Since we seem nowadays to be on the topic of fuel-efficient vehicles…How is a fly in a urinal like the dashboard of a Prius?
I hope that at least got your attention. First, take a gander at the urinal fly:
(You just never know what you’re gonna get with my web site…) The urinal fly is not an actual fly, but rather a sticker that is commerically available for the express purpose of sticking in urinals. From the Urinal Fly (no, I am not kidding) web site:
- Keeps Bathrooms up to 85% cleaner
- Reduces spillage in Men’s restrooms
- Made famous in the Amsterdam International Airport
- Cleaner, Safer restrooms in minutes
- Includes specific location information for maximum effectiveness
- Long-Life, fully tested materials used
- Easy to Install
(That last point is particularly important, since you can’t imagine how much concern I had over the adult assembly that the urinal fly was going to require.) The general idea is that men will either consciously or subconsciously aim for the fly if it’s there, and thus bathroom owners can easily keep their bathrooms cleaner with this subtle nudge. (I think we have learned by now that I am a fan of nudges.) This supposedly started with a fly eched into the urinals at the Amsterdam Airport, and no, I don’t know if more literal designs such as targets would work better than flies. The point is that if you put a challenge in front of people, they are somehow compelled to take it.
So now consider the Prius control panel. For parity, here’s a nice, though less amusing, picture:
Now, I am not overly familiar with the specific setups of all hybrid vehicles, but I am told that there is generally some record of your historical miles per gallon staring at you in the face…just like the fly in the urinal! So what do people do? They try to maximize their miles per gallon, obviously. For example, from a hybrid cars forum:
If every car had this mpg display, the nation’s collective (mis)use of gas would probably be dimished by some amount, as people saw first-hand how their driving behavior [sic] effected mpg.
The comments then go on to give anecdotal support for this point. This MPG feedback has even given rise to what are called hypermilers- people who are quite obsessed with getting the maximum MPG out of their vehicles, even when it involves them pretty much driving like jackasses. Read the article, it’s pretty funny. A choice quote:
How about that urge to “draft” trucks — follow close behind for less wind resistance — on the interstate?
“There’s another term for that. We call it tailgating,”
Now, driving douchebaggery aside, this striving to get the highest MPG possible has got to be a good thing, right? The cynical economist in me says “not neccessarily.” Let’s think about this more carefully. MPG stands for “miles per gallon”. What we really care about from an environmental standpoint is the absolute amount of fuel used- wouldn’t it be better to drive an SUV 5 feet than a Prius 5 miles? (I am actually not sure about that tradeoff, but go with me here.) One would typically assume that maximizing MPG and minimizing fuel used would go hand in hand, but this doesn’t have to be the case. How many times have you driven a longer distance because it’s faster? The same goes for fuel efficiency here- it is quite posible that you can be more fuel-efficient PER MILE by driving more miles. In extreme cases, you can get a better MPG and use more gasoline at the same time because of how far you’ve gone out of your way.
I wish I could find the article that I read a while back about how people were actually doing what I just mentioned- i.e. driving farther distances and taking more time to do so in order to keep their precious MPG as high as possible. Thankfully, I don’t think that this behavior is widespread enough to actually offset the environmental benefit of having the MPG staring at drivers in the face. But considering the potential misalignment of goals and incentives and deeming it to not be a problem is very different from not realizing that there is a potential problem in the first place. I suppose that you can think about the MPG display as a fly in the urinal that is placed suboptimally- you can pretty confidently say that overall it is better than nothing, but you still get that guy every once in a while who makes a mess because of it.
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8 responses so far ↓
1 Lawrence M // Aug 27, 2009 at 11:28 am
I always have that dilemma - should I drive the extra 3 miles out of the way so that I can go on the freeway or should I take the risk of hitting no traffic and red lights? I really should calculate which uses more fuel but usually the cost of sitting in traffic is not worth it.
There is also the rebound effect of driving more miles b/c you have a more fuel economical car.
As for the fly, I think that would cause men to urinate with greater pressure, increasing the likelihood of splatter. Maybe it’s just I, but when I see something stuck on the porcelain, I try to get it unstuck.
However, there was this one urinal that had a bull’s eye mat that had a hole in the middle. That was a fun incentive.
2 econgirl // Aug 27, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Your comment reminds me of the MythBusters episode about the fuel efficiency of air conditioning versus open windows:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(2004_season)#AC_vs._Windows_Down
(Spoiler: it’s basically a draw between the two…)
3 Marty Q // Aug 27, 2009 at 3:44 pm
All I could think of when I read this was that now we’ll finally have a purpose for the tens of thousands of disused Osama Bin Laden urinal mats in which true patriots invested in late 2001.
We thought they were just for venting a little aggression, when in fact they’ve been keeping our bathroom floors clean all this time. I’m sure the remaining inventory will start flying out of their dusty warehouses in no time.
4 econgirl // Aug 27, 2009 at 6:59 pm
And THAT is the most useful thing that Osama Bin Laden has ever contributed to. Nice.
5 Scott Ritchie // Aug 31, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I was reminded of this when I saw this story: http://www.sacbee.com/livinghere/story/2144521.html
Relevant quote: “But my frustration is with students who are hesitant to spend from their (quarter-long, prepaid) meal plan and eat a reasonably sized portion of food. What ends up happening is, they think if they’re going to spend a meal, they’re really going to eat and get their money’s worth. Healthwise, that’s not good.”
In other words, buffets at dining commons cause college weight gain, especially when all non-buffet meals come out of student pockets.
6 Vikas // Sep 1, 2009 at 11:03 am
Urinals with fly and Prius - great analogy!
Although I don’t agree with your last argument about people driving more to get better mpg. With a Prius, that’s actually not the case anyways, you get better city mpg as compared to highway - so it rules out driving on highways to get better mileage.
Only reason people take longer road is to get to some place faster, and even though I have no data to prove but common sense tells me an SUV owner will tend to do that more often than a Prius owner.
7 Sordid Links « Cheap Talk // Sep 4, 2009 at 1:45 pm
[...] Just don’t pee on your dashboard. [...]
8 Lawrence M // Dec 2, 2009 at 6:13 pm
So I was taking a leak at Monticello this past wknd and it totally reminded me of you and this post.
There was a black and white honeybee sticker in the urinal and when you pee on it, the white stripes turn yellow! I don’t think it’s dependent on the color of your urine since I was well-hydrated. I’m guessing it’s heat sensitive.
Anyways, I would have taken a pic but I was fresh-out of fluids and then I thought of just taking a pic of the un-urinated bee but I thought I’d freak out the other men.
Well that was probably TMI…
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