel extraction, which contributes to climate change.</p>
<p>The fully bio-based origin of our foams addresses the issue of carbon neutrality, and the chemical recycling capability ensures that waste plastic has a value attached to it so it is less likely to be thrown away. Ensuring <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.202100488">waste has value</a> is a hallmark of the circular approach to manufacturing – attaching a monetary value to things tends to decrease the amount that is discarded.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Illustration shows the recycling process including unzipping the molecules." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490558/original/file-20221019-19-a7wqv6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490558/original/file-20221019-19-a7wqv6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490558/original/file-20221019-19-a7wqv6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490558/original/file-20221019-19-a7wqv6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490558/original/file-20221019-19-a7wqv6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490558/original/file-20221019-19-a7wqv6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490558/original/file-20221019-19-a7wqv6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How the chemicals in bio-based foams can be recycled and reused.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Srikanth Pilla</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>We hope the nature of these foams inspires others to design plastics with the full life cycle in mind. Just as plastics need to be designed according to properties of their initial application, they also need to be designed to avoid the final destination of 90% of plastic waste: landfills and the environment.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Our initial versions of bio-based foams produce a rigid material suitable for use in foam-core boards used in construction or for insulation in refrigerators. We have also created a lightweight and flexible version that can be used for cushioning and packaging applications. Initial testing of these materials showed good durability in wet conditions, increasing their chance of gaining commercial adoption. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two men and two women stand over a beaker with dark liquid in it" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490561/original/file-20221019-20-p2m2rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490561/original/file-20221019-20-p2m2rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490561/original/file-20221019-20-p2m2rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490561/original/file-20221019-20-p2m2rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490561/original/file-20221019-20-p2m2rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490561/original/file-20221019-20-p2m2rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490561/original/file-20221019-20-p2m2rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The authors with two students show methods for recycling bio-based foam.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://news.clemson.edu/green-foam-eliminates-the-need-for-toxic-chemicals/">Clemson University</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Polyurethane foams are used so extensively because of their <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11101841">versatility</a>. The formulation that we initially discovered is being translated to create a library of precursors that can be mixed to produce the desired properties, like strength and washability, in each application.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192154/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Srikanth Pilla receives funding from the National Science Foundation (award # 2122822) and Department of Energy (award # DE-SC0021367) to support this work.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Sternberg receives funding from the National Science Foundation (award # 2122822) and Department of Energy (award # DE-SC0021367) to support this work. </span></em></p>
Polyurethane foams are the world’s sixth-most-produced plastic yet among the least recycled materials.
Srikanth Pilla, Professor of Engineering, Clemson University
James Sternberg, Research Assistant Professor of Automotive Engineering, Clemson University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/172359
2021-11-22T20:17:55Z
2021-11-22T20:17:55Z
SUV tragedy in Wisconsin shows how vehicles can be used as a weapon of mass killing – intentionally or not
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433197/original/file-20211122-25-129bv3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C181%2C5760%2C3630&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Debris at the site where an SUV plowed into a Christmas parade</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/debris-left-near-following-a-driver-plowing-into-the-news-photo/1236732471?adppopup=true">Jim Vondruska/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Police have yet to confirm what caused a driver to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/suv-plows-into-parade-waukesha-wisconsin-injured-f8c6a9dcd420bc1f1a732afc7b10943a">plow a red SUV into a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin</a>, on Nov. 21, 2021, killing at least five people and injuring scores more. But one thing is clear: Vehicles can be a deadly weapon, whether used deliberately or unintentionally.</p>
<p>The suspect, <a href="https://www.fox6now.com/news/waukesha-christmas-parade-5-dead-40-hurt-after-suv-sped-through-police-line">identified as Darrell Brooks Jr.</a>, is expected to face charges including <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2021/11/22/suspect-waukesha-parade-incident-identified-darrell-brooks-jr/8717524002/">five counts of intentional homicide</a>. It has emerged that Brooks was previously arrested earlier in November after being accused of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/22/us/driver-parade-crash-suspect.html">hitting the mother of his child with his car</a> in a gas station parking lot. Waukesha police confirmed on Nov. 22, that the latest incident, which left <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/22/us/waukesha-car-parade-crowd-monday/index.html">18 children between the ages of 3 and 16 in hospital</a>, was not an act of terrorism. Nor did it follow a police pursuit, although reports suggest that the suspect may have been <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/11/22/person-held-in-wisconsin-rampage-may-have-been-fleeing-knife-incident/">fleeing an earlier incident</a>. </p>
<p>But the manner of the deaths conjures up recent memories of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38377428">terror attacks using vehicles on perceived soft targets</a>, such as holiday markets, as well as concern over the risk of high-speed chases ending in tragedy.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://news.gsu.edu/expert/mia-bloom/">a scholar who has researched</a> <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/71431/vehicle-ramming-the-evolution-of-a-terrorist-tactic-inside-the-us/">the weaponizing of vehicles</a>, I know that cars, SUVs and trucks can be an efficient means of mass killing, and one that can be virtually impossible to prepare against. Furthermore, it is becoming <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/162163/republicans-anti-riot-laws-cars">harder to prosecute the driver</a> involved in such fatalities in some states.</p>
<h2>‘Poor man’s weapon of mass destruction’</h2>
<p>Vehicle ramming – <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_0920_plcy_strategic-framework-countering-terrorism-targeted-violence.pdf">defined by the Department of Homeland Security</a> as the deliberate aiming of a motor vehicle at individuals with the intent to inflict fatal injuries or cause significant property damage – has been called the “poor man’s weapon of <a href="https://www.offgridweb.com/preparation/vehicular-terrorist-attacks-strategies-for-safety-and-survival/">mass destruction</a>.” </p>
<p>Members of the terrorist group Islamic State were not the first to employ this deadly innovation – in attacks on people in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39355108">London</a>, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/tag/nice-truck-attack/">Nice</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/31/nyregion/police-shooting-lower-manhattan.html">New York</a> – but in recent years they have perhaps become most closely <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/16/islamic-state-claims-responsibility-for-nice-truck-attack">associated with the tactic</a>.</p>
<p>The group featured “vehicle ramming” in their propaganda as one of their <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/vehicles-as-weapons-of-terror">preferred weapons against Western targets</a> and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26297702?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">encouraged supporters to use vehicle ramming</a> against crowds. Islamic State group propaganda magazine, Dabiq, even advised would-be lone actors <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26351502?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">which vehicle could do the most damage</a></p>
<p>In North America, white supremacists and other militant and terrorist groups have also rammed their vehicles into crowds. Incidents of people running vehicles into pedestrians include that of the violent “incel” – or “involuntary celibate” – Alek Minassian, who <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56269095">rammed his van into a crowd in Toronto in 2018</a>, killing 10. It has also been employed by members of the far-right, such as James Fields, who was found guilty of the murder, by vehicle, of Heather Heyer at the Unite the Right rally in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/james-alex-fields-found-guilty-killing-heather-heyer-during-violent-n945186">Charlottesville, Virginia</a>, in 2017.</p>
<p>After the protests following the police killing of George Floyd, <a href="https://apps.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2021/10/vehicle-rammings-against-protesters/tulsa/">there was a massive uptick in the number of attacks</a>, most of which were aimed at Black Lives Matter protests. From the day of Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021, vehicles drove into protests at least 139 times, according to a Boston Globe analysis. </p>
<p>During the course of my Department of Defense-sponsored <a href="https://minerva.defense.gov/Owl-In-the-Olive-Tree/Owl_View/Article/1859857/telegram-and-online-addiction-to-terrorist-propaganda/">research on how militant and terrorist groups’ use social media</a>, I observed extreme right-wing groups on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Parler and Telegram sharing memes about the vehicular attacks in the summer of 2020. Posts minimized the civilian casualties and mocked the core message of “Black Lives Matter,” turning it into the grotesque slogan “All Lives Splatter” and featuring a white SUV covered in red paint on the hood.</p>
<p>And it isn’t only right-wing groups that have targeted protesters. Police in cities such as <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/31/new-york-city-george-floyd-protests-nypd-suvs-brooklyn-crowd/5299746002/">New York</a> and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/07/08/protesters-police-suv-dashboard-camera-footage/5370556002/">Detroit</a> have driven vehicles into demonstrations. And in Tacoma, Washington, at least one man was injured after an <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/news/535563-tacoma-police-vehicle-plows-through-crowd-watching-street-race">officer drove into a crowd of protesters</a>. In Boston last year, Police Sergeant Clifton McHale was recorded on a police body camera bragging about hitting protesters with his <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/162163/republicans-anti-riot-laws-cars">police cruiser</a>.</p>
<h2>Criminal and civil immunity</h2>
<p>In recent months, five states – Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma and Tennessee – have either shielded drivers who kill pedestrians from legal action or have fully <a href="https://apnews.com/article/817f34d2f4a04a4cb1e65afc079f6292">decriminalized hitting a pedestrian with a vehicle</a> if they were in the street or on a highway. Legislatures in states like Iowa, Florida and Oklahoma <a href="https://apps.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2021/10/vehicle-rammings-against-protesters/tulsa/">have passed laws granting drivers criminal and civil immunity</a> if they “unintentionally” hit or kill a protester while “fleeing from a riot,” so long as they say it was necessary to protect themselves. Kansas, Montana, and Alabama are <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2021/06/21/eight-states-enact-anti-protest-laws">planning similar legislation</a>.</p>
<p>Many more Americans are unintentionally killed or injured as a result of high-speed pursuits involving law enforcement. Police chases often occur on public roads or in <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/122025NCJRS.pdf">residential areas</a>. The result of what can be multiple vehicles going at high speeds in these areas can be deadly. The <a href="https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FCJEI/Programs/SLP/Documents/Full-Text/Lenemier.aspx">Department of Transportation estimates</a> that around 250,000 high-speed police chases occur every year, with 6,000 to 8,000 of them resulting in a collision.</p>
<p>Around <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/07/30/police-pursuits-fatal-injuries/30187827/">500 people are killed annually</a> as a result of these police pursuits, and approximately 5,000 are injured. The Justice Department, recognizing the danger of high-speed chases, has <a href="https://www.cji.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/police_pursuits.pdf">urged police officers to avoid or abort pursuits</a> that endanger pedestrians, motorists or the officers themselves.</p>
<p>The risk to the public of a driver intentionally or unintentionally causing a mass casualty event is, as the Wisconsin case shows, just too high.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172359/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mia Bloom receives funding from the Minerva Research Initiative and the Office of Naval Research, any opinions, findings, or recommendations expressed are those of the author alone and do not reflect the views of the Office of Naval Research, the Department of the Navy or the Department of Defense.</span></em></p>
At least five people were killed and many more were injured after an SUV crashed into a Christmas parade. A terrorism expert explains how vehicles have been weaponized.
Mia M. Bloom, Evidence Based Cyber Security Program, Georgia State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/150067
2020-12-01T01:02:59Z
2020-12-01T01:02:59Z
Born to be wild — revelling in the design and desire of the motorcycle
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371879/original/file-20201130-14-1py0f7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=220%2C101%2C1621%2C1198&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Majestic c.1929 Collection: Bobby Haas and Haas Moto Museum</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Haas Moto Galleries LLC. Photographer: Grant Schwingle</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: <a href="https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/themotorcycle">The Motorcycle — Art, Design, Desire</a> at Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art</em></p>
<p>Motorcycles are such a guy thing, right? Think Steve McQueen in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057115/?ref_=ttmi_tt">The Great Escape</a>, Arthur Fonzarelli in television’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070992/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Happy Days</a> and Daniel Craig’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/list/ls014854639/">James Bond</a>. All blokes, exuding controlled coolness, astride impressively loud, throbbing engines. </p>
<p>Yet in Motorcycles — Design, Art, Desire, this summer’s blockbuster exhibition at Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (QAGoMA), there is a mean red motorcycle that was ridden by the fastest Australian woman on two wheels, Kim Krebs. </p>
<p>How fast did she go? <a href="https://www.dlra.org.au/profiles/495.htm">The numbers</a> are hard to get your head around: 244 miles per hour. That’s <em>miles</em>. In kilometres that is a tick under 400 per hour. Think of the legal limit you can drive along the highway and multiply it by four … and she is still attempting to go even faster. </p>
<p>Kreb’s record breaking ride is one of a hundred motorcycles in the exhibition, drawn from collections all over the world by curators Charles M. Falco and Ultan Guilfoyle.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371901/original/file-20201130-13-1jhs9dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Very fast blue and pink motorbike" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371901/original/file-20201130-13-1jhs9dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371901/original/file-20201130-13-1jhs9dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371901/original/file-20201130-13-1jhs9dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371901/original/file-20201130-13-1jhs9dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371901/original/file-20201130-13-1jhs9dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371901/original/file-20201130-13-1jhs9dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371901/original/file-20201130-13-1jhs9dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The need for speed in blue and pink. The 1991 Britten V1000 motorcycle. Britten Motorcycle Company Ltd, Christchurch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Collection: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/celebrating-the-feminist-holden-80054">Celebrating the feminist Holden</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Motorcycles? In an art gallery?</h2>
<p>This is a niche category exhibition that follows similar QAGoMA shows such as the fashion house Valentino Retrospective, Past/Present/Future (2010), California Design: Living in a Modern Way (2013-14) and Marvel: Creating the Cinematic Universe in 2017. </p>
<p>The Marvel exhibition drew over <a href="https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/172228/Annual_Report-_2017-18.pdf">a quarter of a million visitors</a> (I confess I had season tickets and still miss seeing Hulkbuster each week) clearly indicating such shows, however singular, have broad appeal. </p>
<p>QAGoMA director Chris Saines says the gallery runs with a broad definition of what constitutes modern culture. Accordingly, people who ordinarily would not visit art galleries beat a path to this one for specialised exhibitions. Niche shows appeal to specific demographics, who have a rusted on dedication to their passion. </p>
<p>With the opening of Queensland’s borders following coronavirus restrictions perfectly coinciding with this exhibition, there will surely be a steady stream of two-wheeled devotees making their way to Brisbane. </p>
<p>But this show will also educate and inform those with an interest in design, modern history, popular culture, and art, who are willing to learn something new, and like me, may start to see motorcycles in a different way.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-evolution-and-motorcycles-have-in-common-lets-take-a-ride-across-australia-95880">What evolution and motorcycles have in common: let's take a ride across Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>From original steampunk to future motors</h2>
<p>Encompassing early models from the Victorian era (bicycles with an engine strapped to them, very steampunk), through the mid-20th century’s chrome muscle machines, to sleek concept bikes of the future powered by electricity, this exhibition covers the motorbike’s 150-year history. </p>
<p>All the big names are here: Norton, Triumph, BSA, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki. There are also a number of bespoke style designers, including Australia’s Deus Ex Machina, whose ultracool Drover’s Dog (2009) accommodates a surfboard on its side.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371889/original/file-20201130-14-gak51v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Motorbike with surfboard strapped to side." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371889/original/file-20201130-14-gak51v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371889/original/file-20201130-14-gak51v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371889/original/file-20201130-14-gak51v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371889/original/file-20201130-14-gak51v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371889/original/file-20201130-14-gak51v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371889/original/file-20201130-14-gak51v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371889/original/file-20201130-14-gak51v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From the road to the surf. The Drover’s Dog (2009) by Deux Ex Machina is an Australian bespoke design.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joseph Mildren/Deus Ex Machina</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Exhibition designer Michael O’Sullivan has used the gallery’s expansive ground floor to great effect. The angular architecture reflects and amplifies the stars of the show, setting this exhibition apart from a mere motor show exposition. </p>
<p>Each item is treated like a fine art object, gleaming chrome lit to perfection, positioned just so. Information panels inform the curious lay person and digital projection screens show great motorcycle movie moments to seal the deal. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Handsome man on motorcycle from 1960s movies" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371868/original/file-20201130-23-1c5ssro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371868/original/file-20201130-23-1c5ssro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371868/original/file-20201130-23-1c5ssro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371868/original/file-20201130-23-1c5ssro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371868/original/file-20201130-23-1c5ssro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371868/original/file-20201130-23-1c5ssro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371868/original/file-20201130-23-1c5ssro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Steve McQueen revs up for his 1963 Great Escape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057115/mediaviewer/rm4146496768/">IMDB</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are of course elements within the design of the motorcycles that reflect fine art values of their era, most notably German <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm">Bauhaus</a> and <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dsgn2/hd_dsgn2.htm">Art Deco</a> influences, when motorcycles morphed from the simple functionality of economical transportation to aesthetically pleasing status symbols.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-who-owns-the-copyright-to-your-tattoo-142825">Explainer: who owns the copyright to your tattoo?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Slow riders and low riders</h2>
<p>The oldest known motorcycle, and the first that exhibition visitors see, was developed by Frenchman Louis-Guillaume Perreaux. Steam-powered, the 1871 model had a top speed of 14 kilometres per hour and being mainly made of timber, would not have been a comfortable ride.</p>
<p>Contrast this with the cruiser motorcycles a century later, most notably by Harley-Davidson, when riders reclined on customised bikes, such as the almost impossibly elongated Chopper, just like the one ridden by Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064276/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Easy Rider</a> (1969).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371887/original/file-20201130-13-aohz94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Antique motocycle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371887/original/file-20201130-13-aohz94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371887/original/file-20201130-13-aohz94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371887/original/file-20201130-13-aohz94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371887/original/file-20201130-13-aohz94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371887/original/file-20201130-13-aohz94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371887/original/file-20201130-13-aohz94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371887/original/file-20201130-13-aohz94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Louis-Guillaume Perreaux Vélocipède à vapeur c.1870 Département des Hauts-de-Seine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Musée du Domaine départemental de SceauxPhotograph: Olivier Ravoire</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the eve of the exhibition, land racer Krebs described what it feels like to ride in excess of 200 miles per hour. She spoke of feeling a kind of serenity, as she travels so fast across the salt plains that the roar of her turbo-charged engine is left far behind her.</p>
<p>“What are you aiming for?” a journalist asked her. </p>
<p>“I am aiming for forever”, she replied.</p>
<p>Just like something an artist would say.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/themotorcycle">The Motorcycle — Art, Design, Desire</a> is showing at QAGOMA until 26 April 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150067/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alasdair Macintyre does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
An exhibition of 100 motorcycles celebrates them as revved up works of art, worthy of our desire.
