Slowly. And for your own good.
If one of the more extreme responses to global warming comes true, driving a sports car anywhere but on a racetrack might be relegated to history’s dustbin.
Fast, powerful cars within a few years may be outlawed in Europe, an idea that has been raised ostensibly because Ferraris and Porsches produce too much carbon dioxide. For those who abhor sports cars as vulgar symbols of affluence (along with vacation homes, furs and fancy jewelry), such a ban could be a two-fer: Saving the planet while cutting economic inequality.
Who are these people anyway who decide on behalf of everyone what car is proper to drive? In the U.S. they’re members of Congress, which is considering fuel-efficiency standards that will affect vehicle size. In Europe, it’s the ministers and parliamentarians of the European Union, which wants to limit how much CO2 cars can emit as a proxy for a fuel- consumption standard.
Chris Davies, a British member of the European Parliament, is proposing one of the most-extreme measures — a prohibition on any car that goes faster than 162 kilometers (101 miles) an hour, a speed that everything from the humble Honda Civic on up can exceed. He ridiculed fast cars as “boys’ toys.”
The proposed ban would take effect in 2013. Davies told the Guardian newspaper that “cars designed to go at stupid speeds have to be built to withstand the effects of a crash at those speeds. They are heavier than necessary, less fuel-efficient and produce too many emissions.”
MP Davies and I clearly have a difference of opinion as to what constitutes “stupid speeds”. We know his; mine is those who go 45-50 mph on the interstate during light to moderate traffic.
“Who are these people anyway who decide on behalf of everyone what car is proper to drive? In the U.S. they’re members of Congress, which is considering fuel-efficiency standards that will affect vehicle size.”
Reminds me of a picture I saw in the early eighties of Tip O’Neill’s car next to Ron Paul’s car: a Lincoln Town Car (or similar) next to a Chevrolet Chevette. Guess who owned what. At the time there was a debate going on about fuel efficiency standards and the picture was used to illustrate another (in a long list) hypocrisy.