What's it going to take to affect people's driving habits?

[Roland99]

Well, the gas prices in the $2.20/gal range aren't affecting driving habits along I-75 from Atlanta on to I-10 in Florida. I had my cruise set at 72mph and I was relegated to the slow lane. I managed a nice 33mpg at 72mph with four people in the car, a full trunk, and the full tank of gas. Not too shabby.

Although, I come home yesterday and see gas is at a record high here in Louisville: $2.39 - $2.49 for 87 octane, depending on the part of town.

I saw mostly SUVs and minivans (mostly with one or two people in them, not families going to/from their vacations) and most were traveling between 75-80mph.

One thing that was noticeably absent, though, on this trip were the large numbers of Propagandist/Cheney stickers or W stickers. I saw plenty of "Christian" fish and Support our Troops ribbons but the number of W stickers is apparently on the wane.

I noticed a more than a few people would slow down as they approached me from behind so they could read the stickers. Then they'd speed up in their SUV/minivan on and continue on their merry way.


*sigh*

[getmeouttahere]

1. Nice sticker ensemble!

This is why I say the sheeple haven't experienced enough pain yet...or they know it's a house of cards and are trying to live the life as long as they can

[SteppingRazor]

2. Gas prices will have to rise very far very fast to have an adverse effect

And even then, it will simply mean trading in a gas guzzler for a more economical car. Actually getting people to use mass transit and/or drive less is a near-impossibility.

[Kaylee]

8. Cost/convenience of mass transit trip versus car trip....

will need to be a lot better here in the DC area. I travel about 40 miles to get to work each day. By Metro the trip costs me $3.50 in parking and $3.90 each way for a total of $11.30. Then I add the bus transfer I need to take of 35 cents, and the $1.35 I have to pay for the return bus trip, my commute has cost me over $12. My commute is also a little longer when I take mass transit.

Although gas prices are killing me, mass transit is not really providing me any relief.

[getmeouttahere]

10. First of all, it's criminal that they charge you for parking....

You're right, they do need to make it a lot more cost effective. The only part that wouldn't change much is the time factor. But that's life. If it were up to me, their would be a MAJOR investment in mass transit in this country. We'd better take some pain now, or there will be a lot more down the road.

[rfranklin]

3. Compulsory castration!

Mandatory buttplugs!

[GOPisBAD]

4. About the stickers

Just a quick note on the lack of "W" stickers. A lot of people take them off after the election. Not always, but most of the people I know that had election stickers on their cars (regardless of which candidate they supported) removed them after the election was over. Just my $0.02.

[CottonBear]

11. That's not true here in NE GA. W stickers are on many, many cars.

Very few people took their 'B-C' and 'W '04' stickers off after the election and most added the 'W The President' stickers after the election. I have only just now begun to notice that there may be slightly fewer than before and this is just in the last few months.

Many people in my college town still have their Kerry-Edwards sticker. I still have ny Becky Vauhgn sticker on my truck even though she lost to the smarmy, good ol' boy, Brian Kemp.

My FW sticker apparently inspired a gentleman behind me into a fit of road rage the other day. He laid on the horn, then passed me on the left in an intersection (there was no left lane going straight ahead: he drove against oncoming traffic) while laying on the horn again and then swerving and hitting the brakes in front of me. He was a well dressed man in his 60s driving a brand new, top of the line, Yukon or Navigator like vehicle

:scared:

[Tesha]

14. Obviously another poor white man suffering from EWPS.

Obviously another poor white man suffering from EWPS: Eenie-Weenie Peenie Syndrome. That;s why he votes Republican and drives an SUV.

Tesha

[CottonBear]

15. LOL! EWPS: Eenie-Weenie Peenie Syndrome.

I'll have to remember that! It is so true.

I live and work in an area with quite possibly one of the highest ratios of huge trucks and gigantic SUVs to normal sized vehicles in the USA. You wouldn't believe how many of these people probably never haul heavy pickup truck loads, tow anything or ever go off road.

The man that got so mad at me may just have been having a bad day but I tend to think it was my FW sticker that put him over the edge when I didn't jackrabbit off from a stop when the light turned green.
We have so many red light runners and speeders around here. I am always cautious, look both ways and make sure people are really stopping before proceeding on green. It drives Republicans crazy!

[Roland99]

19. I spent last weekend driving around in the Norcross area

I didn't see anywhere near as many W stickers as I was expecting. More religious type stickers like the Pray For Our Troops yellow ribbon with the cross in the upper oval.

[darkism]

27. Here in suburban IL (read: not very blue)...

I've seen MORE Kerry stickers since the election. BRAND NEW Kerry stickers, at that.

Something is going on, and I like it. :D

[noonwitch]

5. My new car gets good mileage

I bought a Ford Focus in May. It is very good on gas, but if I had a large family, it wouldn't be as practical as an SUV or a full sized station wagon.