Alasdair Macintyre, Associate lecturer visual arts, artist, PhD candidate, Australian Catholic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/131907
2020-02-17T18:56:01Z
2020-02-17T18:56:01Z
Why Australians fell out of love with Holdens
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315674/original/file-20200217-11044-160gcqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=524%2C191%2C2261%2C1133&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/@hbtography">Harrison Broadbent, Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The jingle used to tell us we loved “football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars”. </p>
<p>These days we <a href="https://www.caradvice.com.au/817278/vfacts-2019-new-car-sales-results/">love</a> Japanese utes and small Toyotas, Hyundais and Mazdas more. </p>
<p>Monday’s <a href="https://media.gm.com/media/au/en/holden/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/au/en/2020/feb/0217_Holden.html">announcement</a> from General Motors, Holden’s US parent, that the brand will be “retired” and local design and engineering operations cease is doubtless based on strong financial reasoning, but poor brand management is also part of it.</p>
<h2>The numbers didn’t stack up</h2>
<p>Sales of Holden vehicles and a <a href="https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/car-insurance/research/australian-car-sales-statistics.html">shift</a> from large sedans to small and medium sized cars and sportscars and SUVs didn’t help.</p>
<p>At its peak, between 2002 and 2005, Holden sold more than <a href="https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/the-decline-of-holden-and-the-commodore-in-numbers">170,000</a> vehicles a year. By 2019 it sold less than 40,000; none of them made here.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VGW-WX77zjY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Holden ad, 1970s.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In November, it sold just 2,668 cars, down from 5,125 the previous November.</p>
<p>Global competition from Japan, Korea and Thailand for brands like Kia and Hyundai, <a href="https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-advice/australian-car-market-car-sales-statistics-and-figures-70982">added to its woes</a>.</p>
<p>Internationally, Holden was only present in two small markets, Australian and New Zealand, which between them don’t even account for 1% of global sales, and require steering columns on the right hand side of car. It has made Holdens hard to internationalise.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315680/original/file-20200217-10980-6lhlir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315680/original/file-20200217-10980-6lhlir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315680/original/file-20200217-10980-6lhlir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315680/original/file-20200217-10980-6lhlir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315680/original/file-20200217-10980-6lhlir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315680/original/file-20200217-10980-6lhlir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315680/original/file-20200217-10980-6lhlir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The blue countries drive on the left hand side of the road.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Monday’s <a href="https://media.gm.com/media/au/en/holden/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/au/en/2020/feb/0217_Holden.html">press release</a> blamed “highly fragmented right-hand-drive markets”, the cost of growing the brand, and the unlikelihood of achieving a decent return on the investment if it tried.</p>
<p>General Motors isn’t even going to bother to sell foreign-made sedans in Australia, although it will continue to sell speciality vehicles.</p>
<p>Yet its brand is ingrained in Australian history. </p>
<h2>Holden defined a brand</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315675/original/file-20200217-11000-g0p132.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315675/original/file-20200217-11000-g0p132.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315675/original/file-20200217-11000-g0p132.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315675/original/file-20200217-11000-g0p132.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315675/original/file-20200217-11000-g0p132.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315675/original/file-20200217-11000-g0p132.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315675/original/file-20200217-11000-g0p132.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315675/original/file-20200217-11000-g0p132.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian logo, American company.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Brands are a combination of tangible and intangible elements. Among the tangible elements are visual design elements, like logos, colour, images and packaging, such as the Holden “Lion and Stone” and distinctive product features, such as the feel of the leather, the sound of a roaring V8 and the quality of the duco.</p>
<p>But that is only part of what makes a brand. Tangible elements can be easily copied and are a feature of nearly all products. The challenge is to develop and leverage intangible qualities. </p>
<p>These can include experiences (such as service) and feelings such as reputation, personality and <a href="http://www.ignytebrands.com/the-psychology-of-brand-personality/">values</a>. </p>
<p>Nostalgia is a Holden value. Its rich history, dating back to 1856, has helped define the brand.</p>
<p>Many of us who grew up in the 1970s remember family car trips to the beach in a Kingswood station wagon. In the 1980s, we watched <a href="https://www.mount-panorama.com.au/history/race-results/27-bathurst-1000-winners">Brock, Richards and Perkins</a> win Bathurst. Movies like <a href="https://www.imcdb.org/v589530.html">Puberty Blues</a> made the Holden Sandman panel van every young man’s dream, and every parent’s worse nightmare.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315678/original/file-20200217-11023-1udmo6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315678/original/file-20200217-11023-1udmo6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315678/original/file-20200217-11023-1udmo6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315678/original/file-20200217-11023-1udmo6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315678/original/file-20200217-11023-1udmo6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315678/original/file-20200217-11023-1udmo6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315678/original/file-20200217-11023-1udmo6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315678/original/file-20200217-11023-1udmo6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Mayall / Alamy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>General Motors killed it</h2>
<p>Being <a href="https://www.cmo.com.au/article/659053/marketing-professor-holden-brand-nostalgia-ain-t-what-it-used/">Australian</a> was at the core of that
identity. </p>
<p>General Motors took it away.</p>
<p>On October 20, 2017 it stopped production of all Australian-made vehicles and began importing Commodores from Germany.</p>
<p>Then in December last year it axed the Commodore, after 41 years.</p>
<p>It killed the value that was left in the brand.</p>
<p>We fell out of love with Holden because it fell out of love with us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131907/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gary Mortimer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Brand loyalty is a two-way street.
Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/128689
2019-12-13T13:42:06Z
2019-12-13T13:42:06Z
Uber’s data revealed nearly 6,000 sexual assaults. Does that mean it’s not safe?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306399/original/file-20191211-95120-8jhlmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What's your safest option for a ride home?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-us-august-23-2015-437820760?src=81d3b23f-1d97-4dda-a6a7-f0dabfc9e57a-1-14&studio=1">MikeDotta/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since Uber released its <a href="https://www.uber.com/us/en/about/reports/us-safety-report/">first ever safety report</a> on Dec. 5, the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/05/tech/uber-safety-report/index.html">media</a> has raised alarms for the 5,981 instances of sexual assault included in the document.</p>
<p>This also includes 464 reports of rape over a two-year period – 2017 to 2018.</p>
<p>Uber also reported <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/05/ubers-fatal-accident-tally-shows-low-rates-but-excludes-key-numbers/">97 fatal car accidents and 107 total deaths</a> during the same period.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=UtiewDkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">From my perspective as a data scientist, however,</a> the numbers may not be as alarming as some reports have claimed.</p>
<h2>On the road</h2>
<p>In 2018, <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/traffic-deaths-2018">36,560 people lost their lives</a> in motor vehicle fatalities in the U.S., and <a href="https://www.uber.com/us/en/about/reports/us-safety-report/">58 of those deaths were Uber-related</a>.</p>
<p>One might think those are the only numbers necessary to inform a decision on Uber’s safety record, but they aren’t. In order to have an accurate assessment of Uber’s motor vehicle fatality, the raw numbers must be compared to the number of miles traveled.</p>
<p>In 2018, Uber, when all the miles driven by all the drivers are added up, has 10.2 billion miles on the road. The national amount of miles driven in the U.S., during the same time period, in total is <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/21/516512439/record-number-of-miles-driven-in-u-s-last-year">3.2 trillion</a>.</p>
<p>This means that the risk of dying in a motor vehicle accident as of 2018 with Uber is 0.57 deaths per 100 million miles driven, while the national risk is 1.13 deaths per 100 million miles driven.</p>
<p>For 2017, <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/us-dot-announces-2017-roadway-fatalities-down">the U.S. Department of Transportation reported</a> 1.16 deaths per 100 million miles driven for all motor vehicles.</p>
<p>This data implies that it is safer to drive in an Uber than your own car. There is no existing data for taxis. </p>
<p>There are many different reasons this could be true, including <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-uber-lyft-sidecar-madd-20150127-story.html">fewer drunk Uber drivers</a> versus individual drivers and Uber drivers having more experience driving than an individual driver.</p>
<h2>What about sexual assaults?</h2>
<p>Uber reported 3,045 instances of sexual assaults in 2018, including everything from nonconsensual kissing to nonconsensual sexual penetration. </p>
<p>That raw number is shocking, and even one case of sexual assault is one too many. But do those numbers say that Uber is less safe than any other form of transportation? </p>
<p>In this case, Uber was responsible for over 1.3 billion rides that year, meaning the chance of being sexually assaulted in an Uber was 0.0002%.</p>
<p>In order to compare the safety of Uber to yellow cabs and other vehicles, researchers would need to know the number of reported sexual assaults for all types of transportation vehicles.</p>
<p>That data <a href="https://apnews.com/69e4d33accd742e3ba0a5c0439248940">does not exist</a> for the United States. However, it does exist for London, where Uber was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/22/uber-licence-transport-for-london-tfl">banned in 2017</a> due to “a lack of corporate social responsibility.”</p>
<p>In 2016, there were 154 allegations of rape or sexual assault in London made to the police where the suspect was alleged to be a taxi driver – this includes Hackney cabs and Ubers. Uber drivers were allegedly involved in 32.</p>
<p>So Uber drivers are responsible for about 20% of the sexual assaults by taxi drivers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306426/original/file-20191211-95159-1lsjthc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306426/original/file-20191211-95159-1lsjthc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306426/original/file-20191211-95159-1lsjthc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306426/original/file-20191211-95159-1lsjthc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306426/original/file-20191211-95159-1lsjthc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306426/original/file-20191211-95159-1lsjthc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306426/original/file-20191211-95159-1lsjthc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Uber reported 3,045 instances of sexual assault in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/customer-ordering-taxi-via-online-apps-1033399969?src=aa49c6a0-20b6-4009-b4b1-7e6dd9f5a50a-1-43&studio=1">Odua Images/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Crunching the numbers</h2>
<p>Is that number disproportionately high or low compared to the number of journeys?</p>
<p>According to the Transport for London office, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qshd/episodes/guide">every week</a> there were two to three million journeys in all kinds of taxis, including Uber. Uber in London accounted for more than a million in 2016. </p>
<p>So Uber was responsible for over 30% of the journeys, but only 20% of the sexual assaults, meaning that there is no reason to believe that Uber drivers are any more dangerous then any other kind of taxi driver. Actually, quite the opposite.</p>
<p>In June 2018, the Magistrates’ Court <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uber-london-ban-wins-court-appeal-overturn-tfl-revoke-licence-a8418106.html">overturned</a> the ban on Uber, giving the company a 15-month probationary license. But in November, Uber was again <a href="https://fortune.com/2019/11/27/uber-london-ban-global-ride-hailing-backlash/">banned</a> in London due to alleged “repeated <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50544283">safety failures</a>.” </p>
<p>While any sexual assault is one too many and one can never diminish the seriousness of these issues, critics need to take a closer look at the statistics to make a truly informed decision about Uber’s safety.</p>
<p>[ <em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128689/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liberty Vittert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Uber’s first safety report revealed 107 deaths and nearly 6,000 sexual assaults over two years. But the rideshare service may still be safer than the alternatives.
Liberty Vittert, Professor of the Practice of Data Science, Washington University in St. Louis
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/122378
2019-10-11T02:45:33Z
2019-10-11T02:45:33Z
We thought Australian cars were using less fuel. New research shows we were wrong
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296398/original/file-20191010-188823-16j0ksr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C25%2C4217%2C2746&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Traffic congestion on the M5 motorway in Sydney. Government assumptions that Australian cars are becoming more fuel efficient are incorrect, research shows.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In several speeches of late, Prime Minister Scott Morrison insisted with a straight face that Australia is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/26/scott-morrison-says-australias-record-on-climate-change-misrepresented-by-media">doing its bit on climate change</a>. The claim was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-30/morrison-un-speech/11553594">swiftly</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2019/sep/26/fact-check-scott-morrisons-un-speech-about-australias-environmental-achievements-video">thoroughly</a> debunked. The truth is that the Morrison government is piggybacking on the efforts of others, to varying degrees of success.</p>
<p>We saw it in electricity generation, where the federal government has rejected a string of schemes to reduce emissions. Nonetheless the electricity sector is getting cleaner as ageing coal-fired power stations are replaced by renewables. This outcome owes nothing to federal government action. It reflects state government policies and the residual effects of the previous Labor government’s Renewable Energy Target, and public pressure that forced banks and insurance companies to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jul/26/insurance-giant-suncorp-says-it-will-no-longer-cover-new-thermal-coal-projects">stop supporting fossil fuels</a>. </p>
<p>In the transport sector, after <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d0bd25_0e5b82c440c7482a8e0d645f2d931f57.pdf">decades of inaction</a>, the government rejected recommendations from the Climate Change Authority to impose fuel efficiency standards on passenger vehicles, leaving Australia as the <a href="http://theconversation.com/labors-plan-for-transport-emissions-is-long-on-ambition-but-short-on-details-114592">only OECD country without such standards</a>. It has similarly derided action to <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/butler-says-hard-right-makes-it-long-road-back-for-electric-vehicle-policy-67786/">promote the use of electric vehicles.</a></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-could-have-saved-over-1-billion-in-fuel-if-car-emissions-standards-were-introduced-3-years-ago-117190">Australians could have saved over $1 billion in fuel if car emissions standards were introduced 3 years ago</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Instead, the Coalition is relying on the hope that carbon dioxide emission rates of Australia’s new passenger vehicle fleet will reduce over time without any effort by governments, because <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d0bd25_0e5b82c440c7482a8e0d645f2d931f57.pdf">vehicle emissions legislation</a> overseas, where Australia’s cars are made, is delivering technological improvements. <a href="https://ris.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/posts/2017/02/efficiency_standards_for_new_light_vehicles_ris_for_consultation.pdf">Official projections</a> state that some, but not all, of this improvement will flow through to Australia.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this assumption is not reliable. New research shows that for the first time, fuel efficiency in Australia is getting worse, not better. In the absence of positive action from governments, transport emissions will continue to grow, and even accelerate.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292388/original/file-20190913-2140-zaju43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292388/original/file-20190913-2140-zaju43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292388/original/file-20190913-2140-zaju43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292388/original/file-20190913-2140-zaju43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292388/original/file-20190913-2140-zaju43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=635&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292388/original/file-20190913-2140-zaju43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=635&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292388/original/file-20190913-2140-zaju43.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=635&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/128ae060-ac07-4874-857e-dced2ca22347/files/australias-emissions-projections-2018.pdf">Department of Environment and Energy</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A nation of car lovers, and carbon belchers</h2>
<p>Total road travel in Australia rose from 181 billion km in 2000 to <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/9208.0">255 billion km</a> in 2018 - a 41% increase.</p>
<p>Total CO₂ emissions from road transport increased by <a href="http://ageis.climatechange.gov.au/">31%</a> between 2000 and 2017, rising from 16% of total emissions in 2000 to 22% in 2017. With no action, transport emissions are <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/transport-emissions-and-climate-solutions/">projected to reach 111 million tonnes of CO₂ by 2030</a>.</p>
<p>Emissions have grown more slowly than kilometres travelled, which suggests that improvements in fuel efficiency have partially mitigated the effect of increased travel. Reducing emissions from transport will require a stronger decline in emissions intensity (CO₂ emissions per kilometre travelled) from our vehicles. Under current policies, this will not happen.</p>
<h2>Our assumptions are all wrong</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d0bd25_9527cdcb01a84440a53308b3b5624320.pdf">recent analysis</a>
by <a href="https://www.transport-e-research.com">Transport Energy/Emission Research</a> (TER) found the actual emissions intensity of new Australian passenger vehicles has stabilised and likely increased in recent years.</p>
<p>This finding directly contradicts projections that emissions intensity will fall without government intervention.</p>
<p>The chart below shows the average fleet emission rates officially reported in Europe, the US and Japan, and based on laboratory tests. When compared to these jurisdictions, Australia’s new passenger vehicles have significantly higher average CO₂ emission rates, and thus fuel consumption, than other countries, but all show a decline.</p>
<p><strong>Official new private vehicle fleet average CO₂ emission rates 2000-17</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290595/original/file-20190902-175696-1xkqvbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290595/original/file-20190902-175696-1xkqvbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290595/original/file-20190902-175696-1xkqvbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290595/original/file-20190902-175696-1xkqvbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290595/original/file-20190902-175696-1xkqvbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290595/original/file-20190902-175696-1xkqvbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290595/original/file-20190902-175696-1xkqvbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290595/original/file-20190902-175696-1xkqvbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d0bd25_e27faf5fcaaa4d8ba11c6aefc2d61774.pdf">Real-World CO2 Emissions Performance of the Australian New Passenger Vehicle Fleet 2008-2018, TER</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unfortunately, real-world emissions and fuel consumption deviate substantially – and increasingly – from laboratory tests that are used to produce the officially reported CO₂ figures. This discrepancy is often referred to as “the gap”. So in reality, the reduction in CO₂ emission rates is not as large as official laboratory results suggest.</p>
<p>There are multiple reasons for this gap, such as the laboratory test protocol itself, and strategies used by car manufacturers -and allowed by the test - to achieve <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d0bd25_9527cdcb01a84440a53308b3b5624320.pdf">lower emissions in laboratory conditions</a>. </p>
<p>TER corrected the official Australian figures to reflect real world emissions. It found that carbon emission intensity stopped declining around 2014 and is now increasing. This suggests that, for the first time, fuel efficiency is no longer improving and is actually getting worse.</p>
<p><strong>Official vs real-world CO₂ emission rates for Australia’s new private vehicle fleet</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290596/original/file-20190903-175678-1ucb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290596/original/file-20190903-175678-1ucb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290596/original/file-20190903-175678-1ucb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290596/original/file-20190903-175678-1ucb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290596/original/file-20190903-175678-1ucb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290596/original/file-20190903-175678-1ucb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290596/original/file-20190903-175678-1ucb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290596/original/file-20190903-175678-1ucb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d0bd25_e27faf5fcaaa4d8ba11c6aefc2d61774.pdf">Real-World CO2 Emissions Performance of the Australian New Passenger Vehicle Fleet 2008-2018, TER</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The upshot is that total CO₂ emissions from road transport are increasing, and will accelerate in the future.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d0bd25_9527cdcb01a84440a53308b3b5624320.pdf">TER study</a>
identified the likely reasons for this: increased sales of heavy vehicles, such as four-wheel drives, and diesel cars. The latter may have a reputation for fuel efficiency, but they still emit, on average, about 10% more CO₂ than petrol cars. Australian diesel cars are, on average, about 40% heavier than petrol cars, and have 15% higher engine capacity.</p>
<h2>The road ahead</h2>
<p>The worsening picture in road transport emissions will increasingly drag down Australia’s efforts to meet its modest climate goals set in Paris - even with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-institute-analysis-adds-to-pacific-pile-on-over-morrisons-climate-policy-121817">accounting tricks</a> the government plans to deploy to reduce the task. Of course it also means Australia is far less likely to make the <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/publications/emissions-projections-2018">much sharper emissions reductions</a> needed by all nations to stabilise the global climate. </p>
<p>What can be done about this? The most obvious first step is to implement mandatory fuel efficiency or vehicle emission standards. This policy, fundamental in other countries, would significantly <a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-could-have-saved-over-1-billion-in-fuel-if-car-emissions-standards-were-introduced-3-years-ago-117190">lower weekly fuel costs</a> for vehicle owners.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296605/original/file-20191011-188797-103p1vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296605/original/file-20191011-188797-103p1vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296605/original/file-20191011-188797-103p1vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296605/original/file-20191011-188797-103p1vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296605/original/file-20191011-188797-103p1vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296605/original/file-20191011-188797-103p1vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296605/original/file-20191011-188797-103p1vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The federal government must adjust policy settings to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/clean-green-machines-the-truth-about-electric-vehicle-emissions-122619">Clean, green machines: the truth about electric vehicle emissions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Second, a rapid shift to electric cars will help, and increasingly so as the electricity supply <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-battery-powered-vehicles-stack-up-better-than-hydrogen-106844">transitions to renewables</a>. Deep emission cuts are then <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d0bd25_6959d3a0b5d647bb9715126de67fa197.pdf">possible</a>.</p>
<p>The third is to provide better information about actual emissions. This could be achieved by restoring the large testing programs conducted in Australia up to 2008, involving hundreds of Australian vehicles over different real-world Australian test cycles which generated <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d0bd25_e27faf5fcaaa4d8ba11c6aefc2d61774.pdf">large databases</a> of raw measurements.</p>
<p>For the moment, Australia’s national greenhouse gas emissions strategy seems to be: do nothing, rely on the work of industry, state governments and other nations, and hope that nobody notices. But climate change is not going away. Dodging it now will only increase the costs we accumulate in the long run.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122378/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Quiggin is a former Member of the Climate Change Authority, and has campaigned for action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Smit is the founder of Transport Energy/Emission Research.</span></em></p>
Surprise findings have revealed that Australia’s cars are getting less fuel efficient. This is bad news for the hip-pockets of motorists - and for the climate.
