Subject:
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Re: Recreational vehicles and more questions about the US
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.geek
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Date:
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Thu, 27 Apr 2000 07:03:16 GMT
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Viewed:
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173 times
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"Tom McDonald" <radiotitan@yanospamhoo.com> writes:
> To be perfectly vague, there is large (which requires no additional
> license) and larger (Which does :) I can't explain it, and I don't
> know the maximum size of a vehicle that can be driven with an
> ordinary license. And it can vary from amongst states.
Perhaps it is related to the number of seats? That would sound
reasonable. At home, one can drive a fairly large vehicle with a
normal license. But once the number of seats exceed 6 (or something
similar), you'll need a special "light bus" license.
> > I really wonder why people need to drive around in oversized
> > trucks all the time.
>
> For a lot of people, the size of the car is a safety issue, real or
> not.
I suppose so. Of course, if "everybody else" has a large vehicle, it
is probably a real safety issue.
But I would say that not only the weight of the vehicle matters in a
collision: The way the chassis compress also matters pretty much.
> In Norway, how much of that price can be attributed to taxes?
A lot. Frankly, I don't know the exact figure.
But it is largely an environmental issue: People accept the fact that
driving a car is an environmental hazard, and accept to pay a bit for
it.
> If my memory serves me correctly, which it might not (so please
> correct me if I'm wrong here) Norway is a monarchy. Does that have
> any bearing on why [more] Norwegians don't complain about their gas
> prices? In what ways can it be done there?
People do complain! I can't compare with the US, having been there
only two weeks (!), and I don't drive in Norway. (In fact, I only
drive when on vacation. It was "fun" to drive on the left side of the
road in Scotland...)
There may be a difference in the way people think about economy: My
perception is that people in Norway are more familiar with the idea of
paying for a certain good if it is indeed harmful in some way. We
have insanely steep taxes on tobacco and alcohol as well.
I wouldn't attribute this to the monarchy. The monarchy is sorta a
joke: The king does have constitutional power, but has never used it.
If the king did indeed use his power, I'm sure Norway would be voted a
republic very fast. The king sorta only serves as an attraction to
attract tourists. Oh, and I assume some Norwegians are nationalistic
enough to actually appreciate the monarchy, but I don't know any! :-)
The last time the king used the constitutional power was upon the
German attack on the 9th of April 1940, when he declined to resign.
> Yes, even in the opinion of some Americans. Here's something my
> wife does which helps: on trips she'll either bring ahead of time
> (most of the time) or briefly go shopping for fruit on the way.
Yes, we did this a lot as well, and it worked pretty nicely!
Fredrik
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