Please help to distribute this letter to your friends and foes. Link to this letter: http://energy.saving.nu/biofuels/kazman.shtml
Open letter to Mr. Sam Kazman about SUV interview at CNN. Competitive Enterprise Institute, CEI I saw you on CNN Insight and it was a real show performance, but unfortunately very thin on factual information. I am from Sweden, a country well recognized for its successful security policies to combat fatalities in road accidents. I was very disturbed by your opinions in the CNN interview. Further research on you and your organization by looking at Internet information, did not make me less disturbed. I only discovered ignorance and an unbelievable political use of the natural laws that supposed to fit the arguments. http://www.cei.org/ (your organization) http://www.cei.org/dyn/view_bio.cfm/45 (you) http://www.prwatch.org/improp/cei.html (what a reasonable watch dog organization says about you) http://energy.saving.nu/biofuels/oildependencies.shtml (what we say about oil dependencies) It is only a few questions that I like to get covered about SUV and your position. Since you pose in such a convincing way as expert, you should be able to answer at least a few of them, if not all. The U.S. government has a $35,000 tax rebate on SUVs, which to me looks completely insane and contradictory to any oil independence policy. - How can U.S. government justify such a tax rebate, with the talk about lessening the oil dependency? - How can you claim that SUV is the American people's choice, knowing that it is a tax rebate that in some cases cover around 75% of the price of a SUV that makes them so attractive to purchase? Wouldn't that make SUVs the American government's choice? - Suppose somebody, like me for example, would claim that this looks like a hidden subsidy to the American car industry and as such is against WTO rules. This based on availability and possible planning advantages in favor of the US domestic industry. What would be your answer? - US Automotive industry is quite honest about the typical buyers of SUV today. Considering this it can hardly be argued that the tax rebate for SUV can fall in any category of professional special utility vehicle. How would you argue it? - If I say that the tax rebate looks more like a corruption issue, what would be your answer based on facts? In the military I had extensive training in driving off road vehicles in both on and off road environment. I also heard that the procedures and demands are the same in the US military. To sign out an off road vehicle you have to do the following, 1. Show that you have gone through a special training in driving and loading the vehicle type and of course passed the tests. 2. Make a technical inspection of the vehicle and especially tires. Many off road vehicles like the SUV have very special characteristics that make them behave differentially than a normal car. The high center of gravity can make them quite dangerous, especially on road in higher speeds. In Europe we have a driving license that is divided in 3 classes for motorbikes and 10 classes for automobiles, trucks and buses. To have a complete license, as I have, you have go trough 5 different exams. A license for a normal automobile is valid for car and trailer up to a nominal weight of 3,500 kg (including maximum load figures). The published figures for SUV accidents in the US now start to show some specifics that are alarming. - Roll over fatal accidents for SUVs are several times higher than for normal automobiles. Given these statistics and the experiences and demands from the military, don't you think that a special training and license are necessary for the public also? - Because of lesser safety demands in the construction (collision zones) of SUVs, their weight that in many cases are 4,000 kg (8,800 lbs) or higher and their height, the accidents involving SUVs show higher fatality rates for third party in collisions. This especially true for front to side collisions. Don't you think that it should be stricter safety concerns for SUV than for normal automobiles instead of the opposite? - The government through the military is very aware of all the special risks with this type of vehicles. Don't you think that the government directly is responsible if they neglect to take precautionary actions or at least demand the same rules for military and civil use? I also have some additional questions. In the CNN interview you claimed that the SUVs were necessary because their space and load capacity, also that the US public did not have any choices since automobiles was smaller than before. - Given the special characteristics of an SUV, specifically that it is more sensitive to how you load it and how much you load it; are you aware that with safety concerns, the SUV might have lower safe load capacity than the normal car? - US have a very broad range of mini vans and mini buses. They are safer and have higher load capacity than SUVs. Since you are living in US and know this, how could you claim that it was no alternative to SUVs? Finally a more personal issue that I am curious about, concerning your support of SUVs. Considering the disastrous fuel economy, the questionable tax rebates and foremost the now statistically proven higher fatality rates for accidents involving SUVs. Do you sleep well during the night? Your attitudes and arguments had and will have direct impact on life or death for much more people than 9/11. Are you sure that you represent views that save lives or do you contribute in ending more lives? Quite an awesome responsibility, especially when accident statistics now start to mirror the truth. If you are wrong and statistically it looks like it, did you only do your job and "followed instructions" or were you in charge of it? Hakan Falk http://energysavingnow.com/ Please help to distribute this letter to your friends and foes. Link to this letter: http://energy.saving.nu/biofuels/kazman.shtml ********************************************** If you want to take a look on a project that is very close to my heart, go to: http://energysavingnow.com/ http://hakan.vitools.net/ My .Net Card http://hakan.vitools.org/ About me http://vitools.com/ My webmaster site ********************************************** "A truth's initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed. It wasn't the world being round that agitated people, but that the world wasn't flat. When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic." -- Dresden James "No flag is large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people" -- Howard Zinn "Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul." - Unknown Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