John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland
Robin Smit, Adjunct professor, The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/102701
2018-09-28T10:34:51Z
2018-09-28T10:34:51Z
Freezing fuel economy standards will slow innovation and make US auto companies less competitive
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237600/original/file-20180923-129844-1qkmd1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A half-century of regulation has greatly increased the fuel efficiency of US-made cars.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/filling-gas-station-fill-tank-self-593596127?src=7OxG-_3geo-5Ml7dWb-I4Q-1-26">siam.pukkato</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States has led the world in establishing standards and regulations governing vehicle fuel economy, tailpipe emissions and safety. Over the past 50 years, these policies have made the world cleaner and safer. Now the Trump administration is moving to <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/us-epa-and-dot-propose-fuel-economy-standards-my-2021-2026-vehicles">freeze fuel economy and tailpipe emission standards for new cars</a>, instead of carrying forward with the latest round of improvements mandated under President Obama.</p>
<p>At Ohio State University’s <a href="https://car.osu.edu/">Center for Automotive Research</a>, we work with manufacturers and U.S. government agencies to reduce vehicles’ environmental impact and enhance their safety, intelligence and autonomy. This industry is undergoing epochal changes as it works to evolve into a connected, shared and automated mobility enterprise, to address growing congestion in an increasingly urbanized world, and to improve safety and fuel economy. </p>
<p>This revolution is the greatest disruption in this industry since the automobile was introduced at the turn of the 19th century. In my view, which is <a href="http://www.autonews.com/article/20180925/OEM11/180929845/trump-ford-uaw-fuel-economy-standards">shared by major automobile manufacturers</a>, the Trump administration’s position is at odds with significant investments and progress that the industry has achieved over the past half-century. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238392/original/file-20180927-48631-9jp01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238392/original/file-20180927-48631-9jp01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238392/original/file-20180927-48631-9jp01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238392/original/file-20180927-48631-9jp01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238392/original/file-20180927-48631-9jp01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238392/original/file-20180927-48631-9jp01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238392/original/file-20180927-48631-9jp01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238392/original/file-20180927-48631-9jp01j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cars line up at a Washington, D.C., service station, Dec. 1, 1973, during an export embargo by oil producing countries. The embargo caused gasoline shortages and spurred action to improve the fuel economy of U.S.-built cars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-Associated-Press-Domestic-News-Finance-D-/8d1c3ef9699841018396bd75dab6ee1b/1/0">AP Photo/Harvey Georges</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What makes drivers safer?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2018-08-24/pdf/2018-16820.pdf">Trump administration’s proposal</a> repeats a long-standing argument that tightening fuel economy requirements will make vehicles less safe because manufacturers will comply by making vehicles lighter. In fact, the U.S. auto industry has widely employed alternative materials, such as high-strength steel, aluminum, magnesium, plastics and composites, to help improve fuel economy for many years, along with many other technologies related to engine, transmission and hybrid-electric powertrain technology. </p>
<p>Even though the average size of vehicles in the U.S. fleet has increased, average vehicle weight has remained constant for the past 15 years, while fuel economy has improved considerably. And automakers still have to comply with <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/ratings">crash worthiness ratings</a> set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. There really is little or no correlation between vehicle safety and fuel economy. As recent crash test results show, fuel-efficient cars <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/fuel-economy-efficiency/safety-has-become-key-issue-battle-over-fuel-economy/">can achieve excellent safety ratings</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="zJD7i" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/zJD7i/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The Trump administration also contends that continuing to increase fuel economy requirements will <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/make-cars-great-again-1533170415">make the overall vehicle fleet less safe</a>. This happens, officials assert, because increased costs will deter consumers from buying new vehicles equipped with more advanced technology that improves safety, and consumer choice determines vehicle replacement cycles.</p>
<p>But this argument is demonstrably wrong. Annual vehicle sales in the United States since 2009 – the lowest year in vehicle sales since 1982 – have <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/199983/us-vehicle-sales-since-1951/">steadily increased</a>, from 10.4 million in 2009 to over 17 million in 2015-2017. Penetration of vehicles with improved fuel economy and safety over the past decade has been tremendous. Over 80 million new vehicles have been purchased in the last five years, representing more than 25 percent of the U.S. vehicle fleet.</p>
<h2>Progress on fuel economy and safety</h2>
<p>In an eloquent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.67.2.887">1970 article</a>, Caltech chemist Arie Jan Haagen-Smit – a pioneer in air pollution research – made a strong case for setting federal air pollution standards. Since then, decades of research by government and industry have made cars in the United States dramatically cleaner and safer.</p>
<p>Two federal agencies, both created in 1970, govern fuel economy, emissions and motor vehicle safety. The Environmental Protection Agency develops regulations aimed at reducing vehicle tailpipe emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. </p>
<p>The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, ensures that all new vehicles and certain categories of vehicle equipment comply with federal safety standards. And it works to increase the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, both to help consumers save money at the pump and to reduce carbon pollution that contributes to climate change.</p>
<p>NHTSA was established by the <a href="http://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1951-2000/The-Highway-Safety-Act-of-1966/">Highway Safety Act</a>, which was spurred by consumer advocate Ralph Nader’s 1965 book “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/automobiles/50-years-ago-unsafe-at-any-speed-shook-the-auto-world.html">Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile</a>.” Nader’s best-seller denounced the auto industry’s lack of commitment to produce safe vehicles and identified a government role in promoting vehicle safety.</p>
<p>In recent decades NHTSA has issued regulations aimed at preventing accidents, including requirements for anti-lock brakes and electronic stability control systems. The agency has worked systematically to make vehicles safer, not just by ruling on their crashworthiness, but more importantly by promoting the use of crash avoidance technology. As the industry increasingly focuses on automated vehicles, NHTSA rulings and regulations are likely to continue to develop in that direction. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nL4_cYGdASs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Advanced vehicle safety system can make cars of all sizes safer to operate.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Interestingly, NHTSA is the agency that maintains fuel economy standards, rather than the EPA. This indicates that Congress viewed fuel economy regulations not as a tailpipe emission concern – although fuel economy is directly correlated with carbon emissions – but as an issue that affected vehicles’ cost of operation. </p>
<h2>Competing in a global market</h2>
<p>Current CAFE regulations, which were <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/08/28/obama-administration-finalizes-historic-545-mpg-fuel-efficiency-standard">modified by the Obama administration in 2012</a>, require continuous improvements in fuel economy through the year 2025 to reach an average fleet fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon. They are indexed based on vehicle footprints so that larger vehicles, such as sport utility vehicles and light trucks, are not subject to the same requirements as smaller passenger cars. </p>
<p>Automakers receive credits for vehicles that run on <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/laws-regulations/corporate-average-fuel-economy">alternative fuels or electricity</a>, but the regulations are not about electric vehicles, which represent a minuscule fraction of the current market. One way manufacturers can meet the new regulations is by adopting hybrid-electric powertrains. Other options include advanced 9- and 10-speed transmissions and innovative engine technologies, such as direct injection and turbocharging. </p>
<p>All of these technologies are increasingly present in the U.S. vehicle fleet. Fuel economy regulations have helped to ensure that the United States remains a technology leader and can effectively compete with automakers in Europe and Asia.</p>
<p><iframe id="Z9uJY" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Z9uJY/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>In 2016 NHTSA, the EPA and the <a href="https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/">California Air Resources Board</a> performed a <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/es/corporate-average-fuel-economy/light-duty-cafe-midterm-evaluation">midterm evaluation</a> of these regulations to assess their effectiveness and determine the incremental cost of such regulations to the automotive industry, and hence to consumers. It drew on a <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/21744/cost-effectiveness-and-deployment-of-fuel-economy-technologies-for-light-duty-vehicles">2015 study</a> by the National Academy of Engineering that provided a comprehensive assessment of technologies to improve fuel economy and related implementation costs. </p>
<p>This report concluded that by adopting global platforms, major automobile manufacturers have achieved economies of scale in the introduction of new technologies. It recommended quantifying the estimated cost to manufacturers of adopting various technologies in terms of dollars spent to increase fuel economy by a given percentage – in other words, linking increased product cost to savings at the fuel pump. In many cases, when the cost of the technology is amortized over a period of three to five years, these savings outweigh the costs. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238214/original/file-20180926-48656-8ruks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238214/original/file-20180926-48656-8ruks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238214/original/file-20180926-48656-8ruks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238214/original/file-20180926-48656-8ruks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238214/original/file-20180926-48656-8ruks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238214/original/file-20180926-48656-8ruks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238214/original/file-20180926-48656-8ruks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238214/original/file-20180926-48656-8ruks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All new cars starting with model year 2013 carry this sticker, designed to help consumers make informed choices about fuel economy and costs and vehicle emissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/corporate-average-fuel-economy/fuel-economy-and-environment-label">NHTSA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The United States is not the only market for U.S. automakers. All major automobile-manufacturing regions in the world have enacted comparable fuel economy regulations, expressed in terms of carbon dioxide emissions at the vehicle tailpipe in grams per kilometer traveled. The European Union, China, Japan and South Korea have also required manufacturers to make vehicles progressively more fuel-efficient, although U.S. standards are somewhat less stringent due to the larger average vehicle size in the North American market. </p>
<p>The auto business is a global industry in which manufacturers sell similar products on multiple continents through the use of global platforms. U.S. automakers want consistent standards so they will not have to incur the cost of designing and producing vehicles that do not have global marketability. </p>
<p>The regulations that the Trump administration wants to freeze are aligned with this principle, and are also consistent with the U.S. auto industry’s desire to retain its technology leadership position in the global market.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102701/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Giorgio Rizzoni does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Do high fuel economy requirements make the US auto fleet less safe? The Trump administration says yes and is moving to freeze these standards, but auto experts and US car makers disagree.
Giorgio Rizzoni, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace and Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director, Center for Automotive Research, The Ohio State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/98559
2018-09-23T20:10:35Z
2018-09-23T20:10:35Z
I’ve always wondered: are SUVs and 4WDs safer than other cars?
<p><em>This is an article from I’ve Always Wondered, a series where readers send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. Send your question to alwayswondered@theconversation.edu.au</em></p>
<hr>
<p><strong>The Sydney suburbs around me are clogged with huge 4WD cars which have never seen a dirt road. I think people buy them because they think they are safer. Are they? – Petrina of Greenwich</strong></p>
<hr>
<p>The popularity of SUVs, 4WDs and commercial utilities is showing no signs of abating in Australia. In the first six months of 2018, passenger vehicles made up just one-third of new vehicle sales (down from 50% five years ago) and SUVs 43% (up from 29% in 2013). Six of the top ten models sold in this period were SUVs and commercial utilities. Clearly, increasing numbers of people are choosing these vehicles for reasons including image and versatility, but how is this trend affecting road safety?</p>
<p>Our analysis of data from safety tests and crash records suggests the move to SUVs is problematic for road safety in the case of large and small SUVs, as well as commercial utes. This is mainly because these vehicles put other road users at a higher risk of severe injury.</p>
<h2>How do we measure safety?</h2>
<p>To answer the question, “Are SUVs and 4WDs safer than other cars?” we need to decide first how to measure safety. One option is to consult test results from the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), a global alliance that subjects new vehicles to standardised laboratory tests. </p>
<p>These tests mostly cover the performance of the car in a crash, including adult and child occupant protection and pedestrian protection. Instrumented crash test dummies are used to measure crash forces and then estimate the likely injuries to human occupants. “Safety assist” tests have been introduced recently to evaluate how well the car can avoid a crash, but we’ll focus on crash protection here.</p>
<p>The problem with NCAP and similar test programs is that these can include only a very small range of tests compared to those occurring in the real world on many different roads and speeds. And real-world crashes happen to real people of all shapes, sizes and ages, impossible to represent fully with a few different crash test dummies. </p>
<p>The MUARC-developed Used Car Safety Rating (UCSR) program aims to overcome this issue by developing ratings based on real-world crashes throughout Australia and New Zealand. The latest dataset contains information on over 7.5 million drivers involved in crashes between 1987 and 2015 for vehicles manufactured in the 33 years up to 2015. </p>
<p>Where individual vehicle models have been involved in sufficient crashes for meaningful results, these are rated on:</p>
<ul>
<li>“crashworthiness” – the vehicle’s ability to protect occupants from being killed or seriously injured (resulting in hospital admissions) in a crash</li>
<li>“aggressivity” – the risk of death or serious injury caused to other drivers and unprotected road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists colliding with the rated vehicle.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Comparison vehicles</h2>
<p>For this study we chose two vehicles in each of the large, medium and small segments: one SUV and one passenger car.</p>
<p>In the small vehicle class, we chose the Hyundai i30 hatchback and the Mitsubishi ASX, both top-three sellers in their under $40,000 segments. </p>
<p>The ever-popular Toyota Camry was chosen to match up against the Mazda CX-5 SUV in the medium (under $60,000) class.</p>
<p>In the large segment, the Toyota Kluger was the most popular SUV under $70,000 for June 2018 and second overall for the year. We compared it with the Holden Commodore, the best seller in the rapidly shrinking large car segment. The latest Commodore is too new to feature in the UCSR ratings, so we substituted the discontinued VF model. </p>
<p>Given that the Toyota Hilux is the most popular light vehicle overall in Australia, selling nearly 20% more units than its nearest competitor, we also included it in the large segment comparison.</p>
<h2>Results – occupant safety</h2>
<p>According to the Australian NCAP (ANCAP) program, all seven vehicles offer their occupants excellent protection, being awarded five-star ratings.</p>
<p>For pedestrian protection, both small vehicles, the Hyundai i30 and Mitsubishi ASX, were rated “acceptable” by ANCAP.</p>
<p>In the medium segment the Mazda CX-5 was also “acceptable”, better than the “marginal” rating of the Toyota Camry. </p>
<p>Both the Commodore and Kluger rated “marginal” for pedestrian protection in the large vehicle segment. The Toyota Hilux surprisingly came out “good” in this test involving the projection of components representing a head and a leg onto a variety of locations on the front and bonnet of the car.</p>
<p>The Used Car Safety Ratings tell a somewhat different story. </p>
<p>In the small vehicle segment, the i30 has a rating of 3.4, meaning the driver has a 3.4% chance of being injured if involved in a crash. The ASX scored 4.5, which because of statistical uncertainties in the estimates is not significantly different. However, it suggests this small SUV has around a 30% higher risk to its occupants in a crash. </p>
<p>In the medium segment, both vehicles were safer overall than their smaller counterparts, with ratings of 2.2 for the Camry and 2.6 for the CX-5. Again, these two ratings are not significantly different, but the medium SUV is about 20% less safe than the medium car.</p>
<p>Finally, the Kluger scored 2.3 compared with 2.0 for the Commodore, representing around a 14% increase in risk to its occupants in a crash. The Hilux scored 2.8, 40% worse than the Commodore.</p>
<h2>Results – other road users’ safety</h2>
<p>The ASX and i30 were comparable with ratings of 2.6 and 2.8 respectively, the small SUV being slightly less likely to injure other road users. </p>
<p>No aggressivity rating is available for the CX-5, with the Camry scoring 3.0 and therefore being slightly more aggressive to collision partners. </p>
<p>In the large segment, the Kluger scored best with a rating of 3.5. The Commodore was around 25% worse with a score of 4.4. The Hilux had an aggressivity rating of 4.9, a significant 40% more injurious to other road users than the similar-sized Kluger.</p>
<h2>Conclusions</h2>
<p>Looking at a small selection of vehicles, as we did in this study, does not necessarily represent the story of the whole population. The charts below represent the Used Car Safety Ratings by vehicle type for the overall market.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237415/original/file-20180921-129844-5s79h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237415/original/file-20180921-129844-5s79h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237415/original/file-20180921-129844-5s79h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237415/original/file-20180921-129844-5s79h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237415/original/file-20180921-129844-5s79h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237415/original/file-20180921-129844-5s79h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237415/original/file-20180921-129844-5s79h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237415/original/file-20180921-129844-5s79h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237426/original/file-20180921-129844-1j2972j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237426/original/file-20180921-129844-1j2972j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237426/original/file-20180921-129844-1j2972j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237426/original/file-20180921-129844-1j2972j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237426/original/file-20180921-129844-1j2972j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237426/original/file-20180921-129844-1j2972j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237426/original/file-20180921-129844-1j2972j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237426/original/file-20180921-129844-1j2972j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While individual models vary, there are some important trends to be aware of:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Medium and large SUVs perform on par with their passenger car equivalents with regard to occupant protection. Commercial utes also protect occupants as well as large cars.</p></li>
<li><p>Small SUVs perform worse for occupant protection than small cars and are quite aggressive towards other road users, which is a poor compromise and problematic for a growing market group.</p></li>
<li><p>Overall, mid-size vehicles — whether conventional passenger or SUVs — strike the best balance between protecting occupants and other road users.</p></li>
<li><p>The big problem is the high aggressivity of large SUVs and commercial utilities – particularly the increasingly popular utes. This is largely a result of the high mass and ladder chassis construction of most of these vehicles, which is good for being tough but not good for running into other road users.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Overall, the move to SUVs is problematic for road safety in the case of large and small SUVs, as well as commercial utes. This is because these vehicles, while not improving crashworthiness overall, put other road users at a higher risk of severe injury. Therefore overall road trauma will be higher with a shift to these vehicle types.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>* Email your question to alwayswondered@theconversation.edu.au
<br>
* Tell us on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationEDU">Twitter</a> by tagging <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationEDU">@ConversationEDU</a> with the hashtag #alwayswondered, or
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* Tell us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/conversationEDU">Facebook</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98559/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Monash University Accident Research Centre where Stuart Newstead is employed receives funding from the Vehicle Safety Research Group comprising state road authorities, injury compensation insurers and motoring clubs across Australia and New Zealand. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Perceptions about safety might be one of the reasons more and more people are buying SUVs. The evidence from crash data, though, is troubling – particularly for other road users.
David Logan, Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Accident Research Centre, Monash University
Stuart Newstead, Associate Professor (Research), Monash University Accident Research Centre, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/100217
2018-08-15T10:23:02Z
2018-08-15T10:23:02Z
Cameras can catch cars that run red lights, but that doesn’t make streets safer
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230920/original/file-20180807-160647-3xl3gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many major U.S. cities have hidden cameras to catch drivers who run red lights.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tram-traffic-light-showing-red-1019625316?src=WtTd1QIh_LMaFLLiUrBfNg-1-3">Gints Ivuskans/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/camaras-que-identifican-a-infractores-no-suponen-una-mejora-para-la-seguridad-vial-101645">Leer en español</a></em>.</p>
<p>The automobile is a killer. In the U.S., <a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2015/07/04/road-kill">36,675 people died</a> in traffic accidents in 2014. The year before, 2.3 million people were injured in traffic accidents. </p>
<p>During the past decade, over <a href="http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/laws/automated_enforcement?topicName=red-light-running">438 U.S. municipalities</a>, including 36 of the 50 most populous cities, have employed electronic monitoring programs in order to reduce the number of accidents. Red light camera programs specifically target drivers that run red lights.</p>
<p><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3078079">In a study</a> I co-authored with economist Paul J. Fisher, we examined all police-recorded traffic accidents for three large Texas cities over a 12-year period – hundreds of thousands of accidents. We found no evidence that red light cameras improve public safety. They don’t reduce the total number of vehicle accidents, the total number of individuals injured in accidents or the total number of incapacitating injuries that involve ambulance transport to a hospital.</p>
<h2>Red light cameras</h2>
<p>In a red light camera program, a camera is installed in a location where it can take photos or video of vehicles as they pass through the intersection. City employees or private contractors then review the photos. If a vehicle is in the intersection when the light is red, then a ticket is sent to the person who registered the vehicle. </p>
<p>These programs aim to reduce cross-street collisions. The idea is that drivers, fearing a higher chance that they will be fined, will be more likely to stop, lowering the number of angle, or “T-bone,” accidents.</p>
<p>Evidence clearly shows that camera programs are effective at decreasing the number of vehicles running red lights. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457506000273">In one study in Virginia</a>, red light cameras reduced the number of total drivers running red lights by 67 percent. </p>
<p>However, cameras can have contradictory effects on traffic safety. Some drivers who would have otherwise continued to proceed through the intersection when the light is yellow or red will now attempt to stop. That means that the number of accidents caused by vehicles not stopping at a red light will likely decrease.</p>
<p>But the number of accidents from stopping at a red light – such as rear-end accidents – is likely to increase. That’s not an inconsequential side effect. Some drivers will attempt to stop, accepting a higher risk of a non-angle accident like getting rear-ended, in order to avoid the expected fine.</p>
<p>The overall effect of a camera program on vehicle accidents and injuries depends on the net impact of these two effects. Overall driver safety could increase or decrease.</p>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>In our study, we focused on Houston, a major U.S. city that operated a large camera program at 66 intersections between 2006 and 2010. </p>
<p>One reason we chose Houston is to take advantage of the natural experiment that occurred when city residents <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Opposition-putting-a-stop-to-red-light-cameras-4461447.php">passed a referendum in November 2010</a> to ban the cameras. </p>
<p>We accessed detailed accident information on every traffic accident in Texas from 2003 to 2014 through a public records information request. The data included the accident’s precise geocoded location; the type of accident; whether the driver ran a red light; and details on any injuries.</p>
<p>When the Houston cameras were removed, angle accidents increased by 26 percent. However, all other types of accidents decreased by 18 percent. Approximately one-third of all Houston intersection accidents are angle accidents. This suggests that the program’s drawbacks canceled out its benefits. </p>
<p>Our study showed no evidence that cameras reduce the total number of accidents. We estimate that total accidents are reduced by a statistically insignificant 3 percent after the cameras are turned off. </p>
<p>Likewise, there’s no evidence that the camera program reduced the number of traffic-related injuries or the likelihood of incurring an incapacitating injury.</p>
<p>The elevated number of traffic accidents at urban intersections is a serious public health issue. But our study shows that Houston’s camera program was ineffective in improving traffic safety. Electronic monitoring is not the solution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100217/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin Gallagher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Hundreds of US cities have red light cameras to try to catch traffic violations and prevent accidents. But research shows that the cameras may encourage other types of accidents.
