Society's got priorities wrong.
-
most car travels are 1 person or sometimes 2 person
-
the majority of car travels are quite short, less than 40km.
-
many car travels are just to get some groceries or drop of a little package or just say "hi" to someone, carrying nothing but themselves.
-
cars are fucking expensive, to buy and to maintain
-
accidents become way worse with heavier vehicles
Microcar is a valid answer to all of these, while still being sheltered from weather.
How are urban places (i'm in Belgium) with almost permanent super heavy road traffic congestion, bad climate statistics, high polution values, very limited available space left, no self-sustaining energy production and high traffic accident statistics still pooring in billions and billions in subsidies year after year into "regular" big heavy SUV-like vehicles instead of these? It's beyond my comprehension. The only real valid reason i somewhat get is the collective scare of being in a crash and not wanting to be in the smaller vehicle. We could save the climate, we choose not to.
- MICROLINO: 17.990 €
- OPEL ROCKS: 8.699 €
- CITROEN AMI: 7.790 €
- RENAULT TWIZY: 13.000 €
- FIAT TOPOLINO: 9.890 €
A lot of people here casually spend more on a sunday racing bike every few years for fucks sake.
I wouldn't say they are usefully for people with disabilities. They have zero space to store a wheelchair or even simple crutches, even a cane would be problematic. They are hell to get in and out of because they are so low. On top of that, a person with a disability gets to feel at least some kind or normality when their behind the wheel of a car, because its not apparent from the outside whether the person driving is disabled or not. But with those things you stick out like a sore thumb on a road. You're better off using a golf cart at that point.
I didn't mention it because I assume everyone here knows all Not Just Bikes videos by heart, but there are microcars that are specifically made for wheelchair users.