Thoreau’s essay on Civil Disobedience has prodded generations of dissidents to societal action. But how about “Civil Obedience” as a radical concept?
Nose around the ‘net and you’ll find plenty of stories of people pulled over by police for “driving too slowly” when what they were really doing was exercising their legal prerogative to save gas and lower stress by observing posted speed limits. Police quoted actually say they are “suspicious” of drivers who obey the speed laws.
So here’s an incendiary idea.
A dozen or more DTL Members gather in a major metro area at an appointed time. Each brings a car; a few double up so they can drive in carpool lanes.
En masse they enter a local freeway and spread out into a bunched convoy covering all lanes. Once in place, they slow down to the posted speed limit and stay there.
All the traffic behind them naturally slows down too; a gap opens in front of them as “normal” drivers speed away from the pack.
The large number of blockaders insures that road ragers “trapped” behind the convoy don’t take it out on any one member. The blockading convoy circles a beltway or local freeway route for as long as members are willing and available.
This is citizen enforcement of the law, and in a major metro area on a busy day could result in slowing down tens of thousands of drivers to the posted limits, resulting in savings of thousands of gallons of gas.
Ideally, local news is notified of the event and news chopper footage of the convoy gets on the evening broadcasts. Members give interviews on the event. We might also wish to seek legal advice, then notify local police or highway patrol about the blocking convoy ahead of time – daring them to cite us for obeying the law.
Change Your Driving Habits. Change the World.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
AMERICA DOESN'T NEED A NATIONAL 55 SPEED LIMIT
To all those calling for a national 55 speed limit to lessen American gas consumption we say simply: Shut up and observe the EXISTING limits.
Don’t look to government to solve our problems. We don’t need them to restrict us any more than they already do.
The solution we seek lies not in Washington but in our own driveways and garages. We need to control ourselves. The legislation is already in place. It is posted on every highway in America. All we need to do is observe it.
If, overnight, Americans simply decided to stop driving the “accepted” 5 – 10 miles over-the-limits—if we observed posted speed limits and drove accordingly, roughly $42 billion dollars would remain in the pockets of consumers like you and me. Per year.
That same $42 billion would NOT flow to the coffers of Big Oil, nor to OPEC states. Year after year after year.
This can happen right now without an act of Congress or a Presidential declaration or any state or government agency.
Change Your Driving Habits. Change The World.
Don’t look to government to solve our problems. We don’t need them to restrict us any more than they already do.
The solution we seek lies not in Washington but in our own driveways and garages. We need to control ourselves. The legislation is already in place. It is posted on every highway in America. All we need to do is observe it.
If, overnight, Americans simply decided to stop driving the “accepted” 5 – 10 miles over-the-limits—if we observed posted speed limits and drove accordingly, roughly $42 billion dollars would remain in the pockets of consumers like you and me. Per year.
That same $42 billion would NOT flow to the coffers of Big Oil, nor to OPEC states. Year after year after year.
This can happen right now without an act of Congress or a Presidential declaration or any state or government agency.
Change Your Driving Habits. Change The World.
SLOW DOWN - FIGHT TERRORISM
No one really questions the linkage between America’s addiction to oil and gas, our dependent relationship on the Saudis and OPEC, and the seething resentment directed at the United States by Islamic fundamentalists.
A cogent report on this subject can be found at: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/356986.aspx
Another one – a book review - is at: http://www.radicalislam.org/content/your-gas-money-financing-islamic-terrorism
It is amusing that the same conclusion comes from both ends of the journalistic spectrum!
In simplest terms, turning off the faucet of U.S. dollars flowing to OPEC dictatorships that sponsor terrorism would put a serious crimp in the resources of Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.
It is baffling that the basically conservative pro-American mindset that is most devoted to fighting terrorism and supporting our military, largely coincides with the hands-off, let-me-drive-at-any-speed-I-please mentality of the most outspoken critics of national speed limits.
Why don’t the same people who boycotted French fries see the patriotic logic of driving under existing speed limits?
Consider the irony of drivers who sport “Support Our Troops” stickers on their gas-guzzling RAM and F-150 pickups.
If pressed, many of these Americans would proudly call themselves “law and order” people. Yet they daily flout the posted speed limit – the one law that could help them fight their most hated enemies right where it counts: in the wallet.
If politically conservative Americans really understood that by driving 55, they could put a significant dent in the economies of OPEC dictatorships who sponsor terrorism – would they do it?
Or would their civil right to waste resource and ignore the law trump their hatred of Osama Bin Laden?
A cogent report on this subject can be found at: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/356986.aspx
Another one – a book review - is at: http://www.radicalislam.org/content/your-gas-money-financing-islamic-terrorism
It is amusing that the same conclusion comes from both ends of the journalistic spectrum!
In simplest terms, turning off the faucet of U.S. dollars flowing to OPEC dictatorships that sponsor terrorism would put a serious crimp in the resources of Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.
It is baffling that the basically conservative pro-American mindset that is most devoted to fighting terrorism and supporting our military, largely coincides with the hands-off, let-me-drive-at-any-speed-I-please mentality of the most outspoken critics of national speed limits.