Justin Gallagher, Assistant Professor of Economics, Case Western Reserve University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/96088
2018-05-11T10:49:23Z
2018-05-11T10:49:23Z
Your shampoo, hair spray and skin lotion may be polluting the air
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218592/original/file-20180511-34009-b2zqzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Good for you, bad for the air?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/supermarket-shelves-personal-care-products-247444630?src=V4fvKA8LtTFXPoOR-ybD7A-2-2">Gts/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Millions of Americans apply personal care products every morning before heading to work or school. But these products don’t stick to our bodies permanently. Over the course of the day, compounds in deodorants, lotions, hair gels and perfumes evaporate from our skin and eventually make their way outdoors. Now there’s new evidence to suggest that these products are major sources of air pollution in urban areas.</p>
<p>For decades, motor vehicles were considered the primary source of air pollutants in major U.S. cities. Vehicle exhaust contains <a href="https://www.epa.gov/air-pollution-transportation/smog-soot-and-local-air-pollution">multiple pollutants</a> that worsen air quality, including nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – a group of reactive gases that contribute to smog formation.</p>
<p>Thanks to advances in catalytic converters and improvements in fuel economy, combined emissions of <a href="https://www.epa.gov/air-pollution-transportation/accomplishments-and-success-air-pollution-transportation">common pollutants</a> from cars have <a href="https://www.epa.gov/air-pollution-transportation/accomplishments-and-success-air-pollution-transportation">decreased by 65 percent</a> since the 1970s. Air pollution is still a problem in urban areas like Los Angeles, but only a fraction of it can be attributed to vehicles. Today, scientists are finding that other non-combustion sources – including common household products – are also major contributors. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218352/original/file-20180509-4803-1q9m8w9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218352/original/file-20180509-4803-1q9m8w9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218352/original/file-20180509-4803-1q9m8w9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218352/original/file-20180509-4803-1q9m8w9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218352/original/file-20180509-4803-1q9m8w9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218352/original/file-20180509-4803-1q9m8w9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218352/original/file-20180509-4803-1q9m8w9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218352/original/file-20180509-4803-1q9m8w9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) react in the air with nitrogen oxides to form ozone and smog.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pca.state.mn.us/air/ozone">Minnesota Pollution Control Agency</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A unique fingerprint</h2>
<p>In a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b00506">recent study</a> with U.S. and Canadian colleagues, our lab found that these sources can include personal care products. We analyzed urban air in two cities: Boulder, Colorado, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. </p>
<p>In Boulder, our lab had recently invested in new instrumentation, which we wanted to use to measure wood stove emissions during winter months. For five weeks we sampled air from the roof of the <a href="http://www.boulder.doc.gov/noaa/dsrc.html">NOAA David Skaggs Research Center</a> in hope of measuring air parcels contaminated with smoke from residential wood stoves. Surprisingly, we noticed a signal that stood out unexpectedly from all the other data. This compound, which we identified as decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (or D5 siloxane), contains silicon, which uniquely differs from the organic compounds we normally detect. </p>
<p>By reviewing scientific literature, we learned that pure D5 siloxane is produced mainly as an additive for deodorants and hair care products. On average, people use products that contain a total of about 100-200 milligrams of D5 every day – roughly the weight of half an aspirin tablet. Some fraction of these products end up going down the drain when we shower, but the majority of what remains on our bodies ends up in the atmosphere. D5 can also be found in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/cr500319v">many other places</a>, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.2941">soil, oceans and the tissues of fish and human beings</a> </p>
<p>Many labs have studied the environmental fate of D5, but from our perspective it is particularly useful because it acts like a fingerprint. If we detect D5 in the atmosphere, we know that the air mass we measured was influenced by emissions from personal care products. By comparing the amount of D5 in the atmosphere to other fingerprint markers, such as compounds present in vehicle exhaust, we can estimate how important personal care products are as an emissions source relative to better-understood sources.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218353/original/file-20180509-4803-1wvgckm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218353/original/file-20180509-4803-1wvgckm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218353/original/file-20180509-4803-1wvgckm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218353/original/file-20180509-4803-1wvgckm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218353/original/file-20180509-4803-1wvgckm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218353/original/file-20180509-4803-1wvgckm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218353/original/file-20180509-4803-1wvgckm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218353/original/file-20180509-4803-1wvgckm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Air pollution from transportation in the U.S. has fallen in the past 40 years even as population and vehicles miles traveled have increased.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.epa.gov/air-pollution-transportation/accomplishments-and-success-air-pollution-transportation">USEPA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Emissions spike during morning rush hour</h2>
<p>In Boulder and Toronto, we found that D5 was present in urban air at mass concentrations comparable to those of <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/benzene.pdf">benzene</a>, a chemical that is a marker for vehicle exhaust. (Benzene is a known carcinogen and is also found in industrial emissions and cigarette smoke.) </p>
<p>D5 concentrations were highest in the morning – the time when most people shower, apply personal care products and then leave the house to commute to work. We also observed a peak in benzene emissions in the morning, when people drive to work. During morning rush hour, we found that emissions of D5 and benzene were almost equivalent. </p>
<p>In other words, at this time of day, people emitted a plume of organic compounds that was comparable in mass to the plume of organic compounds emitted from their vehicles. Researchers still have a lot to learn about how these chemicals react in the atmosphere to form smog, so the air quality implications of these morning emissions remain unclear. </p>
<p>Benzene emissions remained high throughout the day as people drove around the city, but D5 emissions eventually tapered off as personal care products evaporated from users’ skin. We estimate that, on average, the entire population of the city of Boulder emits 3 to 5 kilograms (6 to 11 pounds) of D5 per day, and that their cars emit about 15 kilograms of benzene in vehicle exhaust.</p>
<h2>VOC emissions from your medicine cabinet</h2>
<p>While these numbers may seem surprisingly high, our findings support recent <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0524">modeling work</a> conducted by Brian McDonald, a co-author of this study, which showed that personal care product VOC emissions in Los Angeles now rival VOC emissions from gasoline and diesel exhaust. Taken together, these two studies demonstrate that our urban air is remarkably different from what it was decades ago. Cars today emit fewer smog-inducing organic compounds, while other sources are now becoming important contributors to air pollution.</p>
<p>D5 is only one component of personal care product emissions, and many other compounds could be emitted with it. To fully assess how seriously these emissions may affect the environment and human health, researchers have to answer many more questions. What other compounds enter the atmosphere after we apply personal care products? Once in the atmosphere, what happens to them? Are they capable of contributing to smog formation? Our lab and others around the country are considering these questions now in hopes of improving our understanding of urban air pollution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96088/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Coggon receives funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. </span></em></p>
New research is spotlighting personal care products, such as shampoos and skin lotions, as a significant source of chemicals that contribute to urban air pollution.
Matthew Coggon, Research scientist, University of Colorado Boulder
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/96104
2018-05-04T03:20:23Z
2018-05-04T03:20:23Z
Australians will not buy electric cars without better incentives
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217707/original/file-20180504-138586-vfacru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We need to plan for electric cars, but at this stage we need incentives - not extra taxes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/13310792553/">byronv2/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The apparently inevitable rise of the electric car has prompted Australia’s top federal infrastructure advisor to warn of falling revenues from the petrol excise. </p>
<p>In a speech yesterday, Infrastructure Australia chief executive Philip Davies highlighted a need for “planning policy” for an “<a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/budget-2018-crunch-time-for-transport-policy-as-electric-cars-hit-the-road/news-story/eb4e757af6845329c59d5a151124ee7a">expected rapid uptake of electric vehicles</a>”.</p>
<p>But the reality is that, unless federal policy changes, Australia is extremely unlikely to increase its very small share of electric vehicles. Far from worrying about alternative taxes, international examples suggest subsidies and incentives are required to shift a country towards low-emissions cars. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-stalled-on-car-efficiency-78920">Australia has stalled on car efficiency</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The Norwegian example</h2>
<p>For a real example of “rapid uptake”, we can look to Norway. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-environment-norway-autos/norway-powers-ahead-over-half-new-car-sales-now-electric-or-hybrid-idUSKBN1ES0WC">More than 50% of consumers</a> chose to buy an electric vehicle in 2017, compared with 40% in 2016.</p>
<p>We know consumers are unwilling to buy electric vehicles if they cost substantially more than conventional vehicles. Norway imposes a high stamp duty on internal combustion vehicles, and exempts battery electric vehicles from both stamp duty and the high 25% Value Added Tax. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles have a lower rate of stamp duty. Such financial incentives are high enough to offset the price differences between electric and combustion vehicles.</p>
<p>But financial incentives alone are not enough. Norway also provides total exemption from road tolls, free car ferry travel, free recharge sites, free parking, and access to bus lanes. In effect, consumers in Norway are better off for choosing a battery electric vehicle.</p>
<p>These incentives were crucial for removing the price barrier and influencing demand, raising Norway’s total of electric vehicles in 2017 to <a href="https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/NordicEVOutlook2018.pdf">123,200</a>.</p>
<p>It is projected that by 2030, up to <a href="https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/NordicEVOutlook2018.pdf">4 million electric vehicles</a> will be on the road in the Nordic states. Norway and Sweden will account for 80% of the growth by 2030. </p>
<p>If Australia wants to achieve its <a href="http://www.joshfrydenberg.com.au/guest/opinionDetails.aspx?id=262">estimated 230,000 electric vehicles by 2025</a> (and more than a million by 2030) it’s clear we need additional federal policy measures.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-shopping-with-the-right-tools-you-can-find-an-eco-friendly-car-76080">Sustainable shopping: with the right tools, you can find an eco-friendly car</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Australians want electric – at the right price</h2>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.joshfrydenberg.com.au/guest/opinionDetails.aspx?id=262">Australian surveys</a>, half of consumers are prepared to buy an electric car, but are concerned about price, range, and infrastructure. Although state and territory governments are supporting infrastructure and introducing policies to reduce stamp duty and registration for zero- and low-emitting vehicles, more is needed. </p>
<p>Federal government policy has not addressed the major barrier to sales: the high price sticker of electric vehicles relative to equivalent combustion vehicles, and the long time it takes for petrol savings to “pay back” the price difference. </p>
<p>For example, the hybrid Mitsubishi Outlander, which emits just <a href="https://www.redbook.com.au/cars/details/2018-mitsubishi-outlander-phev-exceed-zk-auto-awd-my18/SPOT-ITM-477196/">41 grams</a> of carbon dioxide per kilometre, is listed in the manufacturer price guide at <a href="https://www.redbook.com.au/cars/results?q=%28And.Service.Redbook._.RecordType.Car._.CountryCode.AU._.YearRange.range%282018..%29._.%28C.Make.Mitsubishi._.%28C.Model.Outlander._.%28Or.Badge.PHEV%20Exceed._.Badge.Exceed.%29%29%29%29&evnt=refinement%22">A$55,490</a>. The petrol-fuelled model, which emits <a href="https://www.redbook.com.au/cars/details/2018-mitsubishi-outlander-exceed-zl-auto-awd-my185/SPOT-ITM-477222/">211g of CO₂ per km</a>, costs <a href="https://www.redbook.com.au/cars/results?q=%28And.Service.Redbook._.RecordType.Car._.CountryCode.AU._.YearRange.range%282018..%29._.%28C.Make.Mitsubishi._.%28C.Model.Outlander._.%28Or.Badge.PHEV%20Exceed._.Badge.Exceed.%29%29%29%29&evnt=refinement">A$41,000</a>. How many people will pay an extra A$14,490 for a low-emission car, with a nearly identical alternative available?</p>
<p>This is particularly important for low-end battery electric vehicles and PHEV with the longest driving range, as incentives seem to be <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v80y2017icp1100-1111.html">less important</a> for users of high-end battery electric cars like the Tesla Model S.</p>
<p>Without significant reductions in purchase price – through policy reform of taxes like the luxury car tax, and other incentives – it’s highly unlikely there will actually be a “rapid uptake” of electric vehicles in Australia. Low consumer demand will discourage car manufacturers form increasing the supply of electric or hybrid options in Australia, creating a vicious cycle.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/could-australia-become-a-dumping-ground-for-high-emission-vehicles-38299">Could Australia become a dumping ground for high-emission vehicles?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The <a href="http://www.tai.org.au/">Australian Institute’s Emission Audit</a> for December 2017, found that over the past two years emissions from road transport fuels has grown at twice the rate of GDP. This is actually offsetting any falling electricity generation emissions.</p>
<p>To put it bluntly, if Australia doesn’t get on board the global transition to low-emission vehicles, we risk not meeting our 2015 Paris Agreement commitment to reduce emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96104/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Mortimore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Warnings that a tide of electric vehicles will cut Australia’s tax income put the cart well before the (low-emissions) horse.
Anna Mortimore, Lecturer, Griffith Business School, Griffith University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/88563
2017-12-12T19:12:14Z
2017-12-12T19:12:14Z
Young workers are most likely to use their phones while driving – here’s how we can change that
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197712/original/file-20171205-22989-d4qskj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">At any given moment, roughly 1-2% of Australian drivers are estimated to be using their mobile phone while driving.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Distracted driving is a significant contributor to road accidents and fatalities. Mobile phone use while driving is a particularly important form of driver distraction. It can increase the risk of traffic accidents by <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199702133360701">up to four times</a>. </p>
<p>At any moment, roughly <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00140130701318624">1-2% of Australian drivers</a> are using their mobile phone while driving. In 2016 alone, police in New South Wales charged <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-27/nsw-government-revamps-texting-campaign/9196436?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%3a8935&user_id=1e780ed76acf35972a0a97115de6e66a4998c9a4edaa61939041ac55b142758c&WT.tsrc=email&WT.mc_id=Email%7c%7c8935&utm_content=ABCNewsmail_topstories_articlelink">39,000 people</a> for doing so.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.unisa.edu.au/Global/business/centres/i4c/docs/MAC%20Mobile%20Phone%20Use.pdf">Our survey</a> of 413 South Australians revealed that young working people were those most likely to use their phones while driving. Our broader findings could help inform the design of public information campaigns run by road safety organisations to discourage dangerous driving behaviour.</p>
<h2>How prevalent is it?</h2>
<p>One in three respondents in our survey reported never using their phones while driving; one in two reported rare or occasional use; and one in five reported frequent use.</p>
<p>The chart below shows the frequency of engagement in different mobile phone use behaviours. Receiving incoming phone calls while driving was the most commonly reported behaviour: 61% reported having received at least one call while driving in the past two weeks.</p>
<p><iframe id="xmLXx" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/xmLXx/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Using a mobile phone while driving is illegal across Australia. When inside the car, the driver is only allowed to use a phone if it can be operated completely hands-free or while placed in a cradle. It is illegal for the driver to hold a phone in their hand for any purpose other than to pass it to a passenger, even if the car is temporarily stopped at an intersection. </p>
<p>The laws are stricter still for L- and P-platers. Some states ban all mobile phone use while driving for these drivers: hands-free, cradled, or otherwise.</p>
<p>Of our sample, only 43% reported having a hands-free headset. An even smaller 23% reported having a mobile phone cradle. </p>
<h2>Who is most likely to use their phones?</h2>
<p>Both popular media and academic studies have portrayed young adults as <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369847808000983">being particularly prone</a> to mobile phone use while driving.</p>
<p>However, our findings indicate that 18-29-year-olds are no more likely than average to use their mobile phones while driving. 30-39-year-olds report the greatest frequency of use, and those over 65 report the lowest frequency. </p>
<p>Employment was found to be a strong predictor of mobile phone use while driving. Stated use was highest among those who were employed full time. </p>
<p>Together, these findings indicate that young working people are most likely to use their phones while driving. Our study finds they are also most likely to feel socially pressured to use their phones while driving, and more likely to perceive benefits from doing it, through real-time communication and increased work productivity. </p>
<p>Road safety campaigns targeting mobile phone use among these people should emphasise how perceived social pressure is not an acceptable excuse for engaging in the behaviour. These campaigns should attempt to debunk some of the perceived benefits of the same.</p>
<p>More generally, those who are more likely to use their phones while driving have lower perceptions of risk with regard to the behaviour, and are therefore less likely to experience guilt or remorse over doing so. </p>
<p>Our findings are consistent with previous studies and support the use of campaigns focused on <a href="http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/get-your-hand-off-it/index.html">risks related with</a> mobile phone use while driving.</p>
<h2>Social disapproval doesn’t always work</h2>
<p>Our analysis reveals that those who feel strong social disapproval toward mobile phone use while driving are actually <em>more likely</em> to engage in it.</p>
<p>The use of normative messaging to foster safer and healthier behaviours has met with mixed results across different public health domains. In some cases, campaigns have <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01917.x">actually increased</a> the incidence of the undesirable behaviours they set out to change. </p>
<p>However, some public campaigns have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4248563/">successful application</a> and have been credited with changing societal norms around the likes of smoking, drinking and driving, and safe-sex practices. </p>
<p>When used thoughtfully and based on evidence, public information campaigns can be effective policy instruments to encourage safer and healthier behaviours, both on the road and off it.</p>
<p>Road safety campaigns frequently use the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcHxmzAg9us">perceived disapproval</a> of friends, family members and other peer groups as part of their strategy to foster changes in attitudes and behaviours. Our findings indicate that such strategies have the potential to backfire. They should be used carefully, if at all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Akshay Vij has received research funding in the past from the Motor Accident Commission of South Australia. </span></em></p>
Road safety campaigns targeting mobile phone use among drivers should emphasise how perceived social pressure is not an acceptable excuse for engaging in the behaviour.
