Video: pedal-powered Buick not legal in Toronto
Artist Michel de Broin stripped down a 1986 Buick Regal and added pedal power. The video above shows some guys taking it on the road, then the Toronto police pulling the car over and eventually towing it away. Don't feel too bad for the concept because there is a street-legal human-powered car available from the HumanCar Company. I think a covered human car and even the Buick would be street legal if the people that made the video took the right steps. I assume riding in a comfortable, aerodynamic, safe human-powered vehicles is a funny, stunt to these people but it's a serious issue. Below the fold is a video of an electric-assist Velomobile, a popular covered bike-car concept.
[Source: Jalopnik]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chato 12:11PM (12/17/2008)
Soldiers on the street working it out. Big props from the HumanCar® team.
Keep it up.
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Domenick 7:35PM (12/05/2007)
I thought the Buick was a stroke of artistic genius! The video was great too. What are the chances a veritable platoon of cops on bikes would happen by at that precise moment?
As for the velomobile, Treehugger had an item about them the other day. Canada is very pedal power friendly.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/12/the_perfect_win.php
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Chris M 11:37PM (12/05/2007)
The problem wasn't the pedal power, though it isn't sufficient for a car that heavy. The problem was a lack of registration, no license plates, turn signals didn't work (hand signals only), the headlights might not work, the structural integrity was compromised, there were no seatbelts or airbags, and the brakes might be insufficient, and the rear window was missing. Nope, that wasn't street legal.
Great bit of performance art, though...
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Phil L. 6:05AM (12/06/2007)
>>>What are the chances a veritable platoon of cops on bikes would happen by at that precise moment?
The odds are very low.
But what are the odds that they would have a camera ready when that moment appeared?
Nearly 100%.
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Morgan 1:04PM (12/06/2007)
"The problem was a lack of registration, no license plates, turn signals didn't work (hand signals only), the headlights might not work, the structural integrity was compromised, there were no seatbelts or airbags, and the brakes might be insufficient, and the rear window was missing. Nope, that wasn't street legal. "
I think those are only required for motor vehicles, not bicycles/tri/quad-cycles.
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Azrael4h 10:01PM (12/06/2007)
And a Buick Regal of 1986 vintage is what exactly?
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o2fc 1:59AM (12/30/2007)
I have been part of 2 car-sized bicycle projects: the Green Hummer Project and the Oxygen Fueled Car (o2fc). The o2fc was an old Honda Civic that we turned into a tandem bicycle for International Car-Free Day 2005, and was street legal with no problems from the Savannah, GA police.
Once a motor is out of a car, the Department of Motor Vehicles is of course not involved: no licence plates needed, no title, no insurance, no car safety inspections. It's just a big bike. So, it needs to meet the requirements of bikes: usually a certain stopping distance, lights for nighttime riding, reflectors, etc. The only car-type thing we had to do was put money in parking meters, as parking services is apparently WAY tougher than any other law enforcement agency.
All bicycles must obey traffic laws though. We had the least amount of conflict by being a bike sometimes, a car another. We would ride in bike lanes where available and siewalks where appropriate (a Civic will fit in a bike lane and on city sidewalks, it's just not done very often), but most of the time we rode on city streets about 10-12 miles an hour, or about as fast as city traffic goes anyway.
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