Posted by
BLOGASSAULT on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 7:09:49 PM
The National Academy of Sciences has linked mileage standards with about 2,000 deaths per year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that every 100-pound reduction in the weight of small cars increases annual traffic fatalities by as much as 715.
In contrast in the more than six years since the Iraq war began, there have been 4,296 deaths among American military personnel.
For the sake of being utilitarian, if the price of gas were $5 per gallon that would translate to daily savings of $5 million. Is that savings worth killing more than five people per day, plus other non-fatal injuries and property damage?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -– for the purposes of risk assessment -– values a single human life at $6.9 million dollars. So under the new mileage standards, it would cost about $35 million per day in human lives (not including non-fatal injuries) to save $5 million in gas.
Obama is going to get us killed!
Take the Smart car for instance. In this
YouTube video, you will see that they passed it, but the dummies head did strike the steering wheel in the test, even with the air bag, and the car bounced violently off of the barrier. Increase that test by 10-20 mph and I would venture death would be the most common outcome.
On the other hand, it will save you you $5.00 a month in gas, or something. Seems like a good trade off to me.