Akshay Vij, Senior Research Fellow, University of South Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/86478
2017-11-09T04:33:47Z
2017-11-09T04:33:47Z
Negative charge: why is Australia so slow at adopting electric cars?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193906/original/file-20171109-14159-orxqzq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Without a comprehensive network of recharging stations, like this one in Berlin, it's little wonder that Australia is lagging behind other countries.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the race to adopt electric vehicles, Australia is <a href="http://www.tai.org.au/sites/defualt/files/P233%20If%20you%20build%20it%20they%20will%20charge%20FINAL%20-%20October%202017.pdf">sputtering along in the slow lane</a>. Rather than growing, Australian sales of electric cars are actually in decline. In 2016 they represented just <a href="http://www.fcai.com.au/sales/cars">0.02% of new car sales</a> – even lower than in 2013.</p>
<p>Contrast that with Norway, the country with the highest levels of electric car adoption. <a href="http://www.eafo.eu/europe">Almost 30% of new cars sold there in 2016 were electric</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-electric-cars-can-help-save-the-grid-73914">How electric cars can help save the grid</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Why are Australian motorists rejecting electric cars while those in other advanced economies are <a href="http://www.eafo.eu/europe">embracing them</a>? High vehicle prices are an obvious barrier, as are motorists’ perceptions about the adequacy of the range of fully electric cars, as the National Roads and Motorists’ Association has <a href="https://www.mynrma.com.au/cars-and-driving/buying-a-car/features/electric-cars-in-oz">noted</a>. But that is only part of the answer. </p>
<p>Our current research, in which we used online questionnaires to survey Australian motorists’ attitudes to electric vehicles, suggests that a comprehensive network of recharging stations, particularly on popular intercity routes, is essential to encourage drivers to go electric. This seems to be even more important than subsidising the cost of the cars themselves. </p>
<p>Rechargers on highways, in country towns and at service centres need to be fast and convenient, so that motorists aren’t <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fast-charge-plugs-do-not-fit-all-electric-cars/">unduly delayed</a>. Without the right charging infrastructure, there is no foundation to allow Australian motorists to go electric with confidence. </p>
<p>The average Australian motorist drives 36km per day for all passenger vehicles (see table 8 <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/9208.0">here</a>). This is well within the <a href="https://www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au">range of modern fully electric vehicles</a> – more than 150km for the models on sale in Australia – and actually less than Norwegians, who drive <a href="https://www.toi.no/getfile.php?mmfileid=43161">more than 40km a day on average</a>. </p>
<p>Norwegian drivers also enjoy the <a href="http://www.theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/ICCT_GlobalZEVAlliance_201509.pdf">highest proportion of rechargers in the world</a>. But on another criterion the world leader is Estonia. It’s credited as the first nation to build a <a href="http://elmo.ee/elmo/">country-wide network</a>, with a recharging station every 50km on major roads, and one in every town with a population of at least 5,000.</p>
<h2>Bumps in the road</h2>
<p>Every country that has successfully adopted electric cars has done so by providing an effective recharging network. But we can learn from what has gone wrong in some of these places too. </p>
<p>Our research suggests that governments need to ensure that recharging stations work for motorists, rather than just for the network providers. Recharge points should have standardised fittings, easy payment options such as credit and debit card facilities, and prompt maintenance – all features of existing fuel stations.</p>
<p>Imagine if you could only fill up with petrol by pre-registering with a network, such as Caltex or Shell, and making sure you had paid in advance before taking a long trip. It sounds ridiculous, but that is the situation electric motorists face in some places.</p>
<p>Britain has multiple subscriber-only recharging networks, which frequently have chargers that are out of order. Recently, sales of fully electric vehicles have stagnated and it has only been a surge in sales of plug-in hybrids that <a href="http://www.eafo.eu/content/united-kingdom">boosted sales to 1.45% in 2016, up from 1.09% in 2015</a>.</p>
<p>California has solved that problem by introducing <a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB454">legislation</a> to ensure that motorists don’t have to join a network and can pay for the electricity by credit card. As a result of this and other measures, such as <a href="http://www.theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/ICCT_EV-promotion-US-cities_20150729.pdf">privileged lane access and support for workplace recharging</a>, electric cars now represent <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-electric-vehicles-20170517-story.html">4.8% of Californian car sales</a>, far outstripping the <a href="https://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/">US average of 0.9% in 2016</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2565">Another Californian law</a> ensures that the 40% of Californians who live in rental properties can <a href="http://cleantechnica.com/2014/08/31/california-bill-renters-install-electric-car-charging-stations/">recharge their cars at home</a>. As Australians are increasingly living in high-rise developments, ensuring car parks have the capacity to recharge cars overnight will be critical. The technology exists to enable separate billing for each car, so making sure strata management allows installation will be essential for people in units and flats to adopt this low-polluting technology. </p>
<p>Introducing such legislation will be a necessary first step. China <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-%2010/china-s-fossil-fuel-deadline-shifts-focus-to-electric-car-race-j7fktx9z?mc_cid=5b63d2c68d&mc_eid=5fb912b537">recently announced</a> that it is working towards a timetable to end production and sales of internal combustion engine vehicles. It’s a good example, which Australia would be wise to follow. </p>
<p>This will be critical if we are to reduce transport-related emissions, toxic air pollution and noise, and improve our fuel security in the face of increasingly unstable geopolitical circumstances and our <a href="https://theconversation.com/running-on-empty-australias-risky-approach-to-oil-supplies-23619">growing dependence on imported fuel</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/end-of-the-road-for-traditional-vehicles-here-are-the-facts-85419">End of the road for traditional vehicles? Here are the facts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Without an adequate recharging network, Australian motorists risk being left in the rear-view mirror as the rest of the world’s drivers go electric. With electric cars forecast to reach <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-06/the-electric-car-revolution-%20is-accelerating">price equivalency with petrol cars by 2025</a>, we need to help Australians overcome their anxieties about running out of charge before they reach their destination. </p>
<p>Governments can do this by mandating a comprehensive open-access recharging network to speed the uptake of electric vehicles. We won’t be able to fix the problem overnight but we have to get started. There is no shortage of other countries to look to for ideas.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was coauthored by <a href="http://www.ies.unsw.edu.au/our-people/gail-broadbent">Gail Broadbent</a>, a postgraduate researcher at UNSW’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86478/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danielle Drozdzewski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
While other countries race into the distance, Australia is still on the starting grid when it comes to electric cars. Why so slow? Because we don’t have a proper recharging network.
Graciela Metternicht, Professor of Environmental Geography, School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney
Danielle Drozdzewski, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/84178
2017-10-03T10:11:35Z
2017-10-03T10:11:35Z
Governments, car companies must resolve their competing goals for self-driving cars
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186422/original/file-20170918-8300-eu875i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When will cars be able to talk to their surroundings?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/self-driving-electronic-computer-car-on-559597045">posteriori/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What self-driving cars want, and what people want from them, varies widely. And often these desires are at odds with each other. For instance, carmakers – and the designers of the software that will run autonomous vehicles – know that it’s safest if cars stay far away from each other. But traffic engineers know that if every car operated to ensure lots of surrounding space, local roads and highways alike would be clogged for miles, and nobody would get anywhere.</p>
<p>Another inherent conflict involves how cars handle crises. No consumer wants to buy a self-driving car that’s programmed, even in the most remote of circumstances, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf2654">to kill its driver</a> instead of someone else (even if it would <a href="http://moralmachine.mit.edu/">save a class of kindergarteners</a> or a group of Nobel Prize winners). However, if every car is programmed always to save its occupants at any cost, <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/06/self-driving-cars-will-power-kill-wont-conscience/">pedestrians and cyclists</a> are at risk. </p>
<p>As federal regulations for self-driving cars advance in <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/business/tech-news/2017/09/06/The-SELF-DRIVE-Act-just-passed-the-U-S-House-here-s-what-that-means-for-autonomous-vehicles/stories/201709060138">congressional votes</a> and the <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/13069a-ads2.0_090617_v9a_tag.pdf">U.S. Department of Transportation issues guidelines</a>, an important part of real progress will be how everyone involved approaches those inherent conflicts. Research at the <a href="http://www.transportation.institute.ufl.edu/">University of Florida Transportation Institute</a>, where I serve as the director, shows that the key to resolving these competitions of goals is communication among all the elements of the transportation network – cars, pedestrians, bicycles, guardrails, traffic lights, stop signs, roadways themselves and everything else. And if they’re all going to talk to each other, the people who make all those things need to talk to each other too. </p>
<p>Our institute is providing opportunities to do that. Our efforts include working with the Florida Department of Transportation and the City of Gainesville to <a href="https://www.demandstar.com/supplier/bids/Bid_Detail.asp?_PU=%2Fsupplier%2Fbids%2Fagency_inc%2Fbid_list%2Easp%3F_RF%3D1%26f%3Dsearch%26mi%3D10071&LP=BB&BI=331953">set up an autonomous shuttle</a> between the UF campus and downtown Gainesville and partnering with industry to create a <a href="http://www.transportation.institute.ufl.edu/research-2/istreet/">testing area for autonomous cars and other advanced transportation technologies</a> on campus roads and surrounding highways. But with so little coordination in today’s transportation world, there’s a long way to go.</p>
<h2>Problems large and small</h2>
<p>The road system in the U.S. has serious problems. Americans spend <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-traffic-study/u-s-commuters-spend-about-42-hours-a-year-stuck-in-traffic-jams-idUSKCN0QV0A820150826">more than 40 hours per year</a> stuck in traffic; <a href="https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812412">more than 30,000 people die</a> each year in crashes on U.S. roads, making cars <a href="http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/usa-cause-of-death-by-age-and-gender">one of the leading causes of death</a> for Americans under the age of 64. These are serious problems, and <a href="http://www.automatedvehiclessymposium.org/home">many hope</a> that autonomous cars can help solve them.</p>
<p>Nationwide statistics can mask smaller issues, though. The country’s transportation system is full of examples where coordination and collaboration would be extremely helpful., and even where the individual components may work but the system overall isn’t as streamlined as it could be.</p>
<p>Many communities have major roads where <a href="http://www.twincities.com/2017/09/09/minnesota-36-commuters-to-get-20-more-seconds-of-green-and-whos-using-new-st-croix-bridge/">drivers have to stop unnecessarily</a> because <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2014/traffic-lights-theres-a-better-way-0707">traffic lights aren’t coordinated</a> among the different towns drivers pass through. And because different government agencies operate highways and local roads, when emergencies happen, drivers aren’t always <a href="https://waldo.villagesoup.com/p/officials-debrief-aug-2-traffic-nightmare/1684341">rerouted smoothly</a> or efficiently.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186421/original/file-20170918-8236-4rojqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186421/original/file-20170918-8236-4rojqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186421/original/file-20170918-8236-4rojqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186421/original/file-20170918-8236-4rojqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186421/original/file-20170918-8236-4rojqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186421/original/file-20170918-8236-4rojqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186421/original/file-20170918-8236-4rojqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186421/original/file-20170918-8236-4rojqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The city of Atlanta is one of many communities – including Gainesville, Florida – exploring the technology and effects of self-driving cars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Self-Driving-Cars/22319764d6d64e0286906b6d4eef15f2/2/0">AP Photo/Johnny Clark</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Making a place for testing</h2>
<p>With the Florida Department of Transportation and the city of Gainesville, our institute is building what we’re calling <a href="http://www.transportation.institute.ufl.edu/research-2/istreet/">I-STREET, a testing infrastructure</a>
for autonomous vehicles and related technologies. As new components such as sensors and other monitoring equipment are installed on roads and highways in and around the university’s campus, researchers will be able to evaluate a range of advanced technologies. For instance, we’ll use cars that can talk to the other elements of the system, including each other, and can drive themselves on roads equipped with sensors to monitor traffic conditions.</p>
<p>In preliminary simulations, we have found real savings in travel time with self-driving vehicles that can communicate with their surroundings and adjust their paths on the go. For example, when self-driving cars and traffic lights can talk to each other, they can adjust cars’ speeds and the timing of red and green lights to help every car move more smoothly. Depending on the level of traffic and the number of self-driving cars mixed into human-driven traffic, travel times can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2014.10.001">drop by 16 to 36 percent</a>, which may save nearly a minute of delay per car.</p>
<p>On highways, a <a href="https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop14020/sec1.htm">major bottleneck happens around on-ramps</a>, where entering vehicles may have trouble finding openings in fast-moving traffic. When frustrated drivers force their way onto the road, nearby cars must brake abruptly and <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-co-accident-death-20111228-story.html">may even crash</a>. I helped <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2017.04.015">develop an algorithm</a> that uses information from self-driving vehicles to plan optimal paths for them. It can tell the cars already on the highway to move to the leftmost lane, making room for entering vehicles. Our simulations show that everyone’s collective travel time can be reduced by as much as 35 percent for the area around the on-ramp, or about 40 seconds per vehicle when traffic is heavy.</p>
<p>This type of intercar communication, coupled with the involvement of road sensors on the highway and in the on-ramp, can be built only if governments, contractors and international car manufacturers work together. That can ensure not only that individual vehicles are safe but also that the entire traffic system functions efficiently.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84178/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lily Elefteriadou receives funding from Florida Department of Transportation, US DOT, NSF, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program. She is affiliated with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), the Transportation Research Board, ITS America, and the Women in Transportation Seminar (WTS). She works for the University of Florida. </span></em></p>
If all the elements in the transportation system are going to talk to each other, the people at the companies and government agencies that make those items need to talk to each other too.
Lily Elefteriadou, Professor of Civil Engineering; Director of University of Florida Transportation Institute, University of Florida
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/80744
2017-07-10T20:08:40Z
2017-07-10T20:08:40Z
Delaying action on car emissions will make Australia more vulnerable
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177487/original/file-20170710-29699-oz4tom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We don't know what the car of the future will look like – but that's no excuse to delay transport reform. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/xavier33300/13982692870/">www.twin-loc.fr/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>France has set its car manufacturers the goal of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-07/france-moves-to-ban-petrol-and-diesel-cars/8686944">halting sales of diesel and petrol cars by 2040</a>. The announcement last week came a day after the Swedish manufacturer Volvo declared it will build <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-06/volvo-goes-electric,-ditches-cars-powered-solely-by-gas/8683850">only hybrid and electric cars from 2019</a>.</p>
<p>Moving away from highly polluting cars is an urgent global priority. Worldwide, transport accounts for <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692306001207">26% of humanity’s carbon dioxide emissions</a> and, of these emissions, 81% comes from road transport. </p>
<p>Our latest research, published in the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/IdQwTbeKJcRAn2YNPueh/full">International Journal of Sustainable Transportation</a>, shows that car ownership and the total distance travelled by cars are both likely to keep growing, globally and in Australia. </p>
<p>But just because there will be more cars, covering more ground, that doesn’t necessarily mean CO₂ emissions will continue to rise. It depends on a complex mix of population trends, income growth and the impacts of new policies and technologies. </p>
<p>It might therefore seem sensible to delay policy decisions until we can see what type of future emerges. However, our research found that a “wait and see” approach will dramatically increase our <a href="https://uonblogs.newcastle.edu.au/herdingthegreenchicken/2017/07/07/sustainable-transport-pre-emptive-policy-strike-reduces-vulnerability/">economic, social and environmental vulnerability</a>.</p>
<p>Lower-income Australians are particularly at risk. This is because transport accounts for a greater proportion of their household income and they tend to live on the urban fringe where <a href="http://www.yooyahcloud.com/MOSSCOMMUNICATIONS/mnzVl/CSIRO_Modelling_of_the_future_of_transport_fuels_in_Aust.pdf">daily travel distances</a> are necessarily higher.</p>
<p>Future-proofing our transport policy means we must <a href="https://uonblogs.newcastle.edu.au/herdingthegreenchicken/2017/05/16/scenarios-creating-alternate-futures-just-dont-know">engage with uncertainty</a>, not ignore it. That means choosing policies that allow us to adapt to a range of technological or social developments.</p>
<p>We modelled different policy options in Western Australia, looking for options that reduced CO₂ emissions without creating social vulnerabilities. The most effective approach requires simultaneously improving fuel standards, making cars more efficient, and increasing city density to reduce both car ownership and the total distance we need to travel in cars. </p>
<p>However, CO₂ emissions alone don’t provide the full picture. Our model found that encouraging biofuels, for example, could mean increasing our agricultural footprint to grow feedstock. </p>
<p>Similarly, electric and hydrogen-fuelled vehicles require energy supplied by the electricity sector. As this sector itself decarbonises, technologies such as solar, hydro and wind will require <a href="http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:24204?f0=sm_subject%3A%22renewable+energy%22">greater areas of land</a> than coal and gas technologies.</p>
<p>However, managing carbon dioxide emissions and demand on land is not necessarily mutually exclusive. Wind turbines can co-exist with grazing, and decentralised solar panels are already <a href="https://theconversation.com/get-in-on-the-ground-floor-how-apartments-can-join-the-solar-boom-79172">common on existing buildings</a>. Offshore wind farms and solar installed on otherwise unproductive land can lessen impact. <a href="authors.elsevier.com/a/1VDxy3HcE1NgNg">Targeted investment</a> in technological efficiency can further reduce this impact. </p>
<p>Using land for both agriculture and energy production could actually give farmers greater economic resilience. Alternative fuels that use waste products or are low-impact (such as biofuel made from algae) are also promising avenues. </p>
<h2>The economic case for expensive changes</h2>
<p>Although the implementation of stringent transport policy will be costly – it requires massive changes in capital infrastructure and behaviour – it will open up other benefits and saving. </p>
<p>Vehicle emissions are recognised as the source of more air pollution than <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X04000034">any other single human activity</a>. These emissions cause <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-needs-stricter-rules-to-curb-air-pollution-but-theres-a-lot-we-could-all-do-now-71075">hundreds of preventable deaths</a> in Australia every year. (As well as saving lives, we’d also save billions of dollars in related costs.)</p>
<p>Well-designed, more compact urban spaces <a href="https://uli.bookstore.ipgbook.com/growing-cooler-products-9780874201789.php">encourage more biking and walking</a>. This, in turn, reduces chronic diseases that also cost Australians <a href="https://theconversation.com/balancing-the-health-budget-chronic-disease-investment-pays-big-dividends-46598">billions every year</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177483/original/file-20170710-29718-1vsn9po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177483/original/file-20170710-29718-1vsn9po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177483/original/file-20170710-29718-1vsn9po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177483/original/file-20170710-29718-1vsn9po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177483/original/file-20170710-29718-1vsn9po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177483/original/file-20170710-29718-1vsn9po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177483/original/file-20170710-29718-1vsn9po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177483/original/file-20170710-29718-1vsn9po.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/monkchips/4254681996/">J G/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research shows that compact cities <a href="http://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/Costs_of_Sprawl_2000_160966.aspx">reduce infrastructure costs by 11%</a>; a 2015 report found gridlock alone could cost Australia <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-22/gridlocked-cities-to-cost-australia-billions-each-year/6488674">A$53 billion by 2031</a>. Curbing urban sprawl can <a href="https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art36/ES-2006-1689.pd">reduce the clearing of native vegetation</a>, which benefits the rivers and animals that live around our cities.</p>
<p>Changing the type of fuel used by cars, improving vehicle efficiency and increasing city density are all policy levers that can reduce the footprint of urban cars, but these must occur in tandem. To minimise costs and realise the potential savings, policymakers need to collaborate on finding policies that are flexible enough to adapt to an uncertain future. </p>
<p>Should we have the leadership to implement such sophisticated policy, we might accidentally design a future in which we are healthier and happier too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80744/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bonnie McBain received funding from the Australian Research Council to undertake this research.</span></em></p>
Australia needs to ‘embrace uncertainty’ on the future of transport, with flexible, holistically focused policy.
