Video: Toronto cops bust pedal-powered Buick
I knew of this one before it broke all over the interwebs. Too busy to post at the time, now I just look like a big, fat "me too!" guy.
Poor me. Anyway... Along similar lines as the Green Hummer Project , only MUCH heavier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSwig1tgUtY |
From the Toronto Star:
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Buick installation @ Mercer Union - A Centre for Contemporary Art |
From a blog entry by two of the participants (Mercer Union gallery employees):
"The prosecution will have to prove that the car is dangerous, which we suspect will be difficult. In the last 50 years 200,000 Canadians have died in motor vehicle accidents. No pedal car deaths have been reported." (source)Classic. I'll be watching this one. |
That's freaking awesome! I was actually thinking of doing the same thing (except with a fully home-made frame and body) at some point.
I'm going to be tuned into this situation too. |
I had thought about doing that to a car when I was about 13. My vision involved removing the engine and replacing it with a shaft and pedal sets attached to a manual transmission. That way one could possibly achieve 30MPH for some city cruising.
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If the owner of the Buick wins in court (he might have to add things like working signal lamps, etc.), it will give me a huge boost of encouragement to make a pedal car out of a design I made a year ago:
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So... Whatever happened to this? I'm sure it could be easily argued that the former Buick is really a now quadricycle.
EDIT: Ah, just figured out that the court date is set in April. Talk about a long time! |
"The safety factor is uhh.... unsafe"
Things will always go wrong around people who are ignorant of a cause. This cop just didn't understand and wanted to cover his own ass by not letting them drive. This sort of thing can be done I bet, if you just don't make it look like a normal car. Three wheels is probably the best place to start. |
a friend and I have talked about doing something very simaler, in wisconsin a bicycle is defined as having pedals, and atleast 2 wheels that are no less then 16" diamiter, if operating at night is must have a front and rear light visiable from I think 500 feet... that's about it, no limit on number of wheels, no limit on weight or size, it just has to have pedals.
A motorized bicycle is a bicycle that the power source that can be removed without affecting it's use as a bicycle, and not alowed to travle over 30mph while powered by motor or engine. it's not untill you get in to the relm of motorcycles and mopeds that they put wheel limits of 3 wheels, or a weight limit of I think eitehr 1,200 or 1,500 pounds. That car defently is a bicycle, and if he was going to get a ticket I would think the only reason would be if his city required it to be regestared as a bicycle... :D |
Victory for the pedal powered Buick!
Update (with video!): Pedal powered Buick driver beats court charge |
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countersTrike |
When will the police learn that just because it looks different it's not illegal.
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It may be slow, but hey, it gets infinite MPG...
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the buick on main roads, with framing other than oe (not a repair, or built upon oe, as the pan is missing in the buick, and a belly pan has more specifics than some do not need to ponder) it needs a way to get respected, and more laws...it is on the main street after all. I say the cop was nice about it, and the courts was even more graced about it. |
well, it was only art to begin with, right? So I doubt the artiste was thinking much about engineering.
I agree on the accreditation. Seems to me in the UK you need your modded car to be inspected/certified by an engineer, right? Why not have more of that. More work for engineers (good economic growth) and less tickets (baaad source of revenue, pointless). My 2cents D |
...gee, I was thinking: "...gosh, we (USA) really don't have ALL the dense cops in the world after all..." (just a majority)!
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Way to go there, Fred, Barney, Wilma & Betty!
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I don't know about Canada, but in America any supposed violation would probably be thrown out of court for the simple reason that it is NOT a motorized vehicle. Non-motorized vehicles do not require registration or licensing. Obviously, it's illegal to drive it on the freeway, but short of that, locally it should be permissible, just as with horse-drawn carts, etc. They probably can't get a conviction of any violation of law, but they can make life miserable for him dragging him into court with charges that won't stick. Unfortunately, if it catches on and becomes popular, the powers that be will quickly pass laws prohibiting it, as is done with non-conforming entities in this society. :( |
That Buick would be extremely popular in this area. I will keep my eye on Craigslist and hope it appear for sale :D
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Jumping in late on this one, but I can understand the police officer's concern. Being that it looks like an automobile, another driver may mistake it for a "normal" car. His concern was that they go through the next intersection and get hit by another (or should I say A car) car, and they are all injured and/or dead... there were no seat belts or anything. Glad they won their case though! Hope they stay safe!
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This car is quite possibly the greatest thing to ever happen. I think with a little refining, this could be big.
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To come back after so many years, this Buick deserves a reward!!! :D Seems to me that in these high-price-gas days attitudes are changing a lot. People are driving almost as much but with more thought involved (many trips at once) and lots more understanding or acceptance of human pedal power.
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And they did. And so, they achieved their purpose. |
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WHOA! That did not work out right! Went to Aspire <home> and didn't show the photo. Oopsie! The photo I sent was an Aspire: chopped top with about 3" tall windows with a Mini top and a custom green/silver. Oh well; use your imagination!
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"The mediium IS the message." When an elephant camps out on your doorstep, and he has decided to do so for a purpose, it is impossible to ignore his being there. :cool: |
that's a good point.
i think i would be more impressed if this wasn't their "point", though. |
How fast would you and/or 3 others have to pedal to turn a flywheel in order to charge/or keep charged a bank of batteries comparable to the capacity of, say a prius or volt or even a leaf? In other words, in this case the pedals would not be directly connected to the wheels.
(You can probably deduce what i'm trying to get at here) In effect, we've created a human-powered hybrid. Overnite and at work plug and solar panels are allowed and encouraged in this case. |
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Once a vehicle has a motor of any sort, it is subject to being regulated and licensed as a motor vehicle. |
So with a 'unsafe vehicle" charge around, can a fully aeromodded car like the Aerocivic get pulled over for being unsafe? Theres a lot of things to fall off the Aerocivic. Not saying that it would however. After all this is Bassjoos Im talking about! :)
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The advantage of a fly wheel of course, is that you could store up your energy while at a stop and while braking. |
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