Smart car in Maryland

John Robinson stands inside his Smart car, which he bought in New Hampshire for $30,000. The vehicles aren't widely available in the United States. (Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam) May 23, 2006

The Baltimore Sun reports, in Street smart, about UMD college professor John Robinson, quest to bring a Smart car to Maryland. From the article:

He seems to enjoy the attention generated by his car - which at just over 8 feet long is 4 feet shorter than a Mini Cooper - so much so he no longer bemoans that it took seven years to secure one to use in this country.

This despite the fact that Robinson is a top expert on time usage, having devoted his career to studying, hour by hour, how Americans spend their days and nights. But the Smart car has helped shift his attention from time to space, namely the amount of unused space people drive around in.

"The whole point of doing this is to confront some of the environmental issues that come up in ordinary automobiles," Robinson, 71, says. "About 90 percent of trips are taken alone. Why are we carrying around all these back seats in our cars?"

As I have mentioned in blog entries in the past, even a VW Beetle is 13 1/2 feet long. So that the space in front of the average rowhouse can only accommodate 1.25 cars.

The Economic Development element in the DC Comprehensive Plan revision (draft) did incorporate my idea to encourage the sale of truly small cars in urban dealerships. I don't understand why DaimlerChrysler is so obtuse about this. The Smart Car is the perfect urban mobility car. They should be pushing this vehicle up and down the center cities of the East and West Coast at the very least.

Check out Flickr photos of Smart Cars, including this one by Sickboy.

The Ford F-350 is wider than the typical Capitol Hill rowhouse, A Street SE, Washington, DC.


Index Keywords: car-culture