When Less is More

Government regulations and higher taxes often result in less income for the government, not more. The current administration's "redistribution scheme" is not really about "fairness" but power and control. The wealthiest people in the U.S. already pay the bulk of our taxes, but lower rates than many middle class workers (increasingly many low income people pay no federal taxes at all). This happens to state governments too. This is from a very handy website for truckers, Weigh Station and Truck Safety, but if you're going to be travelling, check out your state by clicking on the map.

"Ohio used to have a split speed limit for most of the state's freeways- 65 for cars and 55 for trucks. Many truckers thought this would never change but now most of Ohio's roadways have just one speed limit for both cars and trucks.

The split speed limit ended first up the Ohio turnpike when the turnpike authority changed it to 65 for cars and for trucks. Toll rates increased dramatically between 1982 and 1999. Many truckers refused to pay the high rates. Governor Taft and the Ohio Turnpike commission decided to lower the tolls and increase the speed limits to draw the trucks back onto the turnpike from the side roads. Part of the plan to get truckers to use the Ohio turnpike more was increasing the enforcement of weight laws on the side roads."

Not every state's rates have been updated within the last 2 years, but if you want to see which states are in the biggest tax trouble, just take a look at their fuel taxes--the more they charge, the deeper in debt! California and Illinois are broke--in fact, they're busted flat and stole from their state pensions! The new health care mandates will put even more pressure on state governments, so I don't know who's left to steal from--the neighbors--Indiana? Nevada?

The California fuel tax rate is $0.476 per gallon of diesel. This rate includes a 6% state sales tax and a 1.25% county tax.

The Illinois fuel tax rate is $0.413 per gallon of diesel fuel. This includes a 6.25% sales tax. Local governments can levy additional taxes. The city of Chicago levies an additional $0.1275 tax. [Note: and the roads are crappy!]

The Ohio fuel tax rate is $0.28 per gallon of diesel fuel. The fuel tax is supposed to increase $0.03 per gallon every 2 years according to legislation passed in 2003.

The Kansas fuel tax rate is $0.27 per gallon of diesel fuel. This rate includes a 1 penny per gallon environmental fee.

The Texas fuel tax rate is $0.20 per gallon of diesel.

The Maine fuel tax rate is $0.295 per gallon of diesel. This fuel tax rate includes $0.07 per gallon of diesel for the Coastal and Inland Water Fund and $0.06 per gallon of diesel for the Groundwater Fund.

This research hit a nerve

I read about the cell phone drivers slowing everyone down during commutes last week in the WSJ, but when I googled the story today, that story seemed to be in every paper. It's the kind of thing everyone suspects is true, and then when someone really does the research, it's an Ah-ha moment. Here's the abstract from the research paper done at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Department of Psychology at the University of Utah and prepared for the Transportation Research Board:

ABSTRACT
This research examined the effect of naturalistic, hands-free, cell phone conversation on driver’s lane-changing behavior. Thirty-six undergraduate psychology students drove six 9.2-mile scenarios, in a simulated highway environment, with three levels of traffic density. Participants were instructed only to obey the speed limit and to signal when making a lane change. These simple driving instructions allowed participants to freely vary driving behaviors such as following distance, speed, and lane-changing maneuvers. Results indicated that, when drivers conversed on the cell phone, they made fewer lane changes, had a lower overall mean speed, and a significant increase in travel time in the medium and high density driving conditions. Drivers on the cell phone were also much more likely to remain behind a slower moving lead vehicle than drivers in single-task condition. No effect of cell phone conversation on following distance was observed. Possible implications on traffic flow characteristics are discussed. "Drivers’ Lane Changing Behavior While Conversing On a Cell Phone in a Variable Density Simulated Highway Environment" pdf here

Maybe slowing people down isn't all that bad and will reduce problems later. However, I know that accidents are caused by people distracted by their phones, although conversation with passengers doesn't seem to have the same affect. What bothers me is when I see the little faces of the children and babies, strapped in and bored, with mommy chatting away ignoring the opportunity to interact with them. Dumped even before the day-care door.