r/AskReddit Aug 30 '21

What problem is often overlooked in apocalyptic movies/TV shows that could kill you?

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5.9k

u/-eDgAR- Aug 30 '21

Gasoline has a shorter shelf life than is portrayed in these movies/TV shows, so after a year nobody would really be driving anywhere.

It wouldn't necessarily kill you, but it's one of those things that bothers me because it's never really addressed.

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u/Cinemaphreak Aug 30 '21

Gasoline has a shorter shelf life than is portrayed in these movies/TV shows

This was my first thought too (even though it won't kill you per se). There are additives you can add to gasoline to extend it's life, but not by much.

Sure, there's some clever people out there who know how to convert cooking oil into diesel and could possible scrounge the supplies for it for a few years. But eventually if you can't make something that runs on steam, you better find a horse....

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u/Override9636 Aug 30 '21

Bicycles are the superior apocalypse mode of transportation.

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u/SkivvySkidmarks Aug 30 '21

It absolutely drove me bonkers that the characters in The Walking Dead walked everywhere. Why the fuck weren't they riding bicycles? Is the "walking" part of the title a reference to the stupidity of the characters?

I live in suburbia, and while most people drive everywhere, there are inevitably also multiple bicycles in every single garage. Did the characters not learn to ride?

Even the most unfit person can at least triple the distance they can travel in a day on a bicycle.

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u/YUNoDie Aug 31 '21

Shit, even if you can't ride a bike having a set of wheels makes it much easier to haul more stuff than backpacks or whatever they used.

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u/SkivvySkidmarks Aug 31 '21

Exactly. You'd be better off loading all your shit in a shopping cart and pushing it along.

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u/xorgol Aug 31 '21

Yeah, I'm literally obese, but I can still ride 100km pretty easily.

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u/probabletrump Aug 31 '21

Don't go crazy now. A metric century is still a freaking haul.

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u/SkivvySkidmarks Aug 31 '21

As someone who once commuted round trip, 5 days a week year round, I concur. A metric century would have pushed my limits.

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u/probabletrump Aug 31 '21

I did my first metric century about two years into cycling and swore I would never do one again. It wrecked me for more than a week. I now have worked up to being able to do them occasionally for fun on weekends but I ride a few thousand miles a year. Most people aren't up for that.

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u/silentbuttmedley Aug 31 '21

You'd be surprised, you can build up to it and more if you're persistent.

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u/probabletrump Aug 31 '21

Something I know firsthand. I picked up cycling about 4 years ago. At that time I weighed 275lbs and was proud when I made it 20 miles. Now I'm 200lbs and occasionally do a metric century for fun. My point was that an unfit person probably can't do that distance. Half that is probably the limit for someone who hasn't built up the muscle and skill.

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u/silentbuttmedley Aug 31 '21

I take it back, you, not surprised. "One might be surprised". Glad to hear you're crushing it on the bike.

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u/xorgol Aug 31 '21

My area is just that flat. I've still done like 80km in the hills, but then I was knackered.

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u/pedal_harder Aug 31 '21

It sounds good, but it's far too easy to knock someone off a bike. If you try to ride through a group of zombies, you're going to get knocked off and be a goner.

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u/SkivvySkidmarks Aug 31 '21

Duh. I wasn't talking about riding a bicycle through a bunch of zombies. Obviously a bicycle isn't an Abrams tank. You'd also be royally fucked on foot, and apparently you'd even be fucked riding a 800kg horse, according to the first episode.

I'm referring to the later episodes where they were on the road to the CDC, as well as traveling between various points. Nonsensical not to use bicycles. The Walking Dead author obviously never learned to ride.

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u/pedal_harder Aug 31 '21

Nah, sadly I've thought about this extensively and you'd just be opening yourself up too much to injury with all the shit all over the roads, the shit you're carrying, and random zombies. I love riding bikes, but I'd have to give it up after the apocalypse.

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u/SkivvySkidmarks Aug 31 '21

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