Cars kill trillions each year

[kvg]

Cars kill trillions of insects each year. I'm so heart broken I think I'm gonna stop driving and eat bugs while riding my bike.:cry:

Source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/07/trillions-of-insects-killed-by-cars-every-year-says-study.php

Last May, Dutch biologist Arnold van Vliet embarked on a bold and buggy mission to count how many insects are killed by cars -- and six weeks later, the results are in. To perform the census of bug vs. car fatalities, the researcher enlisted the help of around 250 drivers to count the number of squashed insects on their front licence plates per distance travelled. After some simple math, van Vliet has arrived at a figure that is nothing short of astronomical.

With the help of volunteer squished-insect-counters submitting data to a web site devoted to the dead bug census, SplashTeller, biologists have learned a bit more about how deadly driving can be. All told, over the course of six weeks and 19,184 miles of travel, the smooshed bodies of no less than 17,836 insects were discovered -- on the cars' front licence plates alone. That averages to two insects killed (in that particular area of the vehicle) for every 6.2 miles traveled.

While the lives of a couple of bugs may not seem like much, van Vliet is quick to point out that all those little deaths really add up -- to nearly a trillion insect fatalities caused by cars every six months in the Netherlands alone.

In 2007, over 7 million cars [in the Netherlands] traveled about 200 billion kilometers. If we assume for simplicity that every month the average is the same for all cars, then 16.7 billion kilometers are traveled a month. In just the licence plates, 3.3 billion bugs are killed per month. The front of the car is at least forty times as large as the surface of the plate. This means that cars hit around 133 billion insects every month. In half a year, that is 800 billion insects. This is significantly more than we had estimated six weeks ago.

A similar bug-survey conducted in the UK found about the same average of insects killed by cars per distance traveled, so it could be said the rate could be applied elsewhere as well -- which could have grave implications for insects in the United States. For fun, I'll work through van Vliet's formula with US driving statistics.

With 200 million cars in the US, driven an average of 12,500 miles per year, the entire nation travels approximately 2.5 trillion miles annually, and kills around 32.5 trillion insects in the process!

[Troll-ol]

Too bad it wasn't just Mosquitos

[Zephyr]

And every time a bug leaves splatter on my car, I pay someone to wash my car, which in returns gives someone a job. Then that person needs to buy car cleaning supplies, which in turn gives a company business, which results in them hiring people to run the company and purchase from suppliers. Then the suppliers hire people to create the products, which then those who are hired use that money to buy other products.

So in order to save the economy, more bugs must die.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by Zephyr

So in order to save the economy, more bugs must die.

Stop perpetuating the War on Bugs.

[kvg]

GENOCIDE PEOPLE!!!!:eek:

[calgarydub]

IM FROM BUENOS AIRES AND I SAY KILLEM ALL!


http://en.wikipilipinas.org/images/3/36/Starship-Troopers---rico.jpg

[Zephyr]

Originally posted by BerserkerCatSplat


Stop perpetuating the War on Bugs.

Canada must join our coalition against these bugs, they have weapons of mass irritation!

[kvg]

Maybe we can just teach them how to use a cross walk:dunno:

[Dj_DLX]

Trillions killed and there are still so many of them, we're doing it wrong.

[beyond_ban]

What comes after a trillion?

[kvg]

a trillion and one:facepalm:

[Hakkola]

Numbers are big but winter isn't taken into account, at least in the U.S numbers, so they're inaccurate.

I'm simply pointing out an inaccuracy in the article's numbers.

[Zephyr]

Originally posted by beyond_ban
What comes after a trillion?

A gajillion

[kvg]

Isn't that what the US debt is at?

[taemo]

how do bugs survive winter? do they hibernate? :dunno:

[A790]

And - funny enough - the bug population manages to survive a mass genocide called winter every year.

Stupid fucking hippies.

[Troll-ol]

Originally posted by beyond_ban
What comes after a trillion?

B trillion

[kvg]

A790 that nature maaan:love:

http://weaselzippers.us/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/hippie.jpg

[eblend]

Originally posted by beyond_ban
What comes after a trillion?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YoK9LaWVasI/TZIQw95zRdI/AAAAAAAANeI/XdmlA5YDKHM/s1600/hmmm%2Bcat2.jpg

[TheRealTimHorton]

Originally posted by beyond_ban
What comes after a trillion?


Originally posted by kvg
a trillion and one:facepalm:

Sigged!

[beyond_ban]

Originally posted by kvg
a trillion and one:facepalm:

lol, i meant as in million, billion, trillion..... you prick

[Mar]

milli = 1000 (I forget how this translates ao 6 zeroes)
bi = 2 (as in 2 sets of 3 zeroes = 1 000 000)
tri = 3 (as in 3 sets of 3 zeroes = 1 000 000 000)

So, bi....tri......the next would be........quad.

