[ Story about hockey players and helmets ... ]
and concludes:
> it is necessary to make driving more costly and inconvenient to the
> drivers
Which is exactly the wrong lesson to learn from the hockey story. He says (and as a lifelong hockey player I concur) that the players WANT to wear helmets, but acted irrationally due to (incorrect!) pressures (slightly better vision, the look of fearlessness).
The correct lesson to learn from this is that the car manufacturers should make small, light, safe cars (cf HyperCar from RMI[*]) which will both a) benefit the drivers and the environment (safer and cleaner); and b) remove the irrational decisions made by stupid pressures that lead people to buy hummers.
> Simple making other choices available (e.g. better public
> transit) alone will not do it.
Not just better transit, but also better cars! And trucks!
The point is you have to offer them something to buy.
Because the legislatures around the country are so corrupted by corporate interests, they can't pass the kinds of laws that would lead to this kind of progress (steadily increasing mileage and emission standards, exponential licensing fees for weight, etc.).
Somehow hockey players came to believe that having a helmet was good; they were wrong; legislation levelled the playing field and allowed them to save teeth, etc. Somehow drivers came to believe that sitting up high and having more mass is safer; they are wrong; legislation can level the playing field and allow us to save lives and energy.
/jordan
[*] http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid191.php
"What is a Hypercar® Vehicle?
A Hypercar® vehicle is designed to capture the synergies of: ultralight
construction; low-drag design; hybrid-electric drive; and, efficient
accessories to achieve 3 to 5-fold improvement in fuel economy, equal
or better performance, safety, amenity and affordability, compared to
today's vehicles.