# $368 a month on gas = 3 gallons a day! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 6, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965 "2011-05-06T14:47:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/161 "2011-05-08T17:37:41Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > [QUOTE=minor7flat5] > \ I always wonder why we (USA) can’t do the same thing, and reduce our oil consumption by quite a bit.\ The difference between “can’t” and “won’t.” [/QUOTE] But even that masochistic side of me understands that it’s just not so simple as that. For example, one quote I remember hearing years ago said something like this: “Everything around you—everything you can touch, everything you see—came to you on a truck” Sure that can be argued a bit, but the point is clear: trucks are a vital part of our infrastructure. If my anti-huge-vehicle gas hike happened, then pretty much everything in our economy would get proportionally more expensive. And, as others noted, it just isn’t so simple as getting huge SUV’s off the road: some people actually do have a justified need for a larger vehicle, especially those with large families and tradespeople who use their vehicles to haul around lots of stuff. It’s just a random thought that dismisses much of reality. ETA: A little more on Can’t and Won’t, since you mentioned it again upthread. Won’t becomes Can’t when so many people are involved that no one group can control another group’s actions. There are so many Americans who would happily drive the most eco-friendly car the minimal distance required if needed. They can’t affect those who choose to live otherwise. And that’s a can’t that cannot be changed to a won’t without substantial impact on individual freedom. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/162 "2011-05-08T17:41:50Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > Hey, America’s a democracy. > > In my neck of the woods (the Triangle, NC), public transport taxes are routinely voted down in referenda. > > You get the government (and the transport) you deserve. Strangely, I have no control over how other people vote. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/163 "2011-05-08T18:19:51Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > Hey, America’s a democracy. > > In my neck of the woods (the Triangle, NC), public transport taxes are routinely voted down in referenda. So it was in my neck of the woods (L.A.) for many years. Then in the election of 2008, voters approved an additional half-cent transit sales tax to be collected over thirty years. New taxes have to be approved by a 66% super-majority, so the success of the measure did signal a remarkable sea-change in local politics. Prior to that, similar proposals had been voted down time and time again, going at least as far back as the 1960s. L.A. being what it is, it’s not likely our transit system will be as comprehensive as, say, NYC’s or London’s. But the future’s looking a lot brighter now, regardless. When we can’t get the government to do what we want, we do it ourselves. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/164 "2011-05-08T18:39:24Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > Strangely, I have no control over how other people vote. Sure, but if you (vous) want to take the credit for what the American people as a whole do (moon landings, defending democracy, USAid, killing OBL) then you also have to take the blame for the less fantastic stuff too. After WW2, the American people, collectively, made a choice. They made a choice to fly to the moon and live in the suburbs 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/165 "2011-05-08T22:26:02Z")
Need to commute but want to save gas? How about an [electric bike](http://www.electric-bikes.com/)? I know a guy who commutes over 15 miles each day on a bicycle-style e-bike. Since it also works like a regular bike you can pedal it (which solves the range problem of an e-car), and besides that, pedaling it actually charges the battery. Will this work for everybody? Ahem, did I ever _say_ it would work for everybody!?! :mad: \ ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/166 "2011-05-08T23:00:04Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Need to commute but want to save gas? How about an [electric bike](http://www.electric-bikes.com/)? > > I know a guy who commutes over 15 miles each day on a bicycle-style e-bike. Since it also works like a regular bike you can pedal it (which solves the range problem of an e-car), and besides that, pedaling it actually charges the battery. > > Will this work for everybody? Ahem, did I ever _say_ it would work for everybody!?! :mad: \ Can it be pedaled up a hill like a mountain bike with the proper gears? ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/167 "2011-05-08T23:05:06Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#): > > Somehow we seem to manage with quite a lot less than 3 gallons per day. The cliched quote goes a long way towards why you can’t directly compare European gas usage with American. “Americans think a hundred years is a long time. Europeans think a hundred miles is a long distance.” America doesn’t have the population density, except in a very few large cities, to make the kind of transit network that Europe and Japan enjoy feasible or cost-effective. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/168 "2011-05-09T00:17:39Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Can it be pedaled up a hill like a mountain bike with the proper gears? It looks like a 1-speeder to me. It is kind of boxy and may conceal gears I don’t know about. But- I meant 15 miles each way, and it is kind of hilly around here, seems to work. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/169 "2011-05-09T00:23:32Z")
