What's more important to us? Getting places quicker on the highway or reducing: - greenhouse gas emissions, - our use of fossil fuels, - traffic fatalities - air pollution?
Enacting a phased-in, federal tax shift from income to non-renewable energy will require a mindset change that would likely result in other changes; for example, a reduction in highway speed limits. Benefits of reducing speed limits include significantly increased vehicle mileage and reduced highway fatalities.
A June 2008 report by Consumer Reports lists exactly how much fuel is saved by slowing down - Fuel economy: Save money on gas.
(mph = miles per hour; mpg = miles per gallon)
Toyota Camry mpgMercury Mountaineer SUV mpg (from another Consumer Reports report) 55 mph 40 24 65 mph 35 21 75 mph 30 18
".....aerodynamic drag increases exponentially the faster you drive."
"The stepped up enforcement has resulted in a major drop in the number of fatal crashes in the last six months of the year...." (see the article for numbers)
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I'm not saying lower speed limits should be pushed onto people. My hope is that more information and thought on the topic will lead citizens to demand it of their elected representatives -- or at least not oppose it.
The 55 mph speed limit of the 1970's and being proposed again, is another example of trying to mandate solutions to a problem. It was widely ignored then and would be again. Like Prohibition, it breeds disrespect for law.
The trade off is between money and time, and not everyone values time equally. One size does not fit all, as mandates assume.
And a lower speed limit does nothing to promote alternatives to the gasoline powered car, higher mileage cars, or even to driving. A higher gas tax, like the higher price of gasoline is much more effective at reducing consumption. And of course a tax on all CO2 emissions rebated back equally per capita would be even better Reply to this
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