TheHorseman - 27 April 2008 11:15 AM

I have to disagree with Walt on raising ticket prices for speeding motorists, at least in some areas.  The Sheriff’s dept, Sebring Police, and State troopers are all in Cahoots with the Road and Bridge department.  Local county speed limit signs are not posted as should be and that’s where they set up speed traps for the sole purpose of taking in revenue.  It doesn’t take much to put up a sign to have a clearly marked speed limit but they (Road and Bridge) refuse to do it.  I have had experience in dealing with such an issue.

I used to live here years ago and grew up here.  On the road I lived the speed limit was always 45 mph and the signs marking the road were in clear locations.  Since I returned, the signs have been moved, placed within 100 feet of US 27 and the speed limit torqued down to 35 mph.  So, when someone turns off the highway they are not aware of the sign as when you are turning you need to first evaluate the road you just turned on to and the sign comes up too quick.  The sign should be placed further back or another one further down the road.  I was caught in such a speed trap.  When I contacted Road and Bridge they said the Sheriff’s dept requested the speed limit be dropped down and when I told them about the signs, they said they would look at it but nothing has happened.

My view, the Sheriff’s dept keeps the road just this way so they can collect their “hidden tax” and put money into their dept.  They are not interested in keeping people informed of the speed limit so we can remain within the law.  They are interested in collecting revenue.

Before anyone gives a response I suggest taking a look where you’re driving.  Notice if there is a speed limit sign or not.  For instance, the road which goes by Highlands Regional Hospital.  There is no speed limit sign from US 27 all the way past the railroad tracks or just around it. 

There are so many inconsistancies and you can’t tell me that the dept doesn’t have enough money to put up a speed limit sign. 

They just don’t want to.

I will clarify my statement somewhat concerning my opinion about imposing an additional fine for excess fuel waste for speeding offenses. I’m mainly talking about federal highways, interstates, and higher speed state highways with speed limits of 60 to 70 MPH.

I thought of this idea (to impose a separate fine for excess gasoline cosnsumption) during a trip to SW International Airport last year.

At that time gasoline just broke the magic $3.00/gallon number and folks were squawking about it. I had to drop my wife off at the airport (Ft. Myers) as she was going out of state to visit family. On the way down I observed many cars driving well above the posted 70 MPH speed limit, so on the way home I decided to run an observation experiment. Upon leaving Daniels Parkway onto north I-75, I immediately got up to the 70 MPH speed limit in the right hand lane (slow lane) and set my speed control.

At that point I had an eight mile drive to Rt. 80, where I would exit and head back towards Highlands County. In that span of eight miles I passed not one car, yet I was passed by 23 vehicles (cars, trucks, and one motorcycle).  I estimate that their speeds ranged from 4-5MPH above 70MPH to 15 MPH over the posted 70MPH speed limit.

Based on this observation I concluded that those driver’s weren’t very concerned about higher gasoline prices, let alone highway safety. Maybe those drivers were of financial means that the higher gasoline prices didn’t hurt their pocket book that much.

It was from this observation that I thought of the fuel (finite resource) wasting fine as a deterrent to excess speeding. And subsequent speeding charges would be subjected to even higher fines.

I’m not advocating such fines for just 1-5 MPH above the speed limit, but driving speeds at least 5 MPH or more above the posted speed limit. I will go as far as to say the threshold might be 10 MPH above the posted speed limit. Surely, a 10 MPH cushion is reasonable at highway posted speed limits of between 60-70 MPH. This cushion would allow for passing and normal speed variation.

I’m mainly directing this proposal to driver scofflaws here that habitually speed well above the posted speed limit who are only thinking of themselves and could care less about wasting gasoline and endangering others on the road.

And about the gas guzzling RVs, motorhomes the size of New Hampshire with one or two occupants? What about the fuels wasted at these air shows?

Maximum surcharges on any vehicle speeding more than 10 MPH above the posted limits, and surcharges on recreational vehicles to pay for roads, bridges, and infrastructure could help.

