Driving to conserve?

Drive like a pro: Slow down

Get out of the Kansas City area and you see what the professionals are doing. I’m talking about the truck drivers.

I recently drove out to western Nebraska, and for most of the trip the posted speed limit was 75. Yet at 72 I was passing far more truckers than were passing me. Not that long ago, I would have been sitting still compared to their speed.

In an industry where prompt delivery is essential, saving fuel trumps speed. Kansas City area drivers who drive their 20 miles from the suburbs to downtown at 70 rather than 60 waste fuel, lower our collective road safety and get to work about three minutes faster.

If you want to get to work on time, leave the house on time. Ease off the gas pedal like the professionals.

Philip Humphrey
Blue Springs

Don’t dare bring back 55 mph

This is an open letter to all my elected representatives, be they city, county, state or federal and anyone hoping to represent me after the next election. If any of the aforementioned people express an interest in bringing back the hideously flawed 55 mph speed limit, they will immediately be scratched from the list of people I might consider voting for, and their names will be added to my other list.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Larry Martin
Kansas City

Reducing the number of drivers

To immediately reduce U.S. consumption of foreign oil, we need to reduce the number of automobile drivers. This can easily be accomplished by requiring a high school graduation diploma to get a driver’s license.

My proposal would raise the age to get a driver’s license to 18. It would eliminate the high school dropout problem. It would get the least experienced drivers off of the road, making the roads safer. It would save school districts the expense of building parking lots for students, thus providing more money for education without raising taxes. It would substantially reduce a student’s parents’ debt for the student’s car, insurance and gas.

My proposal would be environmentally friendly, because it would reduce the number of cars on the road.

My proposal would also make it harder for foreign terrorists to get a driver’s license.

Ted Baker
Overland Park

Comments

[whispering_to_kc]

Ho hum. Speaking of speedy meatheads, Chris40 still visits. I never said anything like that, C40. But if you continue to follow me around and repeat it often enough, it'll eventually become almost like I did. Won't it?

Good luck, sweety. Any luck with the Weight Watchers?

If I was going to pin 9-11 on anyone other than the obvious culprits, I'd look into your Baptist friends. You and the Hagee/Falwell nuts have made more hay from that day than anyone else.

Speeding along in his SUV at 80mph with boat in tow on his way to the lake. Exercising his freedom to fund Saudi and Iranian religious fruitcakes who want nothing more than to "take our freedoms away from us". Terrorists are much closer to home than any of them would admit. Rogue and C40 and Osama, brothers/sisters in arms.

[Casady]

"I am the one in the big ass SUV pulling the boat and driving 80 whild chomping on a good ceegar!"

How responsible of you. Your selfishness and sense of entitlement is quite astonishing.

[big dreamer]

This is wonderful. I need to point out two serious flaws however. Ted Baker seems to have it all figured out but he is flat out wrong about two things: "It would eliminate the high school dropout problem. It would get the least experienced drivers off of the road, making the roads safer."
I hate to tell Mr. Baker this but the drop out rate for high school students is far more complex than the ability to obtain a driver's license at the age of 15 or 16. I am sorry to burst his bubble but his idea will not eliminate dropout problems at all. Even requiring a diploma or GED for a license, some will drop out and do fine or, drive without the license.
Also, there is a logic flaw with his idea removing the least experienced drivers from the road. The only difference would be, the least experienced drivers will be older! And what about the small number of student's who are 17 or even 16 when they graduate (I had just turned 17 when I graduated)? Simply put, the inexperienced drivers would be 17 or 18 instead of 16 which does not imply more mature.

Also, as for the comments about truckers, i too was in Western Nebraska and being passed by many trucks and others with my cruise set about 78mph (Nebraska is too boring to go to slow!). Those going slower are probably being GOVERNED (yes, we can limit the throttle ability of those big diesel engines). JB Hunt, Roehl, and Schneider all limit the speed of their trucks to 65mph and, the onboard computers in those trucks make it so the drivers can not remove the governors off the engine. It is called responsible management.
Thank you for listening....

[Rogue]

Pube, oil is the fuel for the engine of freedom no matter where it comes from....you drive whatever speepd you like, just stay the hell out of my way. I am the one in the big ass SUV pulling the boat and driving 80 whild chomping on a good ceegar!

[Pub 17]

Rogue's got it figured out-to end our dependence on foreign oil, speed up.

[Rogue]

If all will recall when the 55 mph speed limit was imposed on us there was a fuel shortage......no such shortage exists today.

If you desire to drive 55 or so stay in the right lane and do not impede traffic.

[Marctnts]

Geez, we get it. If you drive slower you get better mileage. Seriously, how many more of these letters do we need?

To Mr. Baker, I'm not sure your proposal would be workable. While I understand the correlation between education and the ability to make better decisions, I'm not sure there is evidence of a direct link between high school graduation and accident rates. Without such, implementing this type of requirement becomes an unfounded burden on one class of driver for the betterment of another. Further, do we need another reason for the educational system to blindly advance unprepared students?

[Pub 17]

Nice one, Chris, good zinger. You've convinced me to speed up to five over the limit, the way I used to drive.

[Chris40]

I'm surprised whispering to kc didn't blame it on The Jews, as he did 9/11. Time to get back to your cave, whispering.

[whispering_to_kc]

A trucker who slows from 80 to 60 will save $15000 to $20000/year in fuel costs if he can work the extra hours to keep his miles up.

If he chooses to keep his hours in the seat what they were and accept fewer miles at the slower speed, he's now getting better fuel economy and driving fewer miles but netting the same money he made at the higher speeds.

But try to convince the meatheads who only know speed.

One of the speedy meatheads will be along shortly to call Mr. Humphrey a commie slowpoke.

[Pub 17]

Phil Humphrey-YES.
Over the last two months truckers have definitely cut it back. I can find a guy now doing a sensible speed and let him pace the right lane traffic (NO DRAFTING!!!!). Let joy be unconfined, grownups are back in charge.