The Car in Society

What this introductory history implies is that there ranains a chasm between the findings from the science and its burgeoning evidence base about the true nature of the myriad problems and effective interventions and what the public and through them, their political leaders are prepared to accept. Such a conclusion is hardly surprising, given what we have seen in previous chapters of the role of the car in modem Western society and of the level of public ignorance about the size of the problem of road trauma. 

Worldwide traffic fatahties have increased due to the motorization juggernaut sweeping the Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) economies and other countries. Traffic accidents can only be reduced by the concerted efforts of people, cars, and society as a whole. The introduction of seat belts had a positive impact on lowering passenger fatalities and the introduction of air bags among other safety developments in motor cars is expected to reduce this further. 

The public loved leaded fuel for its pep, not its efficiency. Interest in fuel conservation faded when new oil deposits were discovered. Reassured about lead s dangers, Americans reveled in unprecedented personal mobility and used tetraethyl lead to expand their reliance on automobiles. Surprisingly, Midgley did not think his discovery would increase passenger car ownership. Nevertheless, tetraethyl lead and the engine improvements it permitted helped form America s car-dependent society. Fuel-efficient cars and public transportation were no longer top priorities. 

A somewhat related situation can be used to explain the well-publicized lung-cancer inducing effects of P-carotene in heavy smokers. This subpopulation will have low vitamin C levels and hence damage due to smoke components, such as N02 can produce P-CAR which will reach the lung and initiate damage. In nonsmokers, the vitamin C (or other water-soluble antioxidant) is likely to be present in sufficient concentration to preclude this damaging process. Indeed, this speculation has been promoted by the American Chemical Society as the subject of a press release in 1997 (Bohm et al. 1997). 

If I had more money I could create a safe living space for myself, and I m certain that would make me feel a little more grounded to the planet. Sometimes I m a little worried for myself now that I ve been in the car so long. The lack of connection to society is start-... 

In the search for new markets manufacturers have been creating new kinds of cars by merging existing model types. The SUV has merged with the MPV and the MPV with the microcar. As society becomes more complex, and niche markets more specialized, manufacturers seek new formats to meet the needs of lifestyle shifts. There is an awareness that cars play an important role in the formation of personal or group identity. Several recent concept cars are structured in new ways with doors opening in a novel manner and interiors with a high level of flexibility. 

In the United States in 1996, Wu and Yan-Go (31) also reported a higher accident rate in patients with OS AS. The best predictors for car accidents were falling asleep at the wheel and driving past destinations. This driving risk appeared so important that the American Thoracic Society published recommendations about driving safety among apneic subjects (32). 

Today, catalysis plays a prominent role in our society, and the majority of all chemicals and fuels produced within the chemical industry has been in contact with one or more catalysts. In fact, catalysis has become indispensable in environmental pollution control, with selective catalytic routes replacing stoichiometric processes that generate waste problems. One dear example is the way in which a three-way catalyst leads to an effective reduction in the pollution from car engines, and catalytic processes to clean industrial exhaust gases have now been developed and installed. In short, whilst catalysis is vitally important for our economies of today, it will become increasingly important in the future. 

In process industry hydrogen is a very important feedstock for a large number of processes like the production of ammonia (fertiliser), various hydrogenation reactions and electricity production in gasturbines. In future hydrogen will play an even more important role because of the rise of the hydrogen based society . This becomes already visible in the fuel cell car recently taken in development. 

Today our society relies heavily on the remains of ancient forests and long-dead marine life. From these remains, we manufacture products such as the gasoline that fuels cars and the plastic wrap that covers the sandwich in your lunch. How does this incredible transformation take place ... 

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the essentially nonbonding molecular orbitals in a bent (7 -CjHa),Ti molecule (eu = 30°). For comparison, the corresponding orbitals of a car-bene and their interactions with bonding and antibonding orbitals are traced at the right (hatched orbitals are doubly occupied). Reprinted with permission from Brintzinger and Bar-tell (6), /. Am. Chem. Soc. 92,1106 (1970). Copyright 1970 by the American Chemical Society.

Insofar as beauty is derived from that which surrounds us, the mechanical bond cannot be ignored. It is applied and admired in society, art, and nature alike, and its beauty is held as both an ancient and modem sentiment. The development of modem tools and machinery, many of which we consider beautiful today (think of a sporty car or a delicate Rube Goldberg or Heath Robinson machine) could not have been accomplished without the mechanical bond. Likewise, interlocked rings can be found in thousands of works of art dating through antiquity. Perhaps most surprising to the casual reader will be the predominance of mesoscopic mechanical interlockings in Nature, even within the cells of our own bodies. 

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