I would like to see law enforcement stop these people who fail to yield right of way, pull out from driveways and side roads without yielding to oncoming traffic. Speeding isn’t the only cause of accidents. Everyday I see these same folks causing near misses up and down U.S. 27. Where are the deputies?

wassup - 01 May 2008 10:52 PM

With the projected price of oil, we may be calling these days the good old days in a few months. I remember when I was a very young child seeing my first price of a gallon of gas with my grandfather, I think it was 28 cents a gallon. The next price I paid attention to was when I got my driver’s license, .79 cents a gallon. When I was in high school, we used to drive around usually from one end of town to the other all night long listening to music etc..,. (on the weekends of course) Could you imagine doing that these days? Times have changed.

When I was in high school a friend of mine’s father was the manager of a Gulf filling/gasoline station. I got my driver’s license in 1964 and my first car was a used 1956 Mercury Custom convertible. Gulf had three brands of gasoline (octane level): Gulftane, Good Gulf, and Gulf Premium. Gulftane was about .26 per gallon at that time. I had an after school and Saturday job at minimum wage (($1.25/hr.) and could buy four gallons of gasoline easily on one hour’s pay. I never, even then, thought of gasoline being expensive.

When I got out of the Military (Navy) in July of 1971 gasoline was selling for around .35/gallon. It wasn’t until 1973 and the Arab Oil Embargo that gasoline started to climb substantially.

I recall the gas lines and the even/odd day gasoline purchase restrictions. Some stations only allowed you to purchase 3 gallons at a time. This didn’t cut it for me and my 440 cubic inch Dodge Charger. I also recall fighting and violence at long gas station lines. I only hope we don’t see gasoline restrictions such as that again. America has become so much more spoiled since those days. I believe it wouldn’t take much for anarchy to break out if gasoline rose to $6-7/gallon, and/or food prices go through the roof like they are now doing. Desperate people sometimes do desperate things and the law of the jungle kicks in. One only has to look at the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew and Katrina to understand how some people can quickly lose their civility and decend to the level of viscious animals. The nature of man is so predictable during times of crisis.

Been_There_Done_That - 02 May 2008 05:49 AM

When I attended college, it costs me $3.50 to fill up my Chevy Bel Air. We will see gasoline as high as $7 a gallon within the next few years, because the environmentalists will not tolerate oill and gas exploration to increase. And people don’t trust nuclear plants as safe - they view nuclear as targets for terrorists.

Until the American people have had enough, expect to be exploited by the Middle East and our own oil companies. All the bellyaching doesn’t amount to a hill of beans, until people start calling their reps in Congress and DEMANDING that oil be drilled in the Western hemisphere.

Regardless of alternative fuels, it will take 10 years to get the millions of vehicles built to run on gasoline and diesel fuels off the roads.

Absolutely! The green folks don’t want to allow drilling in ANWAR and offshore; don’t want to build nuclear power plants; don’t want to build new gasoline refineries; don’t want to burn coal (we have a 600 year supply at current burning rates).

I’m for all of the above but I want a quid pro quo as a tradeoff.

I’m not for drilling at ANWAR and offshore just for the sake of lower gasoline prices so we can just willy nilly go our merry way and drive around frivolously.

I want meaningfully increased CAFE standards and alternative fuels developed; more conservation practices and energy saving methods and devices, etc. mandated. But I want same without offsetting negative consequences, such as this ethanol debacle.

Been_There_Done_That - 02 May 2008 07:03 AM

And about the gas guzzling RVs, motorhomes the size of New Hampshire with one or two occupants? What about the fuels wasted at these air shows?

Maximum surcharges on any vehicle speeding more than 10 MPH above the posted limits, and surcharges on recreational vehicles to pay for roads, bridges, and infrastructure could help.

I would like to see law enforcement stop these people who fail to yield right of way, pull out from driveways and side roads without yielding to oncoming traffic. Speeding isn’t the only cause of accidents. Everyday I see these same folks causing near misses up and down U.S. 27. Where are the deputies?

Some of the points you make are also some I, too, have considered. My wife and I discuss same from time to time.

The fact is the good ole days in this country (and the world) as we once knew them is over. The day’s of cheap energy derived from fossil fuels is over. Our life style will now have to change. It will no longer be business as usual.