I think one way in which the auto industry is failing consumers is in developing and marketing their hybrids. They are trying to convince buyers that the hybrids are "as good as" a traditional car. What they need to do is make them "better than" a regular car, and market them that way. If they cost more, than they should be more efficient, safer, and more attractive in every way than a traditional car.

[tibbiit]

12. we just bought 2 ford focus station wagons

traded in my tahoe.
I love my little car and the gas savings is great!
We do live in an area that is 4 miles off the hwy up a dirt road that has snow from oct thru may. It will be fun to see if front wheel drive will work instead of 4wd. I bet it does just fine because before the tahoe I drove a vw fox stationwagon which was front wheel drive and it was fine with front stud tires.
tib

[Oerdin]

6. People won't change

Until the price of gas goes up another two dollars per gallon. Here's an inflation adjusted chart of the price of a gallon of gas in 2005 dollars.



As you can see the last time we had a big push to improve fuel efficiency was in the very early 80's when gas was close to $3 per gallon inflation adjusted so we really can't expect things to change until it reaches that price. What we haven't counted in yet is the changes in income level for Americans between 1980 and 2005 since the average person is making more money now then in 1980 the average price per gallon is going to have to creep a bit above $3 per gallon before people start changing their habits.

Logically, we should not be giving money to middle eastern countries in which large sections of the population want to kill us. That makes our profligate use of oil a national security problem as well as an environmental and economic problem. Logically, we should be switching all of our power plants to non-oil powered and instead be using power sources which can be produced here in North America. We can grow our production of alternative energy but even if we triple output we'll still only be getting less then 10% of our power from Alternative energy; we can't realistically hope to do better then that using alternative energy. Instead our realistic choices will be nuclear, hydroelectric, natural gas, biomass, and coal. Natural Gas, Biomass and coal pollute heavily and create green house gases while demand for natural gas has already outstripped local supply. That only leaves us nuclear and hydro if we want non-green house gas emitting power sources which can create the vast amounts of electricity we need with in the economic constraints our economy could pay for.

I propose we copy France and Japan and attempt to get 90% of our energy needs filled through non green house gas producing nuclear power thus helping the environment and reducing our dependence upon foreign oil. Also we'll need more light rail inside our cities and we'll need real bullet trains to help people commute between cities of medium distance apart since that is more energy efficient then flying or driving. For longer trips air travel is the way to go but for trips between New York and DC or between LA and San Francisco bullet trains should be our goal. Rural areas will still need cars because mass transit doesn't work in low population density areas, however, we can still reduce our oil dependency by increasing the CAFE requirements for cars. 20 years ago cars got better gas mileage then they do today so the technology currently exists to do dramatically better if we required automakers to do so. They don't want to because it is cheaper to build a larger engine then it is to build a lighter car or an engine which produces more HP per liter.

We will have to force change via regulation and sustained investment in mass transit or else we're going to continue to give money to terrorists and feed the global warming beast.

[Roland99]

7. I would love to see a push to using nuclear energy.

Let's just dump the waste into a big bin and rocket it off toward the sun. ;)

[Oerdin]

9. The waste can be recycled.

The French have made tremendous advances in the use of "breeder reactors" which recycle large quantities of low level waste and turn it into small quantities of high level material. The recycled material is then reused in regular reactors once again. By recycling we can producing huge amounts of energy with virtually no waste product and the tiny amount of waste which is produced can be stored in secure facilites.

[ridgerunner]

13. Yeah, we need more Three Mile Islands

Nice Idea :eyes: Have you ever researched biomass energy, i.e. hemp, that's what we need.

http://www.hempevolution.org/energy/energy.htm

[MadHound]

16. Sorry friend, but there is no need, nor demand for new nukes

No matter how much recycling that you do, you are still going to have a waste problem. And no matter how secure you think your facilities are, that waste is going to get out into the enviroment at some point or another.

In addition, there is still the large, looming problem of human error at a nuclear facility. And when the human factor is involved, there is going to be a mistake. And when dealing with a nuclear facility, even the smallest of human errors can have dire consequences.

Besides, we don't need nuclear plants, there is enough harvestable wind energy in Texas, North and South Dakota to supply this country electricity through the year 2030. Combine this with solar, biodiesel and other renewable resources, and gee, we can actually have energy independence in this country.

Without having to resort to nukes or oil.

