Letters to the Editor
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What high priced gasoline?
Yes, Americans are driving billions of miles less per month (11 billion fewer in March 08 relative to March 07), but that is still a negligible change considering the trillions of miles driven per year here. If you were one of the brave souls who was doing the right thing by riding a bike, and you had 24 fossil-fool powered wheelchairs graze your shoulder per block instead of the usual 25, would you even notice the difference?
Considering the impact of relatively small changes in gasoline demand on the price of gasoline, what would the price of gasoline be now if we had increased the federal gas tax by $.10 per gallon each year for the last fifteen years and dedicated the funds to putting our trolleys back in as well as building some safe bike/ped infrastructure? We can still do it if we can overcome our fear of moving about without our two-ton wheelchairs. Of course, it is so much more American to prefer diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, obesity and, very likely, climate-change induced extinction rather than impose a real gas tax.