I think the days of dinosaur motor homes and gas guzzling recreation vehicles is coming to an end.

And yes, what a waste of fossil fuel we see at airshows, car races, boat races, etc.

It will take some time to wean us Americans off of events like that because such events also fuel a niche in our economy, generating business sales and taxes, etc. So while there is fuel being burned, there is also a positive offset, too.

But with respect to any type of gas guzzling vehicle, if one is rolling in the money, one might not really care about the cost of gasoline, while folks of much less monetary means might struggle just to put gas in their car to drive to and from work, to the grocery store, etc.  So I say, why should the rich—so as to satisfy their recreational pleasure—be allowed to waste gasoline (in essence creating higher demand for gasoline) thus increasing the price for others! No, the heavy pleasure users should be made to pay for their excess disproportionally so that they themselves feel the pain, IMO.

An analogy of the above is this: Up in Washington, D.C. about 25-30 years ago car parking was at a premium, and many rich folks that worked in the city, rather than be inconvenienced, would over- park at parking meters and just keep paying parking fines. They paid the fines because it was worth it to them not to have to either move their car to another spot during the day or park farther from their workplace and have to inconvenience themselves.

So by virtue of being well off with money, they used their money to flout the law. The city finally became wise to this and in addition to giving out parking tickets for over-parking at meters, installed the Denver boot so that the driver could not move their car and the car was impounded. The scofflaws were forced to go before the court to get their cars back. This effectively put an end to rich, elitist folks being able to buy their way through society’s laws.

Similar principles may need to be imposed in other areas where folks of excessive means waste disproportionately.

There is a plus side to all of this. The U.S. is sitting on huge oil, coal, and natural gas reserves while burning relatively cheap Arab and Middle Eastern oil. The sad part is that everything we buy is affected by the shipping costs, including shipping goods from overseas. Ships use fuel; fuel prices rise worldwide, and so do the costs of all consumer goods.

People will be forced to live and work in the same geographical areas. People will be forced to pay more for food, goods, and services. It is the next generation of Americans who will suffer. For the first time in 100 years, the next generation will have a lower standard of life, be able to afford a lower standard of healthcare, and face ever-increasing pressure to work for less money and fewer benefits.

Yes, on a whole all succeeding generations will be less fortunate than the proceeding generations.

I see no alternative as the world population is growing by about 80 million humans a year (birthrate exceeding the death rate). There seems to be no call to stabalize world population. With respect to the Kyoto treaty I see nothing in it calling for population control. If man is the supposed cause of Global Warming, then it seems logical to me that global population would be one of the first courses of action to help mitigate the carbon footprint.

Just do the math of the resources (food, water, clothing, shelter, energy consumption, etc.), 80 million humans require per year, even at the lowest living standards.

Has anyone seen the information about converting your vehicle to enable it to use water as a supplement to gasoline?
It’s called the Water 4 Gas system. The conversion turns your vehicle into a hybrid. I don’t know how good this is, if it works, or if it’s just a scam. Here is the blog I saw this on: http://live-better-for-less-money.blogspot.com/

Thanks Voice. I won’t be adding any such devices though. The best ways to save on gasoline.

1. Drive less; consolidate trips
2. Eliminate jack rabbit starts; avoid driving above 55 mph; 65 on the Interstate
3. If you sell or trade vehicles, go high mileage models only.

Bought a new car 3 years ago. I was hard pressed to find a car on the lot with good mileage. The dealerships were pushing gas guzzling trucks, SUVs, minivans and old clunker trade-in Crown Vics.

When the consumer starts asking for and buying more efficient vehicles, then we will all save precious resources.

There are some half-truths in the article at that blog. For the most part, saving money is using less. Gimmicks will void your warranty and could easily ruin your engine. Water and gasoline don’t mix. If you ever bought a bad tank of gas with water contamination, you would stay away from anyone claiming that water increases gas mileage.

thevoiceoftruth - 04 May 2008 06:01 PM

Has anyone seen the information about converting your vehicle to enable it to use water as a supplement to gasoline?
It’s called the Water 4 Gas system. The conversion turns your vehicle into a hybrid. I don’t know how good this is, if it works, or if it’s just a scam. Here is the blog I saw this on: http://live-better-for-less-money.blogspot.com/

I don’t even bother with that kind of stuff (claimed gas saving devices).

