CAFE standards - why not raise them?

[Number Six]

Ah, more SUV bashing. Last week I saw an anti-SUV sticker on a car. It was the letters "SUV" w/ a red circle around it and a slash through it. The car? A BMW 325i, gets 19 mpg city. I'd bet many SUV's get better mileage than that.

And why doesn't the anti-SUV crowd ever rag on mini-vans? They get the same poor gas mileage.

Another part of it that I've never understood is how it focuses solely on how many MPG a car gets and not at all on while many miles are driven. After all, gas used is a function of both MPG and miles driven. If someone drives 5 K per year in a car that gets 15 MPG and somebody else drives 15 K per year in a car that gets 35 MPG then the latter person is using more gas, right?

Maybe it's because you can't tell by looking at a car how many miles its owner drives each year but still the silencen on the miles driven issue seems odd. Am I missing something here?

If people want less gas to be used I wish they'd focus more on changing communities so that they're configured in a way that people have the option of avoiding having to drive for every little errand.

 

[fishbob]

And it will increase the number of accidents when someone can no longer get out of the way.

Heck daver, these multi-ton rigs are the guys we should try hardest to stay out of the way of. Which will do the most damage if it causes an accident? Which is the hardest to control in an emergency situation? Which requires the most stopping distance?

a) a 4 wheel drive pickup pulling a horse trailer at 85 mph

b) a 4 wheel drive Suburban at 85 mph

c) a Subaru - any Subaru, staying ahead of the pickups and suburbans at 70 mph.

Same answer each time. Besides what do those big rigs need to get out of the way of anyway?

 

[daver]

Heck daver, these multi-ton rigs are the guys we should try hardest to stay out of the way of. Which will do the most damage if it causes an accident? Which is the hardest to control in an emergency situation? Which requires the most stopping distance?

a) a 4 wheel drive pickup pulling a horse trailer at 85 mph

b) a 4 wheel drive Suburban at 85 mph

c) a Subaru - any Subaru, staying ahead of the pickups and suburbans at 70 mph.

Same answer each time. Besides what do those big rigs need to get out of the way of anyway?

Rocks. Trucks that jump the divide. Cars that they didn't see when they started to pass. Forest fires, pyroclastic flows, T Rex's, if you want something more sensational.