After almost 10 years, I have simply accepted my commute to Baltimore as a fact of life. I don’t even notice when co-workers talk about sleeping in until 7 a.m. or get a chance to run home to grab something they forgot.

I have 22 hours for the rest of the world and two hours for myself. I listen to what music I want to listen to. I talk to myself if I feel the urge. I ponder all things great and small as I chug up and down the road to work.

Deep in my heart, I know there has to be a better way. Sure, I could uproot everything and try to find work here, but I really like my current job. I don’t feel like switching things up just because of the commute.

I have figured out probably the least painful route to work. I hit gridlock once in a while, but the slow parts generally dissipate pretty quickly. I can pretty much guarantee that my drive time won’t change by more than a few minutes each day.

Having a sensible public transportation route would be nice, but I know that will take far too long. Luckily, I do know about someone out there looking to making my commute a little more environmentally friendly and fun.

His name is Lon Ballard. He is an American engineer currently living in Thailand. His plans for the Spira car will make all of our bumper car dreams come true.

Ballard’s three-wheeled vehicle, which is part of a competition for experimental autos, can get 100 miles to the gallon. The team developing the auto has designs on even greater fuel efficiency.

But the best part is that – to increase safety – the 300-pound, two-person vehicle is completely covered in six inches of soft foam.

So you can not only help save the planet, but you now can ram into the guy who cut you off … and bounce right off of him.

I know that the idea for Spira came out of a desire to make things safer for people in the car as well as pedestrians. That just scratches the surface though.

Highways could have a special lane just for these kinds of cars. I envision a very high wall on both sides.

This way, drivers smart enough to choose a Spira could simply push and shove and bang each other out of the way just like a bumper car track at an amusement park. People drive with reckless abandon today so just imagine the craziness that will ensue when the safety factor is increased.

The only problem I see is that the free-for-all for Spira drivers will actually make people want to drive more instead of getting to their destination. After all, who can resist that one more chance to ram the guy who just pushed you into the wall?

That sounds like a small price to pay for the opportunity to work out your frustrations with a foam car.