Bonnie McBain, Tutor in Sustainability Science, University of Newcastle
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/76080
2017-05-10T19:37:11Z
2017-05-10T19:37:11Z
Sustainable shopping: with the right tools, you can find an eco-friendly car
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167842/original/file-20170504-21620-6v6bm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When we look at the latest car models we want fast cars, all-terrain cars or cars to fit the whole family. What about an environmentally friendly car?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">REUTERS/Toby Melville</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Shopping can be confusing at the best of times, and trying to find environmentally friendly options makes it even more difficult. Welcome to the second instalment of our <a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-shopping-heres-how-to-find-coffee-that-doesnt-cost-the-earth-75284">Sustainable Shopping</a> series, in which we ask experts to provide easy eco-friendly guides to purchases big and small.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p>Cars are vital to Australians. As of 2016, we have <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/9309.0">18.4 million</a> registered motor vehicles, producing <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/aa9c4314-8971-4592-a23f-953a69c024f1/files/australias-second-biennial-report.pdf">vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the combustion of fuels.</a>.</p>
<p>The harms of CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel burning have been hammered home time and time again: they are the main driver of global warming and <a href="https://theconversation.com/burning-fossil-fuels-is-responsible-for-most-sea-level-rise-since-1970-57286">sea level rise</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-pursuit-of-carbon-and-fossil-fuels-harms-vulnerable-communities-69364">they harm vulnerable communities</a>. So how can our choice of car minimise these devastating outcomes? </p>
<h2>The issue</h2>
<p>Without <a href="http://www.coagenergycouncil.gov.au/sites/prod.energycouncil/files/publications/documents/National%20Energy%20Productivity%20Plan%20release%20version%20FINAL_0.pdf">reducing road transport emissions</a> , the Australian Government will find it difficult to meet our climate target of a <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/aa9c4314-8971-4592-a23f-953a69c024f1/files/australias-second-biennial-report.pdf">26-28% reduction</a> on 2005 emission levels by 2030. </p>
<p>A simple way to reduce transport emissions significantly is to guide consumers towards more fuel-efficient vehicles. Many other countries have minimum national standards for new cars, but <a href="https://theconversation.com/emissions-standards-on-cars-will-save-australians-billions-of-dollars-and-help-meet-our-climate-targets-74623">no such targets</a> currently exist in Australia. </p>
<p>This means global car manufacturers can <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-weaker-emissions-standards-allow-car-makers-to-dump-polluting-cars-48172">dump high-polluting cars</a>, which can’t be sold in countries with stricter regulations, into the Australian market. The most fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles offered in Australia are on average less efficient than those offered in other countries with fuel efficiency standards. <a href="https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/environment/forum/files/Vehicle_Fuel_Efficiency_RIS.pdf">Car manufacturers</a> offer those vehicles that are cost effective to supply and maximise their profit in the Australian market.</p>
<p>Internationally, this makes Australia a laggard when it comes to energy efficiency in the transport sector, <a href="http://aceee.org/files/pdf/country/australia.pdf">ranking last</a> out of 16 major OECD countries. </p>
<h2>How can we increase sustainability?</h2>
<p>The federal government has proposed a set of <a href="infrastructure.gov.au/roads/environment/forum/files/Vehicle_Fuel_Efficiency_RIS.pdf">fuel-efficiency and CO₂ emission regulations</a>, to be introduced by 2020. </p>
<p>The regulations will encourage car manufacturers to import and promote the most fuel-efficient models. Evidence shows that motorists’ vehicle choices play a key role in <a href="https://www.ntc.gov.au/Media/Reports/(C19AD85F-32EC-4605-886F-8448F1CB00A2).pdf">decarbonising the transport sector</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167661/original/file-20170503-4124-14wivnu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167661/original/file-20170503-4124-14wivnu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167661/original/file-20170503-4124-14wivnu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167661/original/file-20170503-4124-14wivnu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167661/original/file-20170503-4124-14wivnu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167661/original/file-20170503-4124-14wivnu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167661/original/file-20170503-4124-14wivnu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167661/original/file-20170503-4124-14wivnu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The current Australian fuel consumption label is confusing and doesn’t give people enough context.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://climatechangeauthority.gov.au/reviews/light-vehicle-emissions-standards-australia/policies-reducing-light-vehicle-emissions">Climate Change Authority</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But as it stands, if you want to make an informed choice about your new car, you generally have to rely on the mandatory <a href="http://www.coagenergycouncil.gov.au/sites/prod.energycouncil/files/publications/documents/NEPP%20Work%20Plan%20version%20for%20release%20-%2020151203sc_0.pdf">fuel-efficiency and CO₂ emission labels</a> (displayed on all new cars), and information provided in the <a href="http://www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au/pages/Information/FuelConsumptionLabel">Green Vehicle Guide</a>. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, current car labels can be very confusing, presenting numbers with very little context. There is a simple way to make this labelling more effective, which <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/transport/vehicles/labelling_en">other countries</a> have done very well: rate vehicles against a benchmark. </p>
<p>The Irish fuel label, for instance, includes colour-coded bands to rank CO₂ emissions, and an estimate of the amount of fuel needed to travel 18,000km. Buyers can tell at a glance if a score is good or bad, and thus easily compare models.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167662/original/file-20170503-4120-15gwbgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167662/original/file-20170503-4120-15gwbgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167662/original/file-20170503-4120-15gwbgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167662/original/file-20170503-4120-15gwbgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167662/original/file-20170503-4120-15gwbgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167662/original/file-20170503-4120-15gwbgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167662/original/file-20170503-4120-15gwbgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167662/original/file-20170503-4120-15gwbgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Irish fuel consumption labels are well recognised and easily understood by consumers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.askaboutireland.ie/aai-files/assets/Environment/Climate%20C/Change/Low-Carbon-A.pdf">Ask About Ireland</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Irish car labels also tell buyers about the vehicle’s registration tax (stamp duty), which varies based on its CO₂ emissions.</p>
<h2>What can Australians do?</h2>
<p>The best starting point when buying a new car is the <a href="https://www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au/">Green Vehicle Guide</a>, which gives you the CO₂ emissions intensity for each model. </p>
<p>Let’s say I really want a fuel efficient medium-sized SUV. Searching in the Green Vehicle Guide will lead me to the <a href="https://www.ntc.gov.au/Media/Reports/(C19AD85F-32EC-4605-886F-8448F1CB00A2).pdf">Mitsubishi Outlander (petrol-electric) hybrid</a>, which emits 44g of CO₂ per kilometre.</p>
<p>I can see that’s better than the other SUVs detailed in the guide, but I want some more context. My next step is to look at the <a href="https://www.ntc.gov.au/Media/Reports/(C19AD85F-32EC-4605-886F-8448F1CB00A2).pdf">Carbon Dioxide Emissions Intensity report</a> by the National Transport Commission, which will give me an idea of how the Mitsubishi measures up against other new vehicles in Australia.</p>
<p>That report is a whopping 66 pages long, but the graph below is on page 21. It shows the range and average of CO₂ emissions of 2015 vehicle models, so I can see that the average medium SUV emits 175g per km, and the upper limit is over 250g per km. The Mitsubishi is therefore a pretty sound choice – it’s actually under the average emissions of all classes of new vehicles. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167630/original/file-20170503-4110-23fkrs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167630/original/file-20170503-4110-23fkrs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167630/original/file-20170503-4110-23fkrs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167630/original/file-20170503-4110-23fkrs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167630/original/file-20170503-4110-23fkrs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167630/original/file-20170503-4110-23fkrs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167630/original/file-20170503-4110-23fkrs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167630/original/file-20170503-4110-23fkrs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The average and the range of carbon dioxide emissions intensity of car models during 2015. The average emissions are represented by the horizontal lines and the range of emissions are represented by the vertical lines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ntc.gov.au/Media/Reports/(C19AD85F-32EC-4605-886F-8448F1CB00A2).pdf">National Transport Commission</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ideally, finding a less environmentally damaging car would not take this much work. </p>
<p>The Green Vehicle Guide should compare all categories of new vehicles against the “<a href="https://www.ntc.gov.au/Media/Reports/(C19AD85F-32EC-4605-886F-8448F1CB00A2).pdf">best in class</a>” chart on page 22 of the Carbon Dioxide Emissions Intensity report. Better still, manufacturers should have to provide this information in an easily understood way on each car they sell. </p>
<p>Such rankings would inform people whether the vehicle they are choosing is an eco-friendly brand, and put pressure on manufacturers to improve their Australian offerings. </p>
<p>Making it easy to find greener cars can have a big impact. If all Australians buying a new vehicle in 2015 had picked the “best in class” for their model, the national average for new car CO₂ emissions that year would have been <a href="https://www.ntc.gov.au/Media/Reports/(C19AD85F-32EC-4605-886F-8448F1CB00A2).pdf">55% lower</a>. </p>
<p>The government can help the environment and consumers by following the European Union’s example. This would mean imposing better industry standards and raising consumer awareness by providing information on car labels that is easily understood and transparent, such as ranking vehicles against colour coded CO2 emission bands. Until then, a little information and some homework can help you find the most eco-friendly vehicle for your needs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76080/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Mortimore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The Australian market is awash with highly polluting cars. But there are a couple of key resources to help you find the best vehicle that fits your needs.
Anna Mortimore, Lecturer, Griffith Business School, Griffith University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/73413
2017-02-24T11:14:50Z
2017-02-24T11:14:50Z
How a rugged Soviet relic became one of the car industry’s most iconic survivors
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157741/original/image-20170221-18630-1g8n1hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lada Niva: still going strong.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/togliatti-russia-october-13-russian-jeep-335789474?src=nBU_KNfYjFAzLefyxdVULA-2-7">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When mass market 4x4s first appeared on the scene in the 1970s, I was a little boy. I was in awe of these huge, rugged things that started appearing everywhere. Toyota Landcruisers, Range Rovers, Mercedes G models, Chevy Blazers … they had an air of exoticism and adventure that I found irresistible.</p>
<p>I could literally smell horses and hear country music every time a Blazer or a Bronco appeared on the roads of my hometown, as if they had driven straight there from the Wild West.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157947/original/image-20170222-6426-1cqf1ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157947/original/image-20170222-6426-1cqf1ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157947/original/image-20170222-6426-1cqf1ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157947/original/image-20170222-6426-1cqf1ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157947/original/image-20170222-6426-1cqf1ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157947/original/image-20170222-6426-1cqf1ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157947/original/image-20170222-6426-1cqf1ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Well, there’s always the carwash.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/335781149?src=nBU_KNfYjFAzLefyxdVULA-1-81&size=medium_jpg">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>That magic was not lost on the adults, either. All around us, friends and family began contemplating the purchase of one of these newly-domesticated adventure vehicles. Would it be a Nissan Patrol or an Isuzu Trooper? A Suzuki LJ or a Samurai? It was the fashionable thing to do to buy a vehicle you could easily take across the Sahara and back, or do the Transamericana in, from Alaska to Argentina. Many rarely left the nearby cul-de-sac, but I know some that went to the ends of the Earth.</p>
<h2>The world at your feet</h2>
<p>It was as if the world had suddenly become a more accessible place – and what’s more, this new breed of vehicles could even take you to Timbuktu in a measure of comfort. There were perfectly domesticated seats inside, you could get power steering, even automatic transmission, just like in a normal car. Only these things could play tricks you wouldn’t dream of performing with one of those more conventional vehicles. </p>
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<p>My father and I spent unforgettable hours test driving late 70s and early 80s SUVs in the presence of enthusiastic salesmen who would stop at nothing to convince us that every high school teacher needed a vehicle that could climb a 45-degree incline in low gear, lock differentials, and wade through surging rivers. Some of these test drives felt positively dangerous, and yet, car and passengers always emerged unscathed back at the dealership.</p>
<p>This was also the time of the Cold War, and we Europeans eyed the Soviet Union and the Eastern Block as a place perhaps best compared to the Land of Mordor in Lord of the Rings. It seemed a mysterious place, closed to all inquiry and even touristic interest, all the while coldly plotting to eradicate us all. </p>
<p>And yet, they gave us fantastic <a href="http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Radio_Yerevan_Jokes">Radio Yerevan</a> jokes – and some truly iconic cars (as well as some rather sketchy ones). In fact, my mother’s side of the family started the Czech company <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_(company)">Tatra</a>, known among vintage car enthusiasts as the manufacturers of wonderfully dolphin-shaped vehicles with air-cooled, rear-mounted V8 engines and central, airplane-style fins.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157949/original/image-20170222-6409-vpto09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157949/original/image-20170222-6409-vpto09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157949/original/image-20170222-6409-vpto09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157949/original/image-20170222-6409-vpto09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157949/original/image-20170222-6409-vpto09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157949/original/image-20170222-6409-vpto09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157949/original/image-20170222-6409-vpto09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Right at home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/togliatti-russia-september-28-russian-jeep-335789438?src=nBU_KNfYjFAzLefyxdVULA-1-54">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>These jokes and the family car connection enabled me at an early age to fully appreciate one contender in the 1970-80s 4x4 racket many Western Europeans eyed with contempt and suspicion: the <a href="http://www.ladaniva.co.uk/topgear.pdf">Lada Niva</a>.</p>
<h2>No joke</h2>
<p>The Russian car marque Lada, produced by <a href="http://company.avtovaz.ru/en/">AvtoVAZ</a>, was the butt of jokes in the West. What do you call a Lada with a sunroof? Yes, a skip (that’s a dumpster to north American readers). The saloon car, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/classiccars/6670541/10-cars-that-should-never-have-been-built.html?image=3">the Riva</a>, was the main target of the jibes. But Lada made an off-roader too. The rugged little Niva first took to the road in 1977. And 40 years on it’s still going strong. </p>
<p>My first encounter with this vehicle was at a motor show in Germany, where it was trying hard to look cool next to a <a href="http://www.carophile.com/14-best-off-road-vehicles-ever/">Toyota Landcruiser J50</a> … and winning hands down, in my opinion. Where the Toyota came across as brutish, tinny and truck-like, the Lada exuded an almost feminine grace and an urbane elegance that could have befitted a city in Italy. Keep in mind, this is the late 1970s – a time when people thought the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_W114">Mercedes W114</a> looked “sleek” (these days, we would liken it more to a piece of furniture).</p>
<p>The Lada Niva (“нива” is the Russian for “crop field”) was an immensely advanced and forward-thinking concept. And now it is apparent how influential it has actually been. Its dimensions are very reasonable, compact, garage-friendly; you can drive around a European city in one without worrying you might leave a trail of destruction. Its body has a timeless, almost Italian, <a href="http://www.topgear.com/car-news/classic/five-giorgetto-giugiaros-craziest-car-designs#1">Giorgetto Giugiaroesque</a> aesthetic, which is perhaps no wonder since the Italians featured heavily in Eastern Block car design at the time, and incidentally also designed the last generation Tatra V8 in the 70s. </p>
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<p>But it wasn’t only the way the Niva looked that made it special; it actually had a <a href="https://www.carfax.com/blog/frame-vs-unibody-cars/">unibody</a>, which set it apart from the ladder-frame based monsters around it, resulting in more refined handling, lower weight, and better passive safety than its rivals. Years went by until Jeep picked up on this concept with its successful <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep_Cherokee#/media/File:Jeep_Cherokee_2-door.jpg">Cherokee</a>. </p>
<p>The chassis and drivetrain were also absolute jewels of engineering by comparison to the leaf-sprung (a basic form of suspension), rigid-axle rivals from Japan and the US. The Niva actually had three differentials, an independent suspension at the front, plus coil springs all around when nobody else did this with the exception of perhaps Range Rover. Even the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monteverdi_Safari">Monteverdi Safari</a>, at the time considered absolute royalty among 4x4s, had a leaf-sprung rear axle. </p>
<p>It could also, seemingly, go anywhere. Lightweight and tough, it could drive where other, bulkier 4x4s ground to a halt. Used by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lada_Niva">Soviet Antarctic Expedition</a>, it reportedly became the first car to spend more than a decade on the frozen continent.</p>
<p>But the best thing is that the Lada Niva is still available today – <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/555317/Lada-return-Niva-Riva-Land-Rover-Defender-demise-discontinued-Top-Gear-James-May">outliving even Land Rover’s iconic Defender</a> – almost unchanged, in its original, brilliant, clean package. You can buy it, you can run it, you can get it fixed. The car is a brand new vintage model that makes economic sense. If you buy one now, you can even choose a snowplough as an optional extra. You could go off-road to Siberia and back.</p>
<p>I’ve been saving up my pocket money to buy one since I was nine, and hey, now it’s 40 I might just go for it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73413/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Ebbert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The Lada Niva is 40 years old – and it could just be the best 4x4 ever made.
Chris Ebbert, Senior Lecturer in Product Design, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/71075
2017-01-18T19:06:26Z
2017-01-18T19:06:26Z
Australia needs stricter rules to curb air pollution, but there’s a lot we could all do now
<p>Have you ever left your car running as you wait for a passenger to return from a quick errand? It’s called idling, and while it may feel easier than switching it off and on again, it wastes money and fuel, and dumps pollutants into the air. Vehicle emissions are a very significant contributor to air pollution, which causes health problems.</p>
<p>Few of us would leave the tap running or the fridge door open, and many are diligent about turning off lights. But when it comes to air pollution, many people are wasteful and unaware.</p>
<p>We need major public health campaigns to change people’s beliefs about what they can do to reduce air pollution, similar to the campaigns and enforcement that made our public spaces smoke-free and our schools and beaches sun smart. Australia also needs stronger policy aimed at curbing air pollution.</p>
<p>The Australian government’s fuel efficiency standards and noxious vehicle emission standards <a href="https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/environment/forum/index.aspx">review</a>, under way now, offers a chance to do that – but what’s been proposed so far doesn’t go anywhere near far enough.</p>
<h2>A lack of awareness and weak standards</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4414870/">Air pollution</a> is <a href="https://www.healtheffects.org/publication/traffic-related-air-pollution-critical-review-literature-emissions-exposure-and-health">associated with</a> cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, dementia, cancer, pregnancy complications and adverse birth outcomes.</p>
<p>Many governments around the world now ask citizens to stay home when <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/particulate-matter-pm-basics#PM">particulate matter</a> – meaning the mix of solid particles and liquid droplets in the air – from vehicles, fossil-fuel and wood burning are at hazardous levels. </p>
<p>And <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251667411_Estimating_the_effect_of_on-road_vehicle_emission_controls_on_future_air_quality_in_Paris_France">bans on diesel vehicles</a> in some places are part of a broader push to cut the amount of harmful particulate matter, nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air.</p>
<p>Australia, by contrast, lags behind the rest of the world on policies to reduce air pollution. Take, for example, our rules on sulfur in fuels – a particularly damaging component of vehicle emissions.</p>
<p>Australia has one of the world’s most lenient sulfur standards for petrol, allowing 150 parts per million. That’s <a href="http://www.theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/ICCT_StateOfCleanTransportPolicy_2014.pdf">15 times the limit allowed in the European Union</a>, Japan and the US. It’s three times what’s allowed in Brazil and China (China will allow just 10 parts per million from 2018).</p>
<p>Australia’s air quality standards, which are also being reviewed under the <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/f190181a-9a4c-4e2f-8144-aad86e5d95ef/files/national-clean-air-agreement-mid-term-review-report.pdf">National Clean Air Agreement</a>, feature good targets – even better than the World Health Organisation recommendations for PM2.5. However, without stricter measures to reduce vehicle emissions, these air quality targets will not be achieved.</p>
<p>The Australian government’s review of <a href="https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/environment/forum/files/Vehicle_Fuel_Efficiency_RIS.pdf">fuel efficiency</a> and <a href="https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/environment/forum/files/Vehicle_Noxious_Emissions_RIS.pdf">vehicle emission</a> standards is looking at particulate matter, ozone, nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide (known collectively as NOx), and carbon. But what has been proposed so far worryingly includes a do-nothing scenario.</p>
<h2>Doing nothing comes with significant cost</h2>
<p>The OECD estimates that there are approximately <a href="http://www.oecd.org/env/the-cost-of-air-pollution-9789264210448-en.htm">740 preventable deaths per year in Australia</a> due to ozone and <a href="http://www.npi.gov.au/resource/particulate-matter-pm10-and-pm25">PM2.5</a> (the very fine particulate matter from vehicle emissions which, when inhaled, goes deep into the lungs and can pass into the bloodstream), but that does not include NOx – so these are very conservative estimates.</p>
<p>To put this in context, there are <a href="https://bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/road_deaths_australia_monthly_bulletins.aspx">1,280 deaths on our roads each year</a> and another 740 deaths due to vehicle emissions. This is a significant cost for choosing a transport system reliant on fossil fuel.</p>
<p>If the strictest standard being considered by Australia under the <a href="https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/environment/forum/files/Vehicle_Noxious_Emissions_RIS.pdf">review</a> – the Euro 6 standard – is mandated for both light and heavy vehicles, a <a href="https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/environment/forum/files/Vehicle_Noxious_Emissions_RIS.pdf">net benefit of A$675 million</a> will be realised by 2040. This figure is very small compared to the current annual cost of vehicle pollution to Australia of <a href="http://www.oecd.org/env/the-cost-of-air-pollution-9789264210448-en.htm">A$4 billion</a>.</p>
<p>But the standard Australia considers the strictest option is actually business as usual now in the US and Europe. Surprisingly, the <a href="https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/environment/forum/files/Vehicle_Noxious_Emissions_RIS.pdf">impact statement</a> doesn’t even discuss banning or phasing out diesel vehicles in cities – a policy that experts now consider global best practice. </p>
<h2>What could be done?</h2>
<p>The decisions being made this year on Australia’s fuel efficiency and vehicle emission policies can improve the health of our urban air. This is a great chance to simultaneously improve fuel efficiency, demand higher-quality fuels and implement emission testing for vehicles to improve the air in our cities. </p>
<p>In the short term, we can all try to use cars less often and not idle our cars when in use. Raising awareness helps; a recent study showed <a href="https://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/0804/idling-reduction-trials-save-more-than-$12-million-in-diesel-report">millions of dollars could be saved in fuel costs</a> by exposing drivers of fleets to anti-idling initiatives. </p>
<p>Purchasing a vehicle with automatic <a href="http://www.motoring.com.au/how-it-works-idle-stop-51963/">idle-stop technology</a> will help cut vehicle emissions. This technology, popular in high-end European car models, automatically switches off the vehicle when it is still and allows the driver to restart the car when their foot presses the accelerator. </p>
<p>To achieve a population-level benefit from such technology, however, would require policymakers to include it in the <a href="https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/motor/design/">Australian Design Rules</a>, the national standards for vehicle safety, anti-theft measures and emissions. That process can take many years.</p>
<p>A more sustainable approach to air pollution would be to upgrade Australian refineries to supply low-sulfur fuel. Although costly, the alternative – the escalating health burden associated with vehicle emissions – is a cost too high for society to pay.</p>
<p>We cannot afford to continually invest in a transport system operated solely on fossil fuels. Supporting public transport that operates with “clean” fuels (such as our trams and trains, which run on electricity) will go some way to reducing air pollution in our cities. It is worth noting, though, that while our electricity is mostly fossil-fuelled, this only shifts the air pollution to someone else’s backyard.</p>
<p>Importantly, we need to raise public awareness of the quality of our air and ensure the government considers the long-term ramifications of short-sighted policies. </p>
<p>We must all do our part to improve air quality in Australia – and that means not idling your car, which is an offence that can <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/CompilationofStateIdlingRegulations.pdf">attract fines</a> as high as $5,000 and/or jail time in some parts of the world. </p>
<p>We can survive weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without air. Let’s start treating our air as the valuable commodity it is.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71075/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robyn Schofield receives funding from the National Environmental Science Program's Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub, and the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Stevenson has received funding from the NHMRC and the ARC. </span></em></p>
Australia needs stronger policy aimed at curbing air pollution, but the options currently on the table fall short. For now, we could all aim to drive less and turn off the engine when the car is idle.