[Greyhound]

22. A repugnant in Dem clothing?

This stuff drives me crazy (OK, so it wasn't much of a trip).
"Inflation Adjusted" is one of the 'Big Lies' that both sides seem never to tire of using. Forget it, they just keep 'adjusting' the standard by which inflation is measured (yes Clinton did it too), in effect, hiding the fact that we've had near double digit inflation for 30 years. Don't believe it? How many work in your home? How many hours are you putting in? When was the last time you could afford a real vacation? When was the last time you took one? How much more of your take-home pay goes into your gas tank? Your utility bill? Have you been down-sized, off-shored, laterally transferred? What has happened to your pension? Oh right, you lost it (BTW do you even remember the names of any of the beneficiaries of the $2.5 trillion looting of the Savings & Loans? Where did all these billionaires come from?). OK, now your 401(k) is a 'player' in the market. How's it been doing? So much for the chart.
You use the term logically several times, yet do not share this logic. I agree that giving trillions to evil despots that repress, suppress, and subjugate their citizens (surfs), and then blame us for their sorry lot, is a terrible idea. However, the technology to convert these plants to bio-fuel already exists and is not implemented for purely political/profit reasons. Our dependence on arab oil is purely voluntary to prop up the Saud family, and keep the petro-dollars flowing to our 'representatives'. In other words, we could, if we had the will, entirely eliminate our need for arab oil in a very few years. I do not agree with your pronouncement that,
"our realistic choices will be nuclear, hydroelectric, natural gas, biomass, and coal." President Carter started, and funded, a massive effort to improve the alternate fuel technologies that existed, and to develop new ones. Of course Raygun, de-funded the entire program as one of his first actions after being sworn in. Had this program been allowed to continue, we would not be having this debate today. Nuclear is probably the worst alternative possible, producing tons of the most toxic, long lived, pollution in exchange for a highly inefficient power source. This waste has to be stored virtually forever (half-life of 30,000 years). It requires complicated, expensive, permanent storage someplace that is then totally unusable, except of course as a tempting target for anyone that wants to make a dirty bomb. So, we also need permanent security forces and facilities to 'gaurd' our waste for thousands of years after the energy is used. Hydro is relatively benign, as long as you don't count the hectares of lost land and wildlife habitat that is lost from the resultant lakes.
Mass transit is key to our long term energy independence, however, we have built our cities around the automobile for at least 50 years and it will be at least that long before we can make it truly useful. Look at the cities where it works. They have very high population densities and a downtown or central city where the majority go to work. LA has a light-rail system that has cost untold billions, continues to be a sink hole for taxpayer $ going to the corrupt, but politically well-connected contractors, and is almost entirely useless. They built a system that goes from where the people aren't to where they don't need to go. As an example, the green line goes east-west, roughly along the 10, from the foothills, through east and central LA toward LAX. Seems logical right? Except, because of the massive corruption involved, the line turns south about 1/2 a mile away from the airport, making it useless as a means to alleviate the traffic nightmare that is LAX. Similar tales can be related about the blue and red lines as well.
BTW do you know what France and Japan are doing with their spent fuel rods? :eyes:

[Greyhound]

23. Another hit and run repugant. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

28. well said n/t

[donsu]

17. $3 a gal. will do it

today I saw premium at 2.59

and this a.m. read a report that oil a barrel at 60.69, the highest ever. (can't remember where I read it)

[Roland99]

18. Oil is approaching $64/bbl at this second and nationwide avg is near $2.50

$3/gal ain't gonna do it. I'm thinking more along the lines of about $5/gal.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

20. Already hurting those who can least afford it, the working poor.

The middle and upper classes will shrug it off but it will negatively impact the working lower economic class with serious consequences. The entire U.S. is becoming like the South has always been and that is a very bad place to be born poor.

[texanwitch]

21. Gas will have to get to $5 a gal. for the pain to really hurt. I say this

because I asked around over this last week and this was the answer.

I ride the bus and my bike as often as possible, so I am getting ready.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

24. Why didn't we go to alternative energy sources 20-30 years ago?.....

Why are the major automakers still producing gas-hogs?

Your question is the same as trying to shut a rotting barn door long after the horses have gone, and long after the barn has collapsed.

[anitar1]

25. Because the Auto Makers started calling the shots

many moons ago. Political deals were made so more cars would be sold. The redcars which used to run from LA to outlying areas were done away with ect. i am sure it was the same in other cities. Our train services were drastically cut all over the country. Detroit ruled.

[REP]

26. $2.65 for 87 Octane Here

My car gets about 22 MPG/city. I'm disabled, so taking public transportation isn't an option for me, but I only need to fill my tank about once a month, so it's not making that much of a difference to me.

[SoCalDem]

29. People will just cut back other places..

My husband HAS to commute to work..we have seen our monthly gasoline bill go from $150, to 200, to 348 this last month, but what's he to do? Quit his job?? he gets a $500 a month car allowance, but when gas is this high, the allowance does not cover insurance and maintenance anymore. We have to pay that out-of-pocket.

Lucky for us, it's just the two of us, but if we still had 3 boys at home, we'd be feeling a real pinch.

People will be cutting back by eating out less, or skipping the family outing to an amusement park, or maybe selling some of their "toys".. and yes.. maybe even a few less trips to wally-world and KMart.

But in today's world, if you have a job, you're gonna hang onto it no matter how expensive gas gets..

[Roland99]

30. I have a short commute but I'm making changes

I used to go home for lunch to get a break from the office for an hour or so but I'm starting to bring my lunch in to work now.

I also have cut down on visiting my mom as she's an hour's drive away. It would cost me about $40/mo. to visit her every weekend.