SubscribeActually, except when taking the premises of a strained line of reasoning out of context and going with them as gospel, the proper measure is absolute usage.Option A reduces gas consuption by about 50%, and option B does so by about 14%.Why do you think the percentage reduction is a significant measure? The proper measure is the absolute reduction.
One reason is that aerodynamic drag increases exponentially the faster you drive;Nope, it increases by the square of velocity, as I said.
Thinking in gallons per 100 miles would change American habits, I bet.
CBO has found the following specific effects in its analysis:
- Freeway motorists have adjusted to higher prices by making fewer trips and by driving more slowly. CBO analyzed data collected at a dozen metropolitan highway locations in California, along with data on gasoline prices in California, to identify changes in driving patterns. On weekdays in the study period, for every 50 cent increase in the price of gasoline, the number of freeway trips declined by about 0.7 percent in areas where rail transit is a nearby substitute for driving; transit ridership on the corresponding rail sys- tems increased by a commensurate amount. Median speeds on uncongested freeways declined by about three-quarters of a mile per hour for every 50 cents the price of gasoline has increased since 2003.
- After increasing steadily for more than 20 years, the market share of light trucks (including sport–utility vehicles and minivans), relative to all new passenger vehicles, began to decline in 2004. As a result, the average fuel economy of new vehicles has increased by more than half a mile per gallon since 2004 (because light trucks tend to be less fuel efficient than cars).
- Used-vehicle prices have shifted, reflecting changing demand, particularly with respect to fuel economy: The average prices for larger, less-fuel-efficient models have declined over the past five years as average prices for the most-fuel-efficient automobiles have risen.
Faced first with high gas prices and now with a slowing economy, drivers can look to a thin silver lining on a gloomy 2008 – the number of people dying in car crashes has dropped sharply this year across North America. Many of the largest Canadian police forces see the trend, most significantly in Ontario, where provincial police have seen deaths drop 30 per cent from the same time in 2007. Double-digit percentage drops have also been seen in British Columbia and Manitoba. ...See also:
Soaring gas prices throughout much of the year caused people to drive more slowly and less often, resulting in fewer serious crashes, academics say. ...
Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the United States said there were 31,110 fatalities in car crashes through the end of October, 2008 – an overall drop of 9.8 per cent since the same time last year and on track to be the lowest total recorded since they began measuring the statistic in 1966. ...
[Grabowki's] study found that when prices are sustained for two years, every gas-price jump of 10 per cent leads to a two-per-cent drop in auto fatalities.
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posted by brain_drain at 6:46 PM on December 15, 2008 [32 favorites]