How quickly we forget one topic from crisis to crisis. Last summer, the great evil was petrol, black crude, Texas tea. Then the bottom dropped out of the economy and we didn't care anymore. Here's an I had then and I propose now:
1) Fine inefficient (i.e. speeding) drivers double, and enforce it vigorously.
Energy use will remain a major drain on the US economy (perhaps 3rd behind the ridiculous systems we call health care and our true masters, China and the trade imbalance). We have already seen the only way to truly drive change in energy use, on a person-by-person basis, is with the power of the greenback. Given the current climate, however, we can't dare impose a fuel tax at any level - business would call that treason, citizens would call it abuse.
So don't call it a tax - call it a fine, one people can choose to use or not use.
Every day, driving on I-95 to get to work, I drive no faster than the speed limit and usually 5-10 miles below. I am to drive between 55-60 mph. Why? I used to drive like everyone else, speed from 70-80 mph. I used to get pretty good gas mileage, too - 28 mpg in my 2008 Mazda 3, with a nearly empty trunk. Then I heard the advice, and I slowed down. Mazda says my car should get 23 mpg city/30 mpg highway.
I'm averaging 34 mpg now, with about 1/3 of my driving on city streets.
I see the people who have their Durangos, their Expeditions, even their Rav4's, flying by me on the highway - 75, 80, even 85 mph. I used to say, "Fine, that's their choice. If they want to waste their fuel, that's their money." Then I realized their fuel usage will start to impact me; it already did last summer, it will again in the next few decades. Fuel usage as a population helps to set the price of fuel (so does speculation, but we'll discuss that in the future). If everyone started driving more slowly, fuel usage would drop; even a 10% drop in fuel use could impact oil prices.
We can't expect people to change their driving habits on populist sentiment. We need to enforce it. On my drive to work, I usually pass 3 Highway Patrol or Country Sheriff cruisers, sitting in the medians. Often, their are 2 or even 3 cruisers lined up, just talking, while people happily speed their 10 miles over the limit. I have yet to see a cruiser actually going the speed limit themselves. For what are we paying them?
Here's my proposed format:
State by state, pass laws adding a "fuel inefficiency fine." If you are going faster than 65 mph at any time, you will be pulled over for speeding and the fine will be doubled for wasting fuel. The extra revenue will be split between the law enforcement agencies enforcing the new law and the state governments.
The benefits would be many:
1) Increased revenues would support local law enforcement, decreasing the drain on local budgets, and potentially it could allow more officers to be hired and trained. This would require truly diligent enforcement of the law. No more letting people speed 10 miles over the limit. Increase the numbers of tickets every morning and every evening, plain and simple.
2) The extra revenue to the state governments would be great. They can drive true change of fuel economies without imposing dreaded "taxes." After all, if people don't want to pay the fines, they shouldn't speed. This increased revenue would, in the short-term, allow holes in budgets to be filled. Optionally, sustainable energy funds could be established to support alternative energy options (with the bonus of increased manufacturing jobs, real jobs, on a local level).
3) Best case scenario, people start to change their driving habits. Reality - this generation of drivers don't change. The next generation of drivers - the ones who will need to adapt - will learn good habits from the start. Look at seat belt usage.
Multiple people have proposed and continue to offer a gas pump tax as the way to force these changes. Those taxes will never pass in any substantial way. If a politician ever voted for such a tax, his opponent in the next election would use that vote to hang him. This gets the tax in place effectively.
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