Ken’s Take: One of my criticisms of Team Obama is their unwillingness (or inability) to think beyond proclamations and “first steps”. Think: close Gitmo, so where to put them.?
Same applies to the arbitrary raising of CAFE standards, which is guaranteed to cost lives, and arguably, will increase pollution — at least in the short-run.
If you want to cut gas consumption, slap on a gas tax — that’ll get people driving fewer miles — fewer miles = less gas, fewer deaths.
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Excerpted from WSJ, “Light Cars Are Dangerous Cars “, May 22, 2009
Obama’s new CAFE rules could impose substantial costs in terms of urban air pollution and human life.
The great irony of Mr. Obama’s fuel efficiency proposals is that they may worsen emissions of these harmful gases.
In today’s automobile fleet, the majority of the pollution comes from the oldest, dirtiest cars. In fact, the dirtiest 10% of the cars account for more than 50% of smog and carbon monoxide. The dirtiest one-third of the fleet accounts for more than 80% of the pollution.
By the White House’s own calculation, the new rules will increase the average price of a new car by $1,300. Herein lies the problem.
If you raise the price of new cars, people will buy fewer of them or, at a minimum, put off the purchase for a year or so while they drive the old clunker for a few thousand more miles. And fewer new cars means more pollution, which can cause significant health problems.
The Obama fuel efficiency plan may also contribute to a significant increase in highway deaths as vehicles are required to quickly meet the new CAFE standard and will likely become lighter in weight as a result.
An NRC study estimated that between 1,300 and 2,600 motor vehicle crash deaths per year would not have occur if cars were as heavy as they were in 1976.
It is likely that down-weighting of cars will be an important means of meeting the new standard. And one result again could be highway deaths that might otherwise not have occurred.
One might argue, this “death effect” would not be the case if everyone drove smaller cars … but, nearly half of all car crashes are one-vehicle crashes. Put another way: If your car hits a tree or a post or a bridge abutment, you are most certainly better off in a larger car.
Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124294901851445311.html#mod=djemEditorialPage
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