Quadrillion. I think it's Latin or wherever that part of our language originated.

[kvg]

Originally posted by beyond_ban


lol, i meant as in million, billion, trillion..... you prick

Come on you lobbed that one over the plate. It was just too easy:rofl:

[Hakkola]

edit - changed link, I like this one better

http://www.jimloy.com/math/billion.htm

[calgary403]

Originally posted by kvg
a trillion and one:facepalm:

http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2011/4/7/76868b2f-ace4-4ff6-883b-4cdcf6682f8c.jpg

[kvg]

^yup :D

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by beyond_ban
What comes after a trillion?

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u64/TykTauk/tearshed.jpg

[Kennyredline]

Originally posted by kvg
Cars kill trillions of insects each year. I'm so heart broken I think I'm gonna stop driving and eat bugs while riding my bike.:cry:

Source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/07/trillions-of-insects-killed-by-cars-every-year-says-study.php

Last May, Dutch biologist Arnold van Vliet embarked on a bold and buggy mission to count how many insects are killed by cars -- and after a six week total waste of time and money, the results are in. To perform the census of bug vs. car fatalities, the researcher enlisted the help of around 250 drivers to count the number of squashed insects on their front licence plates per distance travelled. After some simple math, van Vliet has arrived at a figure that is nothing short of astronomical.

With the help of volunteer squished-insect-counters(yes folks, just when you thought you were wasting YOUR life....) submitting data to a web site devoted to the dead bug census, SplashTeller, biologists have learned a bit more about how deadly driving can be. All told, over the course of six weeks and 19,184 miles of travel, the smooshed bodies of no less than 17,836 insects were discovered -- on the cars' front licence plates alone. That averages to two insects killed (in that particular area of the vehicle) for every 6.2 miles traveled.

While the lives of a couple of bugs may not seem like much, van Vliet is quick to point out that all those little deaths really add up -- to nearly a trillion insect fatalities caused by cars every six months in the Netherlands alone While everyone else seems to think that all those dead bugs doesn't seem like much either, the study continues.

In 2007, over 7 million cars [in the Netherlands] traveled about 200 billion kilometers. If we assume for simplicity that every month the average is the same for all cars, then 16.7 billion kilometers are traveled a month. In just the licence plates, 3.3 billion bugs are killed per month. The front of the car is at least forty times as large as the surface of the plate. This means that cars hit around 133 billion insects every month. In half a year, that is 800 billion insects. This is significantly more than we had estimated six weeks ago.

A similar jerk-off session conducted in the UK found about the same average of insects killed by cars per distance traveled, so it could be said, if anyone gave two shits, the rate could be applied elsewhere as well -- which could have grave implications for insects in the United States. For fun, I'll work through van Vliet's formula with US driving statistics.

With 200 million cars in the US, driven an average of 12,500 miles per year, the entire nation travels approximately 2.5 trillion miles annually, and kills around 32.5 trillion insects in the process, thus making this statement one of the biggest "who gives a shit?" moments in history.

Fixed.

[kvg]

Beautiful edit Kenny

http://www.portlandmercury.com/images/blogimages/2010/11/22/1290445797-busey_clapping.gif

[kvg]

I just had an epiphany. According to how this study was done Albertans don't kill any bugs!!! NO FRONT PLATES ON OUR RIDES!!!!:bigpimp: We can all sleep better now:thumbsup:

[Toilet_D]

am i the only one thats running over children??

[Maybelater]

Damn it, Tik-Tok beat me to it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/Kdawg925/Indian.gif

[kvg]

Originally posted by Toilet_D
am i the only one thats running over children??

Nobody cares about that the earth is over populated with people.

[se7en]

I'm from yAPAN, and they sell used ladies underwear in vending machines. Does that mean woman should WEAR NO PANTY?!?!?

[Maybelater]

yAPAN ain't no country I've ever heard of

[kvg]

Originally posted by se7en
I'm from yAPAN, and they sell used ladies underwear in vending machines. Does that mean woman should WEAR NO PANTY?!?!?

LOLWTFBBQ

[jonnycat]

One must assume that if there is an average bug quantity over the roads, then it must be the same over areas without roads. In the case of the US, only 2% of the nations area is paved roads.

Assuming the Yanks kill 32.5 trillion bugs per year, that means they are still 1,592,500,000,000 bugs in the US alone assuming every bug over a road get killed, which is still quite enough, I think

[arian_ma]

What a stupid study done by a group of retards.

[Boat]

Recently some thoughts have been going through my head:

Lets say you're out in the middle no where, and your car breaks down:

Assumming:

1.There's no water around
2. You have 8-10 flats of water bottles in your car
3. You've been driving for the last 8 hours or so

Conclusion:

You could totally survive by eating the dead bugs off your car? =)