24 March 2011

Americans becoming too heavy for current buses

From USA Today:
It's official: The federal government says more overweight Americans are squeezing onto buses, and it may have to rewrite bus safety rules because of it. The Federal Transit Authority (FTA) proposes raising the assumed average weight per bus passenger from 150 pounds to 175 pounds, which could mean that across the country, fewer people will be allowed on a city transit bus...

Current federal guidelines on average passenger weight are based on surveys in 1960-62 of what Americans weighed then. Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, the average weight is 194.7 pounds for men 20 and older and 164.7 pounds for women that age range... The Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees airline travel, gauges average passenger weight at 190 pounds in the summer and 195 pounds in the winter. The Coast Guard's assumed average weight is 185 pounds for boats and ferries.

8 comments:

  1. Something will certainly have to be done. Widen the seats and make them sturdier, and charge double fare for the heavyweights (over 250 lbs.+).
    I'm tired of getting squashed.

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  2. I was getting squashed on the Bus and subway 35 years ago.

    Everyone's quick to jump on the overweight forgetting there are a number of them with actual medical conditions. What other medical conditions are fun to make jokes about?

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  3. ....dwarfism comes to mind. People still make fun of that.

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  4. The issue with charging by weight is that it's not fair. I'm not talking about medical conditions. I'm a big person, and trust me, most heavy people just eat too much. Medical issues are the after-effect, and may sustain weight, but other things usually got them there in the first place.

    Also, Weight limits are not an accurate assessment of size. A 5'5" person that is 250 is enormous. A 6'0" person that is 250, is not overly wide. I fit into bus seats and airplane seats just fine, thankyouverymuch. Height/weight proportion means a lot.

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  5. @blitherypoop, and they are jerks when they do so.

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  6. "medical condition" - only because the fat are unhealthy. It's extremely insulting to short people, anyone with a baseline physical difference, from race to height, to lump them in with a "condition" that is entirely of the persons' making.

    Even medical conditions do not make people "fat". Inappropriate behavior in the case of a medical condition does. Even PWS does not HAVE to make you fat, it just makes it easier to be fat.

    Obesity isn't in the same league as short stature or big ears, it's much more closely related to tobacco addiction. We're not fat because the Evil Clown puts bad things into our burgers, we're fat because we eat six of them and wash them down with a Megalomania Supersize Drink. Healthy eating, 30 minutes of workout activity a day (half the time it takes to order and get a family size pizza delivered), that's all that's needed not to become obese. Anyone with a medical condition better see a doctor, devise a plan (just as any other person with any other diagnosis has to do), and follow it. "I am not fat, I am sick" is just as much a copout as "Twinkies made me do it" or "I have the right to smoke in this bus, I am addicted."

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  7. My bf is in really good shape but he's a big guy and weighs about 200lbs. i don't think he is the average though so it's understandable.

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  8. "What other medical conditions are fun to make jokes about?"

    Jonas hit the nail on the head - 'cause hey, emphysema is a medical condition, right?

    "The worst kind of non-smokers are the ones that come up to you and cough. That's pretty cruel isn't it? Do you go up to a guy in a wheelchair and dance?" - Bill Hicks

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