Robyn Schofield, Senior Lecturer for Climate System Science, The University of Melbourne
Mark Stevenson, Professor of Urban Transport and Public Health, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/57046
2016-04-04T07:11:24Z
2016-04-04T07:11:24Z
Tesla’s gamble on its ‘affordable’ electric car
<p>Tesla announced what it calls its “most affordable” electric vehicle in the <a href="https://www.teslamotors.com/model3">Model 3</a> last week. The car can now be ordered with a <a href="https://www.teslamotors.com/support/model-3-reservation-deposit">deposit of A$1,500</a> in Australia (US$1,000 in the United States) but won’t be delivered until late 2017.</p>
<p>Within hours, the company’s founder and CEO Elon Musk said <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/716693951260938241">around 276,000 orders</a> had been placed, and he was already considering a <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/715955186175459332">rethink of production plans</a> following such high demand.</p>
<p>The estimated retail price of the car is US$35,000, but what will this equate to in Australia? Early estimates suggest it could be <a href="http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/03/heres-the-aussie-queue-for-teslas-model-3/">upwards of A$60,000</a>. Is that really an “affordable” vehicle?</p>
<p>Some of this cost relates to import duties and the Australian government is currently reviewing these and <a href="http://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/pf/releases/2016/february/pf018_2016.aspx">considering reduced taxes</a> for low-carbon vehicles.</p>
<h2>If Elon builds it, will you drive one?</h2>
<p>Electric vehicles may well be the way of future road transport, but the real question is this: what do we need to do to promote electric vehicle deployment?</p>
<p>Australia has abundant energy sources, except for oil. There are many sources for electricity generation (both fossil and renewable), so the promotion of electric vehicles makes logical sense. But the question of affordability remains, as it poses a barrier to adoption.</p>
<p>While we are seeing more electric vehicles on the road, most people have bought them because they are environmentally friendly; cost has not been an issue.</p>
<p>The majority of motor vehicle manufacturers are now introducing electric vehicles into their range, such as Tesla’s Model S (<a href="http://www.whichcar.com.au/search/make-tesla/model-model+s/">from about A$128,000</a>), BMW’s i3 (<a href="http://www.whichcar.com.au/search/make-bmw/model-i3">from about A$63,000</a>) and Nissan’s Leaf (<a href="http://www.whichcar.com.au/search/make-nissan/model-leaf">from about A$51,000</a>). But their price still places them at the high end of the market, although, in most cases, they are not luxury vehicles.</p>
<h2>The other charge</h2>
<p>There are a number of limitations affecting the roll-out of electric vehicles within Australia, particularly the distances they can travel between recharging and the lack of publicly available recharging infrastructure.</p>
<p>While there are plans to address these issues, the timeframe for implementation is unknown.</p>
<p>Countries such as <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/78247217/fast-electric-car-chargers-arrive-in-wellington-and-petone.html">New Zealand are already rolling out</a> a fast-charging electric vehicle network and will probably have a larger number of electric vehicles than Australia in the short term. But in terms of distances to be travelled, it is a much smaller country.</p>
<p>Charging sites are <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-to-put-the-first-electric-car-charge-station-in-the-sunshine-state-45236">being developed in Australia</a> though not at the same pace as New Zealand.</p>
<p>Problems with rolling out infrastructure will slow the uptake, particularly of larger models. In the short term, will this mean the electric vehicle is destined to be the second car?</p>
<p>The majority of households in Australia have two cars, so the electric vehicle is ideally placed to become the second vehicle, to be used for short trips, such as dropping kids to school or visiting the supermarket. For such use, they can be charged at home and not require any external infrastructure.</p>
<h2>Slow uptake</h2>
<p>Another issue that may <a href="http://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/electric-car-sales-still-a-trickle-in-australia-32848">slow uptake in Australia</a> is the capacity to service the vehicles. It is well known that the motor vehicle industry within Australia has seen considerable downscaling in recent years.</p>
<p>Electric vehicles will provide a new challenge due to the little current knowledge of the existing industry. With deployment of any new technology, technicians need to be trained and without sufficient technology deployment, companies will be reluctant to make that investment (as we have seen with the roll-out of battery storage within the Australian market). </p>
<p>Based on the normal innovation curve, there needs to be a significant number of vehicles on the road to create demand from people before they will be provided with recharging infrastructure.</p>
<p>And where do we place this infrastructure? Will charging stations be adopted by the current service station model? Will there be a need to establish new charging stations? Or will shopping centres and fast food chains adopt charging stations as part of their drive to attract customers (no pun intended)?</p>
<p>Given the potential limitations to powering and driving an electric vehicle in Australia, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com.au/over-120-australians-have-lined-up-to-pre-order-teslas-unseen-model-3-2016-3">the high demand</a> for Tesla’s Model 3 is interesting.</p>
<p>But given its long roll-out time of “late 2017”, will other manufacturers be able to introduce their own “most affordable” electric vehicles earlier? </p>
<p>If so, Tesla’s latest move may be just the nudge the industry needs to make electric vehicles really more attractive, and more affordable to new car buyers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Froome does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Tesla’s new Model 3 may be the kick the electric car industry needs to expand, with pre-orders exceeding expectations.
Craig Froome, Global Change Institute – Clean Energy Program Manager , The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/55244
2016-02-26T20:19:21Z
2016-02-26T20:19:21Z
Getting bike laws right means balancing rights of cyclists and motorists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112677/original/image-20160224-16444-9kyp5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Motorists in New South Wales must now keep a minimum distance of one metre when passing cyclists.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Richard Milnes</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From March 1, as part of the <a href="http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/go-together/index.html">“Go Together”</a> road safety campaign, motorists in New South Wales must keep a minimum distance of one metre when passing cyclists. This becomes 1.5 metres when the speed limit is above 60 km/h. </p>
<p>NSW joins <a href="https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/transport-travel-and-motoring/cycling/cyclist-road-rules-and-safety">South Australia</a>, <a href="http://www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety/rules/other/cyclists/">Queensland</a> and the <a href="http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/rattenbury/2015/new-cycling-rules-to-be-trialled-from-november">ACT</a> in passing laws to enforce this.</p>
<p>But while the introduction of the one-metre rule has been widely welcomed, cyclists have been decidedly less positive about other aspects of the Go Together package.</p>
<h2>ID requirements and penalty increases</h2>
<p>Cyclists over the age of 18 must now carry a driver’s licence or <a href="http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/roads/licence/nsw-photo-card.html">NSW Photo Card</a> while riding. However, there is a 12-month grace period for this requirement. </p>
<p>Fines for cyclists caught committing certain offences have increased, in some cases almost sixfold. </p>
<p>These include not wearing a helmet (from A$71 to A$319), running a red light ($71 to $425), riding dangerously ($71 to $425), holding on to a moving vehicle ($71 to $319) and failing to stop at a children’s or pedestrian crossing ($71 to $425).</p>
<h2>Finding balance</h2>
<p>Governments across Australia have undertaken to promote cycling as a desirable recreational activity and form of transport in recognition of its social, health, environmental, economic and other community benefits. </p>
<p>This goal must largely be pursued through non-legal means – including the building of infrastructure, such as separated cycle paths, and public education campaigns. But the law also has a role in encouraging the uptake of cycling. </p>
<p>Successful cycling law reform is complex. The law must recognise the unique status of the cyclist as both a legitimate and thus equal road user and one that is necessarily different. On the road the cyclist is vulnerable to the motorist. On the footpath the cyclist can be a threat to pedestrians.</p>
<p>The law can be a powerful symbolic statement that the state has endorsed the cyclist as a legitimate and desirable road user. However, where laws are perceived not to get the balance between protecting, promoting and regulating cyclists right, tensions can appear between cyclists, motorists, pedestrians and the wider community. </p>
<p>When laws are seen as pro-cyclist – or, more problematically, anti-motorist – this can foster an unwelcoming and dangerous culture on the road for cyclists.</p>
<h2>Will these changes promote cycling?</h2>
<p>The NSW government has tried to balance the need to protect cyclists and accept their different status against the potential backlash and controversy caused by perceptions that cyclists are receiving special treatment. But cyclists have heavily criticised the package as pandering too heavily to motorists and undermining the promotion of cycling.</p>
<p>The number of cyclists in the City of Sydney is <a href="http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/vision/towards-2030/transport-and-access/cycle-network">said to have doubled</a> over the last five years. But some have expressed concerns that many of the reforms will deter people from cycling. Transport NSW denies the laws will dampen cycling’s growth.</p>
<p>Bicycle Network CEO Craig Richards has referred to the mandatory ID requirement as a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/new-bike-laws-will-encourage-cycling-says-transport-for-nsw--but-cyclist-disagree-20160218-gmxnc8.html">“barrier”</a> for riders. It has also been labelled as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/nsw-cyclist-fines/7047740">“draconian”</a> and <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/news/riders-rally-to-protest-oppressive-new-laws/news-story/4b4dbc3028f042552f4435962a54a09d">“oppressive”</a>. </p>
<p>The government <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-22/new-south-wales-plan-for-cyclists-to-carry-id/7048244">argues</a> this requirement will help police identify cyclists who have been pulled over or who have been involved in an accident. On this basis, the law’s opponents have argued the same reasoning would apply to pedestrians – but they are not required to carry photo ID, so why should cyclists?</p>
<p>Those opposed to cyclists carrying ID have <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/northern-beaches/surfers-and-yoga-fans-will-bear-the-brunt-of-new-bike-helmet-laws-claim-cyclists/news-story/c029a515e2ee6a6a89415fb20164712a">also reasoned</a> the requirement that motorists carry a driver’s licence serves a very different purpose. A driver’s licence is required to prove you have passed your driving test; the requirement for cyclists is purely for identification.</p>
<p>In relation to the increase in penalties, concerns have been raised that this is simply a revenue-raising measure. Bicycle NSW <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/dec/21/nsw-cyclists-must-carry-id-and-will-face-same-fines-as-drivers-under-new-laws">has argued</a> that if cyclists and motorists are going to be treated as equals in terms of penalties, they should also be treated equally in terms of road design – which Bicycle NSW contends they are not.</p>
<p>The promotion of cycling by governments must undoubtedly combine significant investment in infrastructure with law reform that legitimises the cyclist as an equal and vulnerable road user. This can contribute to community acceptance of cyclists’ place. But it must do so in a way that is alive to the concerns of other road users or risk creating a more dangerous environment for cyclists.</p>
<p>The backlash by cyclists against the package of reforms in NSW is indicative of a government that has gone too far in this direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55244/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabrielle Appleby receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Nature Conservation Council, New South Wales. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Webster does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Cyclists have voiced their opposition to some aspects of the Go Together package to ensure their safety on NSW roads.
Adam Webster, Lecturer, Adelaide Law School, University of Adelaide
Gabrielle Appleby, Associate Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/49510
2015-11-09T03:47:39Z
2015-11-09T03:47:39Z
Australia’s new emissions rules will put yet another bump in the road for diesels
<p>Diesel cars have been rather controversial lately, as anyone who has been following Volkswagen’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/volkswagen-emissions-scandal">recent tribulations</a> will know.</p>
<p>In the past few years diesels have <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-diesel-but-how-cheap-and-clean-is-it-5589">surged in popularity</a> in Australia. They now account for <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/lookup/9309.0Media%20Release131%20Jan%202015">19.7% of all registered vehicles</a> (up from 13.8% in 2010). The number of registered diesels increased by <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbytitle/5A6E485518BA413BCA257BB00011A2EC?OpenDocument">more than 60% from 2007 to 2012</a>.</p>
<p>Consumers have embraced diesels mainly because of the savings delivered by their favourable fuel economy. But the Volkswagen scandal suggests that some manufacturers can design engines that meet either the requisite emissions standards or the market’s expectations of fuel economy and driveability, but might struggle to achieve both.</p>
<p>Australian emissions standards have generally <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-weaker-emissions-standards-allow-car-makers-to-dump-polluting-cars-48172">lagged behind</a> those of Europe and the United States, but the gap will reduce in November 2016, when Australia will <a href="https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/environment">adopt the full Euro 5 standard</a> for all light vehicles. </p>
<p>Motorists will see the advent of hitherto unfamiliar emissions control devices, and it could potentially signal the end of the road for booming diesel sales.</p>
<h2>Exhausting issue</h2>
<p>Diesel exhaust contains many compounds, although the regulations are mainly concerned with just three: carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrogen oxides (NO<sub>x</sub>), and particulate matter. CO₂ is a greenhouse gas and one of the principal combustion products of the fuel itself (the other being water). Virtually all of the carbon in the fuel is converted to CO₂, so a reduction in these emissions must necessarily come from an improvement in fuel economy. </p>
<p>NO<sub>x</sub> is formed in diesel engines under the twin conditions of high temperature and high oxygen concentrations. Particulate matter, meanwhile, consists mainly of carbon nanoparticles from partially burnt fuel and is formed when temperature and oxygen concentrations are low. </p>
<p>This means that any attempt to reduce NO<sub>x</sub> emissions by altering temperatures and/or air-fuel mixing would tend to increase particulate matter emissions, and vice versa.</p>
<p>Australia’s impending move from the Euro 4 to Euro 5 standards will require a 28% reduction in NO<sub>x</sub> emissions and an 80% cut in particulate matter emissions, as this graph shows.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101207/original/image-20151109-16263-dkzpmd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101207/original/image-20151109-16263-dkzpmd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101207/original/image-20151109-16263-dkzpmd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101207/original/image-20151109-16263-dkzpmd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101207/original/image-20151109-16263-dkzpmd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101207/original/image-20151109-16263-dkzpmd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101207/original/image-20151109-16263-dkzpmd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101207/original/image-20151109-16263-dkzpmd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Successive sets of Euro standards call for ever-lower pollution emissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.lowemissionvehicles.sa.gov.au/knowledge_bank/emissions_policy/australian_design_rules">http://www.lowemissionvehicles.sa.gov.au/knowledge_bank/emissions_policy/australian_design_rules</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are several methods to achieve these cuts, each with its own technical problems. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) returns a portion of the exhaust gas to the engine’s air intake, thus reducing the amount of air (hence oxygen) entering the cylinders. This also reduces cylinder temperatures, all of which helps cut NO<sub>x</sub> emissions. </p>
<p>The downsides of EGR are a reduction in fuel economy (and therefore an increase in CO₂ emissions), as well as reduced power and an increase in particulate matter. The system is also prone to fouling by particulate matter and can increase maintenance costs.</p>
<p>Diesel particulate filters (DPFs) are widely recognised as the most practical way to meet the 80% reduction in particulate matter emissions required by the Euro 5 standard, but these are <a href="http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/fuels-and-environment/diesel-particulate-filters.html">also problematic</a> for car owners. </p>
<p>To avoid the DPF becoming clogged, removal of the particulate matter collected by the filter is done periodically by oxidation. This typically requires at least 10 minutes’ continuous fast driving, such as on a highway, roughly once every 300-800 km. So if the car is predominantly driven on short urban trips between home, work and the shops, the DPF could prematurely stop working. </p>
<p>Even for diligent owners who follow this procedure, DPFs are not without their problems. By acting as an obstacle to the free flow of exhaust gases, they reduce engine efficiency and fuel economy, resulting in higher CO₂ emissions. And while the carbon in the collected particulate matter can be oxidised, metallic ash from lubricating oils and engine wear remains in the filter, which necessitates periodic cleaning. </p>
<p>Buyers of used cars in particular should factor in the cost of replacing a DPF, which can be several thousand dollars.</p>
<h2>The future of diesel</h2>
<p>Where does this leave diesel cars versus petrol ones? Diesel engines have historically offered fuel economy savings of 5-20% relative to petrol (see <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421511008913">here</a> and <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2380034">here</a>), and these savings increase with the size and weight of the vehicle. </p>
<p>Against these savings must be weighed the generally higher price of diesel fuel over petrol in Australia, greater vehicle purchase and maintenance costs, and now the fuel economy penalty caused by new emissions control systems. </p>
<p>EGR and DPFs can reduce fuel economy by <a href="http://papers.sae.org/2012-01-0680/">up to 6%</a> and <a href="http://ac.els-cdn.com/S001021801200315X/1-s2.0-S001021801200315X-main.pdf?_tid=8bdd53b2-7df9-11e5-a516-00000aab0f26&acdnat=1446094825_8e1c31e482f87801ff880ed73c4e7a93">3%</a>, respectively. The need to regenerate DPFs through periodic long-distance driving might be a burden for some drivers not used to driving these distances.</p>
<p>As increasingly stringent emissions standards begin to weaken the financial rationale for owning a diesel, we may start to see diesel car sales drop – particularly for small and mid-sized passenger cars, where the fuel economy advantages were weakest to begin with.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49510/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Varun Rao receives funding from ACARP and equipment manufacturers on projects related to diesel emissions aftertreatment systems.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damon Honnery receives funding from ACARP and the ARC on project topics related to this topic</span></em></p>
Diesels typically have good fuel economy, but hot on the heels of the Volkswagen affair, Australia is set to tighten the rules for diesel car emissions - which will put a dent in engine performance.
