Gas. It’s the number one topic in most conversations I’ve seen lately, both online and off. It’s an especially loaded subject out here in California, where regular is hovering anywhere from $4.49 to $4.89 a gallon, depending on the area.
Quite a few of us, around the country, have adjusted to the skyrocketing prices in different ways. Those of you in DC have an advantage in Metro, while others cope using whatever options their area has.
Just last week, Senator John Warner (R-Va.) had an interesting proposal: he suggested that Congress reimpose a national speed limit of 55 mph in an effort to save gasoline. The last time the government took such a step was during the 1974 energy crisis precipitated by the OPEC oil embargo. Anyone who remembers those days can easily recall rationing, odd and even fill-up days, and other mechanisms designed to overcome the problems back then.
We aren’t at rationing yet, but being proactive certainly won’t hurt. Warner’s proposal is an interesting one. I’ve seen discussions centered around lowering speed limits online, but so far I haven’t seen this topic in any forum in the deaf blogosphere. My question to all DeafDC readers is this: should speed limits be lowered by the federal government? Should speed limits be lowered by state governments? Why or why not?
DeLorean hovercars notwithstanding, is 55 mph the way back to the future?
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We need a paradigm shift here in the States. Carter had the right idea, but he was terribly inept as a president and was the victim of bad luck all the way through. Ronald Reagan, once elected, decided that the market would rule and closed down governmental research incentives that Carter started on energy.
We’re now paying for this colossal misjudgement. The free market works all right; OPEC countries and Russia have hundreds of billions of our dollars and major U.S. oil companies enjoy massive profits. And we’re paying for all this. Thanks Ronnie!
We really should increase taxes on gasoline, starting with fifty cents and working our way up. This will accelerate our shift to smaller cars away from SUVs. (Don’t get me started on brain-dead American automakers like GM and Ford which promoted SUVs and fought increases in gas mileage.) This is a possible governmental push in the market to reduce our national dependence on foreign oil.
In Europe where they have high taxes on gasoline, they are now paying $10 per gallon and have a much better infrastructure including public transportation, much of it paid for through high gasoline taxes. In Europe as well, there are no speed limits. In German autobahns, move over to the right expeditiously while the BMW and Mercedes flash their lights at you.
There’s nothing like driving a poky old Lancia on an Italian highway in the middle of summer and a German Mercedes come by flashing its lights at you! And the driver giving you a dirty look when you didn’t move fast enough to the right lane.
In contrast, we will have the worst of both worlds — exporting our national wealth to hostile and semi-hostile or unstable states and face a lowering of our speed limits as a national conservation measure.
High gasoline prices also serve as a brake on the national economy although it could act as an incentive to increase domestic manufacturing. Apparently, Chinese manufacturing is based on cheap transportation costs and this is no longer true, which opens up the possibility of restarting our national manufacturing base.
Another solution is to build more nuclear power plants. France has 59 and exports electricity. We can build a lot of nuclear power plants in a five year period which would be a hell of a lot better than drilling in ANWR which would only provide, what, a few cents reduction per gallon in our gasoline in ten years’ time.
We also need to promote wind and solar. Currently, Congress is stuck on extending tax credits for those.
I wrote this on other message board….
Is it time to drive 55 again?
With Gas Prices Rising and the Planet Warming, Is It Time To Drive 55 Again? | Autopia from Wired.com
Advocacy groups like drive55.org say rolling the speed limit back to 55 will save fuel, reduce pollution and save lives. It seems logical, but not everyone is convinced slower speeds bring any real benefit, and the debate is heating up.
I am like… oh boy… another debate going on… first, driving age(as well as drinking age) then this…
check the link above to read the Wired article, what do you think?
I do not want us to drive slower again… It should be other way around, let us drive faster to get to where we want to be and give us higher MPG or go green like hybird or such.
Discuss!
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Also from the link above;
The U.S. Department of Energy says gas mileage plummets above 60 mph and says every 5 mph above that speed is akin to paying an additional $0.20 per gallon for gas. But the American Heritage Foundation claims 12 years of 55 mph speed limits cut fuel consumption by just 1 percent. After Congress repealed the National Maximum Speed Law and 33 states raised their speed limits, the Cato Institute said traffic deaths dropped to a record low.