Why don’t the same people who boycotted French fries see the patriotic logic of driving under existing speed limits?
Consider the irony of drivers who sport “Support Our Troops” stickers on their gas-guzzling RAM and F-150 pickups.
If pressed, many of these Americans would proudly call themselves “law and order” people. Yet they daily flout the posted speed limit – the one law that could help them fight their most hated enemies right where it counts: in the wallet.
If politically conservative Americans really understood that by driving 55, they could put a significant dent in the economies of OPEC dictatorships who sponsor terrorism – would they do it?
Or would their civil right to waste resource and ignore the law trump their hatred of Osama Bin Laden?
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
WHO PROFITS WHEN WE SPEED?
In 1975, annual traffic fatalities dropped by 9100 when America was saddled with a national speed limit of 55 mph to address the gas crisis. 9100 deaths prevented – in one year! Let’s put this in context. 9100 is more than twice the number killed by earthquakes and tsunamis in all recorded U.S history. (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/us_deaths.php)
Undoubtedly, millions of gallons of gas were saved (I’m tracking down the actual estimate, but trust me – it’s big). But as soon as it could, America shrugged off this onerous restriction in favor of the old higher speed limits.
Why?
In the face of such common sense benefits, why would states and localities return to more dangerous and expensive practices? They are always reaching into our personal lives to regulate everything they can, so why would they be so eager to give us back our right to rush breakneck around the highways, wasting gas and killing each other with our cars?
There is a time-honored adage in America that pertains to solving such riddles:
Follow The Money.
Who profits from America’s love affair with highway speed? The lion’s share of the money we waste driving 70-75 on our freeways goes straight to Exxon-Mobil, ARCO, Unocal, Conoco-Philips, and the rest of America’s huge oil/gasoline industry.
How much money?
Some very conservative math (see my posting titled “Some Sample Math, Part 2”) suggests that if only 1% of American drivers agreed to DRIVE THE LIMITS for one year, we’d save about 140,000,000 gallons of gas. At a gas price of $2.80 per gallon, that’s $392,000,000. At $3, it’s $420,000,000. A savings of half-a-billion dollars is not at all out of reach. With higher participation and higher gas prices, we could easily save a multiple of that. Maybe a BIG multiple.
So consider how much profit Big Oil lost when an entire nation was forced to drive 55. Tens of billions of dollars, easy. Maybe hundreds.
Does this begin to explain why old speed limits were restored, when the benefits of the newer, slower ones were obvious to any thinking person?
Change Your Driving Habits. Change The World.
Undoubtedly, millions of gallons of gas were saved (I’m tracking down the actual estimate, but trust me – it’s big). But as soon as it could, America shrugged off this onerous restriction in favor of the old higher speed limits.
Why?
In the face of such common sense benefits, why would states and localities return to more dangerous and expensive practices? They are always reaching into our personal lives to regulate everything they can, so why would they be so eager to give us back our right to rush breakneck around the highways, wasting gas and killing each other with our cars?
There is a time-honored adage in America that pertains to solving such riddles:
Follow The Money.
Who profits from America’s love affair with highway speed? The lion’s share of the money we waste driving 70-75 on our freeways goes straight to Exxon-Mobil, ARCO, Unocal, Conoco-Philips, and the rest of America’s huge oil/gasoline industry.
How much money?
Some very conservative math (see my posting titled “Some Sample Math, Part 2”) suggests that if only 1% of American drivers agreed to DRIVE THE LIMITS for one year, we’d save about 140,000,000 gallons of gas. At a gas price of $2.80 per gallon, that’s $392,000,000. At $3, it’s $420,000,000. A savings of half-a-billion dollars is not at all out of reach. With higher participation and higher gas prices, we could easily save a multiple of that. Maybe a BIG multiple.
So consider how much profit Big Oil lost when an entire nation was forced to drive 55. Tens of billions of dollars, easy. Maybe hundreds.
Does this begin to explain why old speed limits were restored, when the benefits of the newer, slower ones were obvious to any thinking person?
Change Your Driving Habits. Change The World.
SOME SAMPLE MATH – PART 2
Over the last two years, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, American drivers have consumed an average of 140 billion gallons of gas per year.
If a mere one percent of U.S. drivers agreed to DRIVE THE LIMITS, and saved a conservatively-estimated 10% on their mileage (it could be as high as 20-30%), they would save
140,000,000 gallons.
At $2.80 per gallon, that’s $392,000,000.
At $3/gallon, that’s $420,000,000. Nearly half a billion dollars. In the first year alone.
Want a piece of that action? Join us today. Change Your Driving Habits. Change The World.
If a mere one percent of U.S. drivers agreed to DRIVE THE LIMITS, and saved a conservatively-estimated 10% on their mileage (it could be as high as 20-30%), they would save
140,000,000 gallons.
At $2.80 per gallon, that’s $392,000,000.
At $3/gallon, that’s $420,000,000. Nearly half a billion dollars. In the first year alone.
Want a piece of that action? Join us today. Change Your Driving Habits. Change The World.
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