Justin Gardner at Donklephant is impressed with Barack Obama’s suggestion that people adequately maintain their cars and keep their tires properly inflated to increase their gas mileage. He is unimpressed with the proposal to increase offshore oil drilling (memo to Justin: Obama’s on the offshore drilling bus now. At least, until he throws someone under it.)
I’m not so impressed, myself. I already maintain my vehicles regularly and keep them in good working order. They are not allowed to belch smoke, burn or leak oil, or go more than 3,000 miles without proper fluid maintenance. I’m pretty anal about that 3,000 mile thing and will drive well out of my way to get the oil changed as soon as I pass that 3,000 mile limit.
I already make sure my vehicles’ tires are properly inflated. I don’t do these things because of fuel efficiency; I do them for safety. It only took one set of photographs of people burnt to death after their tire blew out on I-15 and rolled their vehicle to permanently impress upon me the importance of adequately inflated tires.
So, do you have any other helpful suggestions, Barack?
Maybe his next helpful automotive tip will be to use dry Nitrogen to inflate tires instead of air. I have seen some claims of 2 to 3 miles per gallon improvement using only this miracle of technology. Seriously, though, I am very glad to know you care about safety of operation of your cars.