ETA: I checked the [cite](http://www.electric-bikes.com/bikes/howwork.html) and noticed this: > [@](#): > > Power, when activated by a throttle on the handlebar (power-on-demand) or in response to your pedaling (ped-elec), gives you an immediate, nearly silent push. When you release the throttle (or stop pedaling), the motor coasts or “freewheels” - like when you stop pedaling a regular bike. Standard bicycle hand brakes and gearing round out the controls. So apparently e-bikes with gears are available, though I couldn’t tell you which kind this guy is using. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/170 "2011-05-09T00:36:49Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Worst case scenario: unpresentable smeary mess on someone’s bumper. It doesn’t have to turn out that way. Check out [How Not to get Hit by Cars](http://bicyclesafe.com/): > [@](#): > > Around 33,000 people die in car crashes in the U.S. each year. > About 1 in 41 is a bicyclist. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/171 "2011-05-09T01:34:05Z")
* * * ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/172 "2011-05-09T04:57:09Z")
Here is a piece of advice. Do with it what you will. Cheap gas is over. The old days are gone. I’m ready for it. I’ve made a lot of choices to make sure I can handle gas price changes. I don’t care if you choose to prepare or not, but I do expect people to take responsibility for their choices. I’m not going to have a lot of sympathy for people who don’t prepare for what they known coming. You cant change America, but you can make sure you and your family are prepared. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/173 "2011-05-09T05:29:15Z")
That’s a really good point, **even sven** - we can point fingers and make excuses all we want, but we still have to live in the real world. No amount of reasons for why you do what you do will put more gas in your tank if you can’t afford it any longer. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/174 "2011-05-09T05:32:55Z")
It’s a nice sentiment, but in the short term, it won’t matter, in a sense. Gas prices will have quite a reaction on elections and political actions. If this time in 2014 the Gulf of Mexico is coast to coast oil platforms, that’ll be why. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/175 "2011-05-09T08:34:01Z")
> [@bump](#): > > One thing nobody’s mentioned is that part of the reasons for minivan and SUV popularity has been the expansion of child car seats, both physically, and the length of time children have to ride in them. > > Considering that kids are supposed to sit in some sort of dumb-ass booster seat until they’re almost 9, what’s a family with 2-3 children under 4 supposed to do? There just flat out isn’t enough room in most small cars for the car seats and the parents to sit. I defy you to get 3 car seats into a Chevy Volt or Prius as well as both parents! Because, as we know, people in other countries don’t have two or three children. ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/176 "2011-05-09T08:50:02Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Because, as we know, people in other countries don’t have two or three children. That’s an uncharitable interpretation; I thought **bump** was saying not that three kids won’t fit in a small car, but that three (now-required) car seats won’t? And whilst those foreign devils might have many spawn, we all know they have no respect for life, so they just pile them up on the roof, or have them wear rollerblades and grab onto the exhaust pipe. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/177 "2011-05-09T08:54:59Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Because, as we know, people in other countries don’t have two or three children. You’re more than welcome to ferry your kids around like this. > **[designvsart](http://designvsart.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/indian_family_scooter.jpg/)** > > blog ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/178 "2011-05-09T09:13:40Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > That’s an uncharitable interpretation; I thought **bump** was saying not that three kids won’t fit in a small car, but that three (now-required) car seats won’t? My point being that in other countries they are also required but magically we still get by without everyone having minivans or SUVs. ---
**Author:** ![Hbns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/179 "2011-05-09T10:21:57Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > My point being that in other countries they are also required but magically we still get by without everyone having minivans or SUVs. Because they are almost all station wagons. 😉 I can see 15 cars in the lot from my office window right now. 8 are wagons, 3 are 5 door hatches, 1 mini van, 1 pickup truck, and 2 are mid size sedans. ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965/180 "2011-05-09T10:55:24Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > My point being that in other countries they are also required but magically we still get by without everyone having minivans or SUVs. But America is a Christian country and magic is the work of the devil, so your suggestion couldn’t possibly work here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/368-a-month-on-gas-3-gallons-a-day/580965.md?page=10)