Motor
maglanka.lk
26
SERIOUSLY FUNNY
DYAN’S MOTORING SNIPPETS
DYAN
SENEVIRATNE
Dyan
Why the fixation with concrete permanent
‘Center Medians’ of HLR?
Here again we have repeatedly pointed out that
Center Medians are counter-productive and would
only compound the issues of bumper-to-bumper
traffic especially during Peak Traffic. A simple
commonsensical solution for High Level Road [HLR] is
to have ‘Traffic Cones’ that could be moved to create
an extra lane of traffic depending on traffic density
either way. By having concrete permanent Center
Medians the authorities have only made HLR virtually a
narrow lane that simply cannot accommodate the mega
traffic movement during rush hour traffic. Seriously,
common sense seems to elude those entrusted with
traffic management, period!Count down to 2040 – no more Petrol/Diesel
vehicles in the U.K. & France
It will indeed be a sad day for the ‘Internal
Combustion’ [ICE] engine that held sway from the
turn of the 20th Century – a run of 145 to 155 years
respectively to 2040, when Gottlieb Daimler invented
the prototype of the modern gasoline engine in 1885
and Rudolf Diesel patented the first Diesel engine in- Well the ‘death sentence’ has been passed and
so in a mere 21 years from now, expect their demise
due to the advent of the cutting-edge Electric Vehicle
[EV]. A bitter pill to swallow for most petrol-heads, yours
truly included, that the so far brilliant and much sought-
after petrol/diesel fuel propelled engines are coming to
a dead halt!
China follows suit
China too is planning to ban petrol and diesel
cars! Not to be outdone China too wants more electric
cars on the road to fight pollution. China, the world’s
biggest car market, plans to ban the production and
sale of diesel and petrol cars and vans. The country’s
Vice Minister of industry Xin Guobin said it had started
“relevant research” but that it had not yet decided when
the ban would come into force. “Those measures will
certainly bring profound changes for our car industry’s
development,” Xin Guobin has said.China is dead serious about EV
Volvo has announced plans to go electric across
the board. Other global car firms including Renault-
Nissan, Ford and General Motors are all working to
develop electric cars in China. Automakers are jostling
for a slice of the growing Chinese market ahead of the
introduction of new rules designed to fight pollution.
China wants electric battery cars and plug-in hybrids
to account for at least one-fifth of its vehicle sales by
2025.
The proposals would require 12% of automakers’
sales to be battery electric or plug-in hybrids by 2020.
Xin predicted the change would create “turbulent times”
in the industry. The shift will also have a knock-on
effect on oil demand in influential China. The country is
currently the world’s second-largest oil consumer after
the US. As Deputy Ed Ashraaq said China is BIG!
Volkswagen too announced EV plans. According
to BBC as many as 30 models of VW will be totally
electric by 2030 – that’s just 11 years from now!
So brace yourselves you Hot Rods for the ‘Silent
Revolution’ – EVs are set to conquer the asphalt at
least in developed nations!India says NO to autonomous cars!
Bravo India! Sanity at last in this part of the‘chaotic world’ has prevailed and India has affirmed
via commonsensical decision not to have autonomous
cars there. How on earth can one program autonomous
cars in backdrop of mad cows, rabid dogs and
lunatic Jaywalkers? The reason adduced by Indian
authorities is that “autonomous cars will impact jobs
for professional drivers”. On the other side of the coin,
even salaried drivers are mowing down pedestrians by
the hundreds each month where concepts of proper
‘Traffic Management’ is a foreign term to most!Sri Lanka: Petrolhead Paradise
Sri Lanka could be a petrol heads paradise in the
future: With these bans on petrol/diesel driven cars
come 2040, our island could be beacon for petrol heads
yearning for all the thrills of driving a real man’s car! So
you Tourism Industry Bigwigs look at this as another
business opportunity to lure those red blooded men
and adventure loving women to do their ‘self-drives’
in a petrol or diesel car and see the myriad sights this
paradise nation has to offer those thrill seekers now
being sanitized by ‘Clean Air’!New hefty fines of Rs 25K and more are long
overdue
Well done! ‘Snippets’ has advocated for eons that
there has to be deterrent punishment for ALL road
users to ensure that our roads are relatively safe for
all drivers, passengers and pedestrians. Yet these
proposed fines appear to be ‘Driver / Rider Centric –
what about other road users who directly or indirectly
contribute to traffic collisions? What about Jaywalkers?
Indeed this has morphed into a national headache!
Some years ago dire warnings were issued by this
Police Station and that – that Jaywalkers would be
fined by vigilant cops – like everything else the heat
against Jaywalkers only lasted a month or two and
then it was ‘business as usual! ‘Snippets’ had virtually
pleaded that most of our Pedestrian Crossings are
poorly illuminated during night and could barely
be noticed during day light too! Also don’t those
responsible ever have a sense of responsibility to
ensure that Pedestrians crossings be safely located
and never near road bends or at bus stops etc? Yet
no one appears to care a rap! And in the meantime,
Jaywalkers are having a field day crossing or darting
across here there and everywhere but at Pedestrian
Crossings! Crazy indeed!
What about fining those doing U-Turns against
traffic on same lane? Illegal U-Turns no doubt
contribute to perhaps One Third of Traffic Snarls,
seriously! Come on Mr. DIG Traffic you’ve only got to
BAN drivers/riders from doing U-turns from say 1st
August. Why not? What about speeding in from a By-
Lane slap bang into traffic sans nary a pause? It’s not
only monster bus and truck drivers who are guilty of
terrorizing drivers/riders who are lawfully moving along
traffic but even others who follow the brainless bullies
who think nothing about maintaining same speed when
joining a main road from a By-Road, compelling those
on main highway to swerve and brake to avoid a Traffic
Accident with its usual twisted metal, blood and gore
and tragic loss of life.TIP: have sufficient sleep before doing that 6 hour
drive; stop and take a break every 2 hours; it pays!
Learn to be patient and courteous on the road – as
it is infectious – others will follow! Cheers! Dyan
Your valuable feedback is most welcome:
[email protected]“...Sri
Lanka
could be
a petrol
heads
paradise
in the
future...”