Post from Tribulation Watch:
COMMON SENSE ON ENERGY, NOW!!!, Part III
| By theguardian777 - Sep 22, 2008 5:44:24 PM ET |
| Also listed in: AMASS | Midwestern Change | Tree Huggers |
Now the nitwits in DC want to reduce our productivity in the middle of an economic slowdown by reducing speed limits nationwide to 55. If 55 is good, then 15 Mph would be even better, why stop there, couldn't we just crawl to work? This was a dumb idea in the 1970's, which never had majority public support; it is even dumber, now.
Not only did it destroy respect for law enforcement and reduce our productivity enough to be a major contributor to the "stagflation" of the late '70's', it also made our highways less safe, contrary to what its proponents claimed.
Tho' traffic deaths per year went down nationwide at 55, because most traffic accidents are caused by tired drivers, the greater number of hours spent on the roadway made accidents per 100,000 miles traveled actually go up. Since actual miles required to complete a given trip, or freight hauling job, is more pertinent than an arbitrary and irrelevant gauge of measure like a year, this is also more pertinent data to the question.
Another one of the unintended consequences of letting these nitwits run our country is that it emboldens them to dream up ever more intrusive forms of "federal blackmail" and dictatorship to impose upon us from above in pursuit of the greater good for the greater number. So, our beloved Republic becomes the accursed 'democracy' that Thomas Jefferson warned us of, when he said, "All 'Democracies' die very violent deaths, when 51% percent of the people oppress the 49%!"
We are already a very closely and bitterly divided nation. Let's not start down this road of federal micro-management of society, lest we fulfill the entirety of that prediction!
A better strategy would be to use a fuel inefficiency tax to force car makers to reduce the aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance of our autos that make them less efficient at higher speeds. This is easily accomplished by putting smooth body panels under our autos, and using narrower, larger diameter, and higher pressure tires. We can also reduce car weights and carbon footprints by making body panels and frames from all vegetable composites made from hemp and flax fiber with corn and soy based plastic resins.
Even better yet, quit stopping traffic unnecessarily. It is not just the fuel that our autos burn at the stop, but also the lost productivity, the wear and tear on brakes, tires, suspension parts and the roadway, and the even greater fuel consumption to re-accelerate all that mass that wastes much more energy than driving fast.
Years ago, I designed an economical, solar powered, mass sampling stoplight to replace all our current traffic lights and four-way stops, which determines the masses approaching an intersection and allows the greater mass to proceed unhindered.
It is utter foolishness, and inefficient, to stop a 40 ton Semi traveling at highway speeds in favor of a VW which just pulled out on the roadway, just because a camera sees it first or an automatic timer just happens to be cycling thru its program.
I would freely give this invention to the world, if they would just use it! I know lots of other people with great creative problem-solving skills, who would be happy to help out (tho' probably not for free), but instead, we get nitwits hell-bent on re-imposing the same dumb policies that never worked before.
All of these suggestions would save hundreds of millions of barrels of oil each year, improve safety, and increase productivity, all at the same time!
However, I fear that we will never see a logical applied engineering approach to solving our problems until we get both lawyers and political parties out of politics!
Not only did it destroy respect for law enforcement and reduce our productivity enough to be a major contributor to the "stagflation" of the late '70's', it also made our highways less safe, contrary to what its proponents claimed.
Tho' traffic deaths per year went down nationwide at 55, because most traffic accidents are caused by tired drivers, the greater number of hours spent on the roadway made accidents per 100,000 miles traveled actually go up. Since actual miles required to complete a given trip, or freight hauling job, is more pertinent than an arbitrary and irrelevant gauge of measure like a year, this is also more pertinent data to the question.
Another one of the unintended consequences of letting these nitwits run our country is that it emboldens them to dream up ever more intrusive forms of "federal blackmail" and dictatorship to impose upon us from above in pursuit of the greater good for the greater number. So, our beloved Republic becomes the accursed 'democracy' that Thomas Jefferson warned us of, when he said, "All 'Democracies' die very violent deaths, when 51% percent of the people oppress the 49%!"
We are already a very closely and bitterly divided nation. Let's not start down this road of federal micro-management of society, lest we fulfill the entirety of that prediction!
A better strategy would be to use a fuel inefficiency tax to force car makers to reduce the aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance of our autos that make them less efficient at higher speeds. This is easily accomplished by putting smooth body panels under our autos, and using narrower, larger diameter, and higher pressure tires. We can also reduce car weights and carbon footprints by making body panels and frames from all vegetable composites made from hemp and flax fiber with corn and soy based plastic resins.
Even better yet, quit stopping traffic unnecessarily. It is not just the fuel that our autos burn at the stop, but also the lost productivity, the wear and tear on brakes, tires, suspension parts and the roadway, and the even greater fuel consumption to re-accelerate all that mass that wastes much more energy than driving fast.
Years ago, I designed an economical, solar powered, mass sampling stoplight to replace all our current traffic lights and four-way stops, which determines the masses approaching an intersection and allows the greater mass to proceed unhindered.
It is utter foolishness, and inefficient, to stop a 40 ton Semi traveling at highway speeds in favor of a VW which just pulled out on the roadway, just because a camera sees it first or an automatic timer just happens to be cycling thru its program.
I would freely give this invention to the world, if they would just use it! I know lots of other people with great creative problem-solving skills, who would be happy to help out (tho' probably not for free), but instead, we get nitwits hell-bent on re-imposing the same dumb policies that never worked before.
All of these suggestions would save hundreds of millions of barrels of oil each year, improve safety, and increase productivity, all at the same time!
However, I fear that we will never see a logical applied engineering approach to solving our problems until we get both lawyers and political parties out of politics!
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