This human powered car is completely safe at its maximum speed and so therefore is unsafe at any speed!!

Lest you think the reference to Nader is pre chance, I say it is not!

If you back-ended this thing it would leave the driver dead though not burned.

Captcha: allegheny swimsuit. What the f is that?

http://ferdinand.johannes-l.net/

I don’t seem to remember anyone stressing that just because it’s a car chassis that it travels as fast as you might do. If that were the case, then the DOT wouldn’t allow most homemade electric cars on the roadways, much less those funky/awesome amphibious vehicles.

Nice take on Fred Flintstone’s car though.

On a side note, I can sense the confusion in the Toronto policeman’s perspective. Unsafe? Technically, it’s a big armored quadracycle or velomobile with better manual brakes. For the lights argument that may be called up, isn’t it still legal to signal stops and turns with your left arm when you’re in a car? The only thing I can see that’s truly wrong is the lack of reflective triangles on the rear of the vehicle to designate a vehicle that moves slower than the speed of normal traffic (not sure what the low-speed threshold is in Toronto/Canada).
Bicycles, tricycles, quadracycles, and carriages are allowed on most city streets, so how is this different? Is it truly necessary to put a sign that says “human-powered” on the back?

.~.

They aren’t capable of behaving in the ways other drivers will anticipate and expect (e.g. in terms of acceleration and top speed). In my opinion, predictability on the road is really paramount for safety, and these vehicles are not certainly not that.

Yes, bicycles, etc. are allowed on city streets, but motorists can quickly identify these vehicles and anticipate their likely movement characteristics and behavior. Whereas motorists are likely to see a pedal-powered car and think “Regular car”, which really seems to be asking for trouble.

Also, I think it is necessary for vehicles of this size to be able to achieve a certain threshold of acceleration and top speed. What if the car is going through an intersection and an ambulance is barreling towards them from the cross street?

Obviously people don’t use these regularly, but I still think it’s reckless to bring these onto streets with other, unsuspecting drivers.

No, okay, it’s a neat art project, I just really like trying to continue alliterative chains.

Ah, German (or Austrian if my accent-radar is functioning properly) engineering.

As for being unpredictable, did you even see it move? It goes so slowly you’ve got an age to react to anything it does. I get the impression that somehow because it’s going slowly drivers will somehow have great difficulty not driving in to it, but drivers handle car-sized objects stationary (or practically stationary) all the time.

Let’s see the “Biggest Loser” show adapt this vehicle challenge!!!!! Maybe they could tow a boat or a warning sign, or a trailer full of bicycles to donate to children!!

Anyway….If I were a policeman, I’d let the pedal car go, just to slow down the too-fast crowd.