Varun Rao, Research Engineer, Maintenance Technology Institute, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Monash University
Damon Honnery, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/45079
2015-07-23T15:29:57Z
2015-07-23T15:29:57Z
Online carjacking: do auto manufacturers realise dangers of networked motors?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89487/original/image-20150723-22836-1k4bmjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When your car becomes a computer, your problems just got much bigger.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">car by Denys Prykhodov/shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While computers bring great benefits they come with drawbacks too – not least, as news stories reveal every day, the insecurity of often very private data connected to the public internet. Only now that computers are appearing in practically everything, the same insecurity also applies – as demonstrated by the drive-by hack of a speeding Jeep SUV, <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/">hijacked and shut down</a> by security researchers as it sped past at 70mph.</p>
<p>Vehicles are growing ever more sophisticated, with technological additions to newer models designed to increase safety, comfort and convenience while providing entertainment features and improving the car’s environmental impact. These innovations are more than just marketing ploys for manufacturers to sell their vehicles as cutting edge, they also help save money on materials and to comply with increasingly stringent safety and environmental laws.</p>
<p>Consider the benefits of a fully-connected vehicle: computers are never distracted, never get tired. They may be able to <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/car-tech/jaguar-land-rover-reveals-self-learning-intelligent-car-of-the-future--1256586">learn from driver behaviour</a> and, using technologies such as <a href="http://www.mercedes-benz-intelligent-drive.com/com/en/1_driver-assistance-and-safety/7_active-lane-keeping-assist">active lane assist</a>, can even correct human errors of judgement to a certain degree. Human productivity can be boosted, allowing for example a hands-free phone call while behind the wheel. Concepts such as <a href="http://www.sartre-project.eu/en/Sidor/default.aspx">platooning</a> – where cars follow each other closely in a train – could help reduce congestion while allowing speedier commutes and greater fuel economy. </p>
<p>However this drive-by vehicle hack (on which there will be a presentation at <a href="https://www.blackhat.com/us-15/briefings.html#remote-exploitation-of-an-unaltered-passenger-vehicle">Black Hat conference</a> later this year) and others, such as the method of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33622298">compromising brake systems using DAB radio signals</a>, demonstrates the dangers of considerably networked, computerised vehicles designed without adequate protections. </p>
<h2>More software, more problems</h2>
<p>Precise details about how the Jeep was hacked, other than that the public IP address must be known, and that the attack relies on the <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/21/jeep_patch/">uConnect mobile phone network</a>, are yet to be revealed. While this gives the manufacturer time to provide a patch to fix the problem in this case, the vulnerabilities of mobile phone and internet network connections have been researched for years and are well-known and well-understood. If anything, this vehicle hack shouldn’t come as any great surprise; more surprising is the lack of care paid to securing these well-known angles of attack in the first place.</p>
<p>Exploiting software flaws remotely through an internet connection – the most likely culprit – is made possible because we prize internet and phone connectivity sufficiently that manufacturers will fit it to our vehicles. This allows access to any piece of exposed hardware that is not “air-gapped”, in other words physically separate and unconnected from the rest of the system. An attacker can pivot through the system, using one compromised component in order to compromise another, until the keys to the kingdom are acquired – in this case the critical control units capable of shutting down the engine.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89533/original/image-20150723-22826-t1j8o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89533/original/image-20150723-22826-t1j8o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89533/original/image-20150723-22826-t1j8o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89533/original/image-20150723-22826-t1j8o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89533/original/image-20150723-22826-t1j8o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89533/original/image-20150723-22826-t1j8o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89533/original/image-20150723-22826-t1j8o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Keys no longer required.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Introducing these wireless network interfaces to vehicles presents the greatest danger: the ability to control cars, or even many cars <em>en masse</em>, from any distance. This possibility has caused such alarm there are plans in the US (where this attack was demonstrated) to <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/07/senate-bill-seeks-standards-cars-defenses-hackers/">introduce new legislation to tackle the issue</a>.</p>
<h2>Complexity creates vulnerability</h2>
<p>That’s not to say that network connectivity is the only issue. The presence of considerably more software in modern cars alone is a significant contributing factor to security problems. It has been estimated there is a software engineering industry average of <a href="http://cc2e.com/Default.aspx?hid=337">15-50 errors per 1,000 lines of code</a>. The same can be said for integrating so many different systems, features and technologies – added complexity makes security testing much more difficult. These challenges, when vehicles migrate from being connected to being fully autonomous, could <a href="http://digital-library.theiet.org/content/reference/10.1049/etr.2014.0056">potentially have even broader security ramifications</a>.</p>
<p>With any feature that makes something more safe, convenient or entertaining, there is potentially an equal amount of convenience for an attacker if sufficient defences haven’t been put in place. The documented incidents of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/oct/27/thieves-range-rover-keyless-locking">vehicles stolen by hacking keyless entry systems </a> were down to technology designed to make unlocking a car more convenient for customers. Alas, the convenience works both ways.</p>
<p>Achieving safety and security has always been – and will continue to be – a balancing act. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the US states that in <a href="http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pubs/812115.pdf">94% of cases</a> the last failure leading to a crash can be attributed to the driver. In the face of such evidence, despite the security vulnerabilities that may emerge as they are deployed and used, it would be counter-intuitive to ignore technology that could potentially save lives. </p>
<p>What is required to prevent these emerging problems from becoming overwhelming is an engineering process that embeds security in automotive design from the outset, implemented using secure coding practices as is found in other safety-critical areas such as nuclear reactor management or air traffic control, and reinforced with robust security testing procedures. </p>
<p>Only then will we see the world’s car manufacturers move from the back foot to the front foot in the face of an internet-full of would-be cyber-carjackers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45079/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeline Cheah is a PhD student at Coventry University. She is affiliated with HORIBA MIRA Ltd.</span></em></p>
Drive-by car hack suggests auto manufacturers seem unprepared for the security risks unleashed from internet-connected cars.
Madeline Cheah, PhD research student (automotive cybersecurity), Coventry University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/33072
2014-12-03T03:24:20Z
2014-12-03T03:24:20Z
Spinal cord injury: big hope is cell therapy but exercise is best for now
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66038/original/image-20141202-20585-5ai24x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4272%2C2366&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's still early days for cell therapy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chiropractic/3813000260">Michael Dorausch/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You might have heard about Darek Fidyka, the paralysed man from Poland who <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29645760">recently walked again</a> after an experimental cell transplant. It made headlines around the world and raised the hopes of many people with spinal cord injuries that they too might one day have their movement restored. </p>
<p>But while early research suggests cell therapy could be used to treat spinal cord injury, it’s still very early days. For now, exercise therapy holds the best promise for recovering movement. </p>
<h2>What are spinal cord injuries?</h2>
<p>Each year <a href="http://scia.org.au/sci-resources-and-knowledge/health-and-sci-facts/sci-statistics">nearly 400 Australians</a> sustain a spinal cord injury. One in three injuries occur in young people between 15 to 24 years old and are usually caused by <a href="http://www.aci.health.nsw.gov.au/networks/spinal-cord-injury/statistics">motor vehicle accidents</a>. Around 12,000 Australians are living with a spinal cord injury, most (84%) of them men. </p>
<p>The extent of damage to the spinal cord and where it occurred determines the severity of injury. An injury can be either “complete”, meaning no sensation or movement below the area of spinal cord damaged, or “incomplete”, where some sensation and movement are still present below the injury. </p>
<p>Injuries to the neck will result in a paralysis of all four limbs (quadriplegia), whereas injuries below this level will result in varying degrees of paralysis from the legs up to the abdomen (paraplegia). </p>
<p>Spinal cord injury often also affects other areas of the body. Bladder and bowel control can be affected, as well as the ability to breathe independently. Nerve damage associated with the injury can lead to persistent pain and uncontrollable muscle spams.</p>
<p>The long-term effects of spinal cord injury can be devastating.</p>
<h2>Emerging therapies</h2>
<p>The most impressive research poised to change the future of spinal cord injury treatments are stem cell therapies and implanted spinal cord stimulators. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/2013/00000022/00000009/art00008">Recent research</a> has shown that injections of a particular type of stem cell from the nose, called olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs), has helped reconstruct a damaged spinal cord and allowed paralysed man Darek Fidyka to walk again. </p>
<p>OECs are specialist cells that repair nerve cells involved in our sense of smell. They sit at the base of the brain and are harvested from deep in the nasal cavity. When doctors injected the patient’s own OECs onto a nerve graft across the injury site the injured spinal cord regenerated across the gap. </p>
<p>Although the severed spinal cord was repaired five weeks after the surgery, it took a further 19 months of intensive exercise therapy before sensation and voluntary movement were regained in Fidyka’s legs. After a further six months of therapy, he has regained a limited ability to walk with braces and a walking frame. </p>
<p>Another promising therapy comes from a team of American researchers. Using a combination of intensive step training and stimulation of the spinal cord, via <a href="http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/137/5/1394">electrodes implanted below the injury</a>, five people with spinal cord injuries have recovered the ability to stand and walk. </p>
<p>However, scientists still don’t understand exactly how spinal cord stimulation contributes to the regained movement ability. </p>
<p>These discoveries are in the early stages and it may be many years until the potential therapies are widely available to patients.</p>
<h2>For now, simple is best</h2>
<p>The common intervention used in both of these emerging therapies is surprisingly simple and yet incredibly effective: exercise. OEC transplants and spinal cord stimulators are each used alongside exercise therapy to try to improve the efficiency of this already very successful treatment. </p>
<p>Specialised exercise training, usually in the form of assisted step training on a treadmill, is by far the most beneficial treatment currently available. It results in <a href="http://nro.sagepub.com/content/7/5/455.long">significant improvements</a> in standing and walking after spinal cord injury. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66041/original/image-20141202-20560-76d3m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66041/original/image-20141202-20560-76d3m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66041/original/image-20141202-20560-76d3m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66041/original/image-20141202-20560-76d3m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66041/original/image-20141202-20560-76d3m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66041/original/image-20141202-20560-76d3m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66041/original/image-20141202-20560-76d3m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exercise therapy can improve movement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/23022269@N06/11788703005">M Car/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most people with spinal cord injuries have some undamaged nerves left around the area of the injury. Exercise training encourages the residual nerves to sprout and form a <a href="http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/neu.2007.0392">functional “bridge”</a> around the area of damage. </p>
<p>Early intervention is best, but significant improvements can be achieved even if training begins years after the injury. Impressively, patients can maintain their walking ability long after the training sessions are completed. </p>
<p>The major downfall of exercise therapy is that it needs to be intense (at least 60 minutes per day) and ongoing (60-plus sessions). Greater training time results in better recovery. Unfortunately, the expense and limited availability of this intensive therapy can mean it is inaccessible for many.</p>
<p>The future for treatment after spinal cord injury is indeed very exciting and full of promise, but right now exercise is still the best medicine on offer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Rank receives funding from The National Health and Medical Research Council and SpinalCure Australia.</span></em></p>
You might have heard about Darek Fidyka, the paralysed man from Poland who recently walked again after an experimental cell transplant. It made headlines around the world and raised the hopes of many people…
Michelle Rank, Neurophysiology Researcher, University of Newcastle
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/29713
2014-08-04T05:20:43Z
2014-08-04T05:20:43Z
Electric vehicles go from status symbol to company workhorse
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/55523/original/nc63xt68-1406895085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">h</span> </figcaption></figure><p>If press coverage is any measure, it appears that electric vehicles (EVs) have finally arrived. Tesla’s Model S was named Automobile Magazine’s <a href="http://www.automobilemag.com/features/awards/1301_2013_automobile_of_the_year_tesla_model_s/">Car of the Year</a>, the Nissan Leaf is topping the EV sales ranks and the industry is abuzz with anticipated sales impact of BMW’s super-light i3. </p>
<p>Yet for all the hype, EVs remain more common in glossy magazines than in peoples’ driveways. In Western Europe plug-in EVs made up less than 0.5% of total passenger car sales by May this year. It’s not hard to see why: at around £22,000 for the more affordable Nissan Leaf, and minimal resale market, it’s tough to see who beyond the early adopters are likely to take the gamble. </p>
<p>The answer is: forget California or Tokyo, think the company accountant of your local delivery firm. It is in fact the business owner, fleet manager and procurement officers who are beginning to take a hard look at the benefits offered by EVs and are likely to be the driving force to mainstream adoption. </p>
<p>To understand why, it’s important to recognise that EVs are not a like-for-like replacement for your standard car with an internal combustion engine. Petrol and diesel-fuelled vehicles benefit from a lower up-front cost, better range and established refuelling points; EVs offer cheaper running costs, zero tail-pipe emissions, low noise and the ability to charge where ever there is a power supply.</p>
<p>In fact EV technology has long been used in regulated sectors such as indoor material handling (forklift, pallet trucks, powered stackers) or early morning milk deliveries, where regulations prohibit emissions or noise. Fuel prices, tax and incentives for low-carbon transport, improvements in technology and the greater availability of electric vehicles are now making commercial procurement managers and transport operators think seriously about going electric.</p>
<p>For keen-eyed observers, a quiet transformation can be seen across the transport, logistics and commercial sectors. There are around 1,000 hybrid or fully electric buses funded through the Green Bus Fund on UK roads, with nearly a quarter in the capital. There are “green” EV taxi services from places as diverse as London and St. Austell, Norwich and Edinburgh. Major delivery firms DHL, Fedex, TNT and UPS all have electric vehicles complementing their fleet, with UPS alone boasting 380 hybrid trucks. Notable public sector fleets have trialled pure electric cars including 30 EVs for West Midland’s police, whilst commercial firms such as British Gas, keen to promote its charging services, aims to switch 10% of its vehicles to pure electric by 2015.</p>
<p>Some of this change is simply a response to government incentives. EVs receive exemptions on both road tax and company car tax, low-carbon vehicles are waived the London congestion charge and public sector fleets can benefit from recently announced subsidies for <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/electric-cars-for-all-government-fleets">ultra-low emission vehicles</a>.</p>
<h2>Driving up demand</h2>
<p>But these initiatives, welcome as they may be, are vulnerable to changes in government thinking. Growth from below, driven by genuine demand for the benefits of EVs, will eventually be necessary. </p>
<p>So what are these benefits? A <a href="http://news.warwickshire.gov.uk/blog/2014/04/15/14908/">recent project</a> in Warwickshire, supported by Coventry University, introduced EVs to rural businesses – farmers, delivery services, and so on – and surveyed the participants. Early results reveal the following findings:</p>
<p><strong>Cost savings:</strong> Each business saved between £700 and £1500 per year per vehicle, depending on usage. The top end of these estimates reflects reports from taxi firms, elsewhere in the country, that had adopted EVs to reduce costs.</p>
<p><strong>Suitability:</strong> The businesses operated limited and predictable routes, making it easier to schedule in the recharging times to specific times and locations, thus reducing range anxiety. The ability of businesses to automate the charging of vehicles on their premises or at home was seen as a positive.</p>
<p><strong>Environmental & marketing benefits:</strong> Participants saw reducing emissions as important, but also recognised the marketing potential of zero-emission particularly where it connected to their brand image or it distinguished them among their customers. This may be particularly important where corporate clients concerned about carbon emissions for regulatory or social responsibility reasons place stipulations about emissions in contracts.</p>
<p><strong>Keeping up with technology:</strong> After a home, a car is likely to be the second biggest purchase the average person makes, so investing in new technology in a state of flux is a big risk. No one wants a the Betamax of cars clogging up their driveway. Fleet managers with multiple cars can trial EVs for specific purposes and widen adoption only as the business case is made. Keeping up with technology means the business does not need to make any sudden changes later down the line that may be disruptive.</p>
<h2>Getting used to electric</h2>
<p>This are also has a range of important implications for the broader consumer market: Exposure to EVs at work is likely to enables individuals to assess the strengths and limitations of the new vehicles without risking their own money. This is particularly true for owners of microbusinesses (fewer than 10 people) where individuals are likely to acquire a direct insight into the balance between life-time and up-front costs of vehicles. With more electric vehicles on the roads, their novelty image will fade; eventually, EVs will seem as normal as petrol-powered cars or diesel trucks. </p>
<p>The most important and still unknown impact will be on the resale market. Consumers are unlikely to invest in high-value assets without some assurance that the vehicle can be resold and without a precipitous level of depreciation. With so few electric vehicles on the road the second-hand market is highly volatile. In the US, Teslas are <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2014/02/07/tesla-model-s-worth-more-used-than-new/">worth more used than new</a>, as demand for new models outstrips supply and a small number of buyers distort the market – but amongst other models there is evidence of precipitous reductions, reflecting the uncertain fluidity of the nascent market.</p>
<p>As more vehicles from corporate fleets become available demand for a resale market will increase, creating a benchmark for asset valuation. However prices are likely to remain volatile while the technology continues to change.</p>
<p>So while electric car manufacturers are likely to remain in the headlines, it may be the spreadsheets of company back-offices that will see electric vehicles take over the roads.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Brooks receives funding from the European Commission. </span></em></p>
If press coverage is any measure, it appears that electric vehicles (EVs) have finally arrived. Tesla’s Model S was named Automobile Magazine’s Car of the Year, the Nissan Leaf is topping the EV sales…
Richard Brooks, Research Officer - Business, Environment and Society, Coventry University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/29264
2014-07-17T19:59:47Z
2014-07-17T19:59:47Z
FactCheck: do Australians pay high petrol taxes?
<p><em>UPDATED ON TUESDAY 22 JULY: See editor’s note below for details on the updates.</em></p>
<p>In this year’s federal budget, the Abbott government moved to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-11/fuel-excise-to-increase-in-line-with-inflation/5445170">restart automatically increasing the fuel excise</a> in line with inflation twice each year, hoping to start from August 1 this year. </p>
<p>For motorists, that would have meant a slight rise of just over 1 cent a litre (in Australian currency) in the first year.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-16/hockey-appeals-for-compromise-on-budget-cuts/5600064">proposed petrol tax increase isn’t going ahead</a> for now, because the government doesn’t have enough senators onside to pass its plan. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2014/s4031852.htm">To many people’s surprise, three weeks ago the Greens</a> declared they wouldn’t even try to negotiate a deal over the fuel tax hike – worth A$2.2 billion over the next four years – because the government had signalled all of the money raised would go to roads, with nothing for public transport.</p>
<p>But <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/fuel_excise_delay_keeps_greens_on_OTMCsFwRhvZsAljbxL5XVP">the government isn’t giving up on the Greens</a> changing their minds, amid renewed <a href="https://theconversation.com/greens-miss-the-chance-of-a-victory-on-fuel-policy-28401">reports of internal tensions</a> over the issue.</p>
<p>So when it comes to petrol taxes, what are the facts? When ranked against other nations, do Australians pay high, low or average petrol taxes?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53943/original/m5hxp2cm-1405472295.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53943/original/m5hxp2cm-1405472295.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53943/original/m5hxp2cm-1405472295.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53943/original/m5hxp2cm-1405472295.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53943/original/m5hxp2cm-1405472295.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53943/original/m5hxp2cm-1405472295.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53943/original/m5hxp2cm-1405472295.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53943/original/m5hxp2cm-1405472295.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How much tax motorists around the world pay per litre of fuel. Prices shown are in US dollars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.iea.org/newsroomandevents/graphics/2014-07-15-unleaded-gasoline-prices-and-taxes-1q2014.html">International Energy Agency quarterly Energy Prices & Taxes report</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The International Energy Agency publishes quarterly reports on unleaded petrol prices and taxes. The latest report surveyed petrol prices in the first quarter of 2014 in 32 countries. As you can see above, the report found that only three countries – Mexico, the United States and Canada – have lower petrol taxes than Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/54067/original/xtcx2pvz-1405564250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/54067/original/xtcx2pvz-1405564250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/54067/original/xtcx2pvz-1405564250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/54067/original/xtcx2pvz-1405564250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/54067/original/xtcx2pvz-1405564250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/54067/original/xtcx2pvz-1405564250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/54067/original/xtcx2pvz-1405564250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/54067/original/xtcx2pvz-1405564250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bureau of Resource & Energy Economics (Australian Petroleum Statistics) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) figures, compiled by the Australian Institute of Petroleum. Prices shown are in Australian dollars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.aip.com.au/pricing/internationalprices.htm">Australian Institute of Petroleum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In fact, Australia is one of only ten countries surveyed where taxes make up less than 50% of the price. While the figure for Australia stands at 34%, in some European countries taxes account for 60% of the cost of petrol at the bowser.</p>
<p>Australia’s fuel excise has been frozen at <a href="http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?Docid=PAC/BL030002/1&PiT=99991231235958">A38.143 cents per litre</a> since 2001, when John Howard’s Coalition government ditched indexation to offset the price hike caused by the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST).</p>
<p>If the excise had remained indexed to the annual inflation rate, by 2013 it would have stood at approximately A52.9 cents per litre. (Note: I calculated this using <a href="http://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualDecimal.html">the Reserve Bank of Australia’s calculator</a>). Without the fuel excise freeze, taxes in 2013 would have accounted for about 40% of the petrol price – which would have meant Australia’s petrol taxes were still among the lowest in the developed world.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://theconversation.com/petrol-prices-are-on-the-way-up-but-dont-blame-the-fuel-excise-26494">I have explained on The Conversation before, other factors</a> including the value of the Australian dollar and global oil prices will matter far more to how much you pay, rather than the fuel excise.</p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>Australians are not paying high petrol taxes when compared to other developed countries. <strong>– Vlado Vivoda</strong></p>
<hr>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p>The author’s analysis is on the money: most other developed countries have higher taxes on their gasoline.</p>
<p>Alternative data sources could be used for this exercise. The international gasoline pump-price data of <a href="http://www.giz.de/expertise/html/4317.html">GIZ</a> also indicate that Australia’s petrol prices are lower than those in most developed countries. <strong>– Paul Burke</strong></p>
<p><div class="callout"> Have you ever seen a “fact” that doesn’t look quite right? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they really are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</div></p>
<hr>
<p><em>Editor’s note: The verdict and review in this article have not changed. However, it previously began with a quote from the Australian Automobile Association, drawn from this <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2014/s4000385.htm">ABC Radio story “Motorists’ fury at petrol tax rise”</a>, stating: “There’s no justification for an increase in tax on motorists in this budget. Motorists are already paying too much tax and they’re not getting fair value for the money that they currently pay.” The AAA has since clarified that their position is that while motorists do pay too much tax, they were referring to all taxes, not fuel taxes specifically. Plus, following a question from reader Ron Purss below, we have also put in additional petrol and diesel charts showing international tax comparisons in Australian dollars.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29264/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vlado Vivoda receives Australian Research Council funding.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Burke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
UPDATED ON TUESDAY 22 JULY: See editor’s note below for details on the updates. In this year’s federal budget, the Abbott government moved to restart automatically increasing the fuel excise in line with…
Vlado Vivoda, Research Fellow DECRA, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.