Faith, Beer, and Other Things That Interest Geoff

CAFE Fuel Standards and Lives

All articles one big hat tip to TigerHawk.

First, an interesting chart showing the cost of gas. Adjusted for inflation, it looks like we are around 1985 levels.

I read the following about Fuel Standards:

The administration's plan is expected to reopen a vigorous debate about the effects of fuel economy regulations on safety. A leading architect of the plan, John D. Graham of the Office of Management and Budget, has been an author of much-criticized research in the past contending that fuel economy regulations killed thousands of people each year because they gave automakers incentives to make vehicles lighter so they would be more fuel-efficient. Similar findings have been published more recently by the National Academy of Sciences and are at the heart of the plan's structure.

Consumer groups dispute such contentions and raised concerns about the opposite problem, that increasingly heavy S.U.V.'s and pickup trucks have added risks for other drivers. The proposal, as written, could add to the disputes if automakers made vehicles larger to put them into less stringent categories.

I think one of the main drivers for SUV's are the scared soccer-mom who would buy an aircraft carrier if it had wheels on it.