J.C. Whitney (car accessory company) used to peddle that kind of junk years ago. They may still be doing it.

Logic dictates that if there were gas saving devices available, devices that signifigantly raised gas mileage, Detriot would be have purchased or leased the patents and be installing them right now on their vehicles, as they financially hurting right now due to the high cost of gasoline, plus their competition with Toyota and the like.

I’m skeptical of all those claimed gas saving devices. Sure, some may increase your mileage a few tenths of a gallon, but show me a device that can increase mileage 50% or more. Even 25%, or 15%!

All I ever hear concerning gas saving devices is anecdotal tales and testimonials. I never see provable scientific test results of such devices.

A case in point, IMO, is the Sunday article in the HT Business section where the guy invented some sort of gas saving (Fuel Charger) device that installs in the vehicle’s fuel line, just after the fuel filter. Agian, nothing but ancedotal testimonials derived from unscientic, uncontrolled tests/use, etc.

The promoter only uses non specific, relative terms when promoting the Fuel Charger, such as “better” gas mileage; more fuel savings, etc.

Further, the Fuel Charger is not sold in stores. I feel if this device is worth its salt, it would be marketed in stores, on the internet, in the press,etc., and include scientific test lab results showing just how much gasoline the device saves on some typical vehicles in given driving situations.

Lastly, when synthetic oil first came out for the domestic automobile, the refiners were making all kinds of better mileage and increased horsepower claims due to the oil’s lower viscosity and friction reducing qualites. I recall seeing magazine adds featuring typical vehicles from all of the Big Three auto makers, showing fairly impressive mileage increases. However, you don’t hear much at all about the claims of synthetic oil now. If it is so good, why isn’t Detriot, Japan, Germnay et al making synthetic oil standard equipment in all of their vehicles?

(I do believe synthetic oil reduces friction better than conventional oil, but the question is, is it worth the price difference, i.e., do you realize a good pay back?

I’ve always budgeted for my monthly expenses fairly well. With the added expense of the Property Taxes added to the increase in Fuel Pricing, we have had to re-evaluate our already evaluated monthly budget. We had actually planned for an increase in fuel and property values, unfortunately, we didn’t for-see the amount it has gone to.

I feel that most every-day working people won’t stress as much (such as myself), we are used to not regularly having the extras that many others do. But for those that have played keeping up with the joneses and buy fancy cars, boats, motor homes, along with their home and credit card debt...those are the ones I worry about.

If we at the middle are feeling the pinch and we are frugal in this houselhold, I can only imagine what the other families are going to do. Wages haven’t gone up with the overall increases all around and it now costs my family an extra $80.00 a month just to travel back and forth to the jobs we’ve held for a long period of time. Add that up with no increase in pay along with everything else and you just have to prioritize what is and always has been important:  Family, Food & Shelter tops my list followed by taking care of the job that has provided for me over the years.

I’ve considered cutting back on my 401K investments along with staying “home” when off more frequently. Eating out has been scaled way back. We miss our favorite haunting places for dinner (they are like our second families), but we have to be realistic and know that we should cover all needs prior to enjoying our wants.

As for vacation traveling.....I tend to fly. It saves time (hotel stays while on the road and fuel) and I feel it is value added that I can get somewhere quicker and enjoy my off time that has been planned.

My only concern is that we are now re-evaluating the hours we work and additional responsibities for more pay and less family time. This is the one thing we promised we’d never do and now, with all the increases we’ve had thrust upon us, we’ve been pressured into doing the one thing we promised each other we’d never do....put the dollar we earn over the valuable time spent with our family. In the meantime, we pray that nothing out of the ordinary happens like a major illness or our cars breaking down. But if they do, we hope we’ve planned well enough to sustain the un-for-seeable.

Over-all though we’ve taken this opportunity to enjoy the neighbors more----they’re within walking distance!

I was listening to a radio program the other morning and heard several callers discussing adding acetone to your gas.  I have never heard this before.  Anyone else ever hear about this?