Andrea Pininfarina was killed riding his scooter in Italy today. Pininfarina was one of the top car designers in the world. He could have stepped in to any number of beautiful cars, but selected a scooter for that trip.

What a huge contrast to America, where we religiously parade around in the flashiest vehicles our credit can possibly muster.

His death is sad, but highlights how much of US petro-angst is totally within our control. If a man with such an awesome stable had the restraint to ride a scooter instead of a Testarossa, why can’t we bear to grocery shop without our F350?

Nissan planning to offer full-on electric cars in 2010 sounds almost too good to be true, but I do hope they make it to market well before anyone else to get the other US scrambling. I’d love to ditch my gasoline car and get the ball rolling.