🚀 go-pugleaf

Dan Nagle:
   OK. Let's properly apply the laws of physics.  Power consumed by
   pushing the car thru the air scales as the cube of the speed.  CO
   will scale the same way (you guys aren't claiming cars produce less
   pollution *per gallon* at higher speeds, are you?).  So pollution
   *per mile of highway* goes up as the square of traffic speed...

Not exactly.  Pollution from engine power required to overcome air
resistance varies (approximately) this way.  But you're silly if you
think that's all that a car does.  In addition to friction losses from
a variety of sources, there's accelleration losses, hill climbing
loses, idling losses, and others...

One of the most important contribution speed/safety has for pollution
is its contribution to traffic jams.  Laws which encourage unsafe
driving [which includes laws which require people to drive below the
optimum speed for road and weather] will tend to result in more
traffic jams and, thus, more pollution.

   I frequently drive 65 to 70 mph on local highways.  I'm willing to
   admit it's a luxury bought with (slightly) higher gas bills,
   (slightly) more pollution, and a (slight) decrease in safety.

You think it's safe to have a relative velocity of -10 miles per hour
with respect of the rest of traffic?  Why?  Under what kind of traffic
conditions would you think this is safe and efficient?

Actually, that question is not completely fair.  On a multi-lane road,
it's safest if each lane is going somewhat faster than its neighbors
[going from right to left].  This reduces clumping of cars, and helps
people know what's going on in their blind spots.  A little clumping
might be ok, as that helps reduce monotony, but it can get rather
nasty [as in: traffic jam].

Anyways, the biggest contribution to safety is a good driver.  Driver
training can contribute much more to safety than speed laws which are
so bad they can not be safely followed.  

-- 
Raul Deluth Miller-Rockwell                   <rockwell@socrates.umd.edu>
The U.S. government went another thousand million dollars into debt today.