From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rms2g@virginia.edu)
Date: Sun Feb 09 2003 - 13:08:44 MST
From: "Alfio Puglisi" <puglisi@arcetri.astro.it>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2003 2:07 PM
Subject: Re: Fuel Efficient Cars (was Oil Economics)
> On Sat, 8 Feb 2003, Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:
>
> >### This is such a strong argument against gas taxes: taxing gas is
> >exchanging *human lives* for a pile of cash at the IRS.
> >
> >Reminds me why I so intensely distrust do-goody, green, save-the-planet
> >gobbledygook.
>
> You have it the other way around: taxing gas is saving lots of human lives
> from reduced pollution. And, as Lee said , big cars seem not to reduce the
> average mortality rate.
### No, you got it backwards - it is the punishment of polluters that
reduces pollution and saves lives. Punishing gas users is almost irrelevant
in this context - a 50 mpg car without catalytic exhaust harms more people
than a 15 mpg car with it, both by increased pollution and decreased safety.
By confusing the issue of gas use with the issue of pollution you are doing
a disservice to both of them.
Data on survival in crashes shows that solidly-built cars do reduce
mortality rates.
Rafal
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