So, do you think 3,000 deaths per year is a good trade off for higher fuel economy in your vehicle?
The Senate apparently thinks so ...
A giddy Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and her team of senatorial engineers dubbed their press conference to announce the passage of radically higher mileage mandates "The Senate Takes a Bow," so proud were they to have finally stuck it to the Big Three automakers.But it will be consumers who'll pay for Feinstein's folly.
But making those cars and trucks more fuel efficient will inevitably make them lighter, or perhaps it's better to say deadlier.
Federal estimates indicate that current fuel economy standards result in an additional 2,000 highway deaths each year because they were achieved by taking weight out of vehicles.
Jack up the mandates by the nearly 50 percent required in the Senate bill, and it's fair to assume those 2,000 extra deaths will become 3,000 a year.
Would you still think it's such a dandy trade-off if someone you love is among that higher number?
Congress always manages to escape the consequences of its actions.
We blame oil companies for higher gasoline prices driven up largely by state and federal policies.
We blame greedy corporations when jobs move overseas because oppressive government regulations and taxes make profits impossible.
And Congress is betting we'll blame car companies, and not politicians, when the high-priced vehicles on the dealer's lot don't meet our needs and desires or, worse, put our lives at risk.
So who will you blame when a loved one is killed in a lighter weight vehicle for the sake of increased fuel economy?
Posted by Quality Weenie at June 25, 2007 08:36 AM | TrackBack