Gas prices could reduce auto deaths by one-third, study says

[uspirate]

i can only say...duh? did it take a friggen genius to figure this out?
link

[RickQuann]

especially when we're all riding bicycles because we can't afford the gas

[JohnRPollard]

Originally Posted by RickQuann

especially when we're all riding bicycles because we can't afford the gas

A study is now underway to pinpoint the cause of a recent spike in cycling deaths...

[camaraderie]

Watch out for 55mph coming back to save gas. That will be fun in Nevada eh?

[uspirate]

Originally Posted by JohnRPollard

A study is now underway to pinpoint the cause of a recent spike in cycling deaths...

thats too funny

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Watch out for 55mph coming back to save gas. That will be fun in Nevada eh?

75 to 55 is gonna suck

[sailaway21]

Yes, the return of the Anti-Destination League appears possible. Leading the way is Michigan's governor Jennifer Granholm who now has the distinction of heading the most incompetently governed state in the Union. If you doubt that, let me put it to you this way; foreign automobile manufacturers now prefer to locate in Mississippi rather than in Michigan.

Highway fatalities, which have declined ever since statistics have been kept (per million miles travelled), track the economy pretty well. There are fewer deaths during recessions and more when the economy is booming. And those who've evaluated it say it's not due to reduced miles travelled. Go figure.

The problem with the double nickel is that it makes law-breakers out of everyone. It hasn't dawned on these social engineers that people are already slowing down on their own, allowing those who've got to get some place to do so and pay the price in gas consumed. I normally drive 80 mph everywher I go on the interstate-I've been doing 55 for the last six months unless motivated.

I vividly remember all the do-gooders telling me I should not drive at 70-80 mph the last time this came around. (if you get two speeding tickets for 70 in a 55 you go into the assigned risk insurance pool and all you need is two points per year thereafter and you'll never get out-it triples your insurance rate) While I acknowledged that I was breaking the law and doing it at 80 mph they didn't see anything funny about it when I asked them what speed they drove and the answer was always 63 mph, just enough to not get pulled over, but still speeding. Of course the lesson is that 55mph makes sense for the other guy to be driving, saving gas and lives, but not for them to be driving. My attitude was, and is, if you're going to break the law you might as well really break it and get the benefit of a timely arrival.

The other thing not addressed by the speed nazi pols is the car being driven. If one person is doing 80 mph in a Toyota Corolla and the other is doing 55 mph in a Cadillac Escalade which one is burning the most gas? Unfortunately the people who vote on these things are the people who have only a half hour commute, or less, to work. If they were driving for any distance they'd realise what a dumb idea it is. Vehicle selection means far more than speed. It'd make more sense to have a tax break for anyone who scraps out a vehicle weighing more than 5000lbs. Or better yet, leave the damn thing alone and let the market work it out as it always does in the end anyways.

[Rockter]

I roll along at 55-60 mph most of the time.
Small diesels really do reward that.... I have got a 1.4 litre, as I keep saying again and again.
On a longer run, you can expect about 83 mpg(UK), 69 mpg(US).... dry roads. Wet roads use a bit more.
I am loathe to lecture North Americans... I am the most pro-American Briton I know... but a very heavy vehicle like a Suburban really does use too much fuel.
It simply uses too much and it's not just market forces that should drive that one.

[PBzeer]

Well, lets see now. We can easily return to the 55mph limit, thereby, showing we (as in Congress), have done something, irregardless of the effect or efficiency. Or, take the time to do something useful (if that's at all possible in the first place). Or, let the market figure it out.

We know what the ordinary Joe and Joesie will do. You know, the one's that actually have to live with the problem. And we know what Congress will do. So they can give themselves a gold ....err, green star.

Toyota as already started changing one SUV plant to hybrid Prius production, and suspended making their full-size SUV and pick-up. Detroit, of course, will stick it's head in the sand, and wait for the taxpayers to bail them out.

Which, tangentially, have you noticed, as soon as any industry shows signs of trouble, the first solution mentioned is a Fed bail-out?

[cardiacpaul]

Alas, different county, different driving conditions, distances...mind set, terrain, all that...
The distance from bow to stern in Jolly Old England is about 350 miles, London to Hartspool.
Port to starboard? around 300 miles.

That wouldn't get you from Dallas to San Antonio, or barely from Buffalo to Albany.
Neither a trip I'd savor in a Mini Cooper or MG.
Gimme the Nazi Squad car or... A Jag maybe, or a GoldWing, if I had to.

[sailaway21]

Originally Posted by Rockter

I roll along at 55-60 mph most of the time.
Small diesels really do reward that.... I have got a 1.4 litre, as I keep saying again and again.
On a longer run, you can expect about 83 mpg(UK), 69 mpg(US).... dry roads. Wet roads use a bit more.
I am loathe to lecture North Americans... I am the most pro-American Briton I know... but a very heavy vehicle like a Suburban really does use too much fuel.
It simply uses too much and it's not just market forces that should drive that one.

How's that SEAT do towing a big trailer while carrying six people through mountainous terrain? What forces other than the market should work on this matter? If circumstances change and GM can no longer find buyers for their Suburban model they'll stop making it. We could contrast that with the amount of money that the British government has put into Rover Group for a set of vehicles that apparently very few people want. Now that the bloom is off the rose that was SUV's and Rover's sales will probably return to their historical abyss-should they be propped up yet again or just allowed to gracefully die? Another case of "it's not just market forces that should drive that one"?