Until one is transiting an intersection and is then T-boned by a vehicle exiting the highway.
It's unfortunate that the Smart-for-Two didn't do better in the marketplace, but this can pretty much be explained by the high price which was a result of the expense of having a very good crash rating.
Until one is transiting an intersection and is then T-boned by a vehicle exiting the highway.
That strikes me as an engineering/design problem that is "easily" solved. We shouldn't have highway traffic intersecting slow suburban streets. At least not without a lot of slow-down/calming measures and likely a traffic signal.
IMO, most of our suburban roads are over-designed - we've made a naive attempt to maximize throughput with raw speed. Instead, we should be looking at maximizing throughput across modes of transportation, maximizing safety by road design (so we don't all "need" 8000lb SUVs to feel safe), etc.
Most suburban streets should probably be 15-20mph, not 25-35mph. Suburban arteries 25-30 instead of 35+. Narrower lanes instead of wide-open sight-lines (which encourage speeding) and other calming measures. And for gods sake, separate infrastructure for bicycles and mobility devices, and more pedestrian-focused infrastructure (not sidewalks as an afterthought, as seems to be the norm).
I still think the most forward-thinking solution is to just standardize on putting buried infrastructure underneath cycling pathways --- that way, when maintenance is being done cyclists can be diverted to (their choice) of either a short stretch of road, or a similar length of sidewalk.
It's unfortunate that the Smart-for-Two didn't do better...
Was it just the price? Or a combination of price, inefficient motor (vs the diesel sold in the EU), and lack of practicality?
In the US you ended up with a car that was slower, more expensive to buy, less useful (2-seats, tiny trunk), and barely more fuel efficient than a Honda Civic. It was doomed from the get-go as spec'ed in the US.
Price, but certainly the less than spectacular gas mileage didn't help.
Rather a shame that there hasn't been a real replacement for the Geo Metro/Suzuki Swift yet (and I really regret that I didn't arrange my life so that the one I bought was a vehicle I chose to keep).
It's unfortunate that the Smart-for-Two didn't do better in the marketplace, but this can pretty much be explained by the high price which was a result of the expense of having a very good crash rating.