DON'T GIVE ME GAS
ABOUT FUEL EFFICIENCY
Journal of Healing – Sept. 10, 2003
By Mary Koch

Don’t you just love it when the government comes up with some big study that proves what most of us already knew?

Right before Labor Day weekend, there were several news reports about a federal Transportation Department finding that U.S. households have more vehicles than people to drive them. We average 1.9 vehicles per household and only1.8 drivers.

You and I knew that based on our own driving experience. Like the other day, when I was driving one or two notches over the speed limit and a mini-van passed me on a curve with the yellow stripe in our lane. You can’t tell me there was anyone driving that car. Certainly no one with human intelligence. Or maybe the government is right! Maybe that was the point-eight part of a driver.

The other big news story was about escalating gas prices. USA Today reported that drivers may be complaining, but we won’t start changing our driving or vehicle purchasing habits until gas hits and stays at $3 a gallon or more.

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MOST OF MY life I've opted for fuel efficient vehicles. In the 1960s I switched from my very first car, a big, safe Ford sedan that my parents bought me, to a tiny French import. Gas prices had hit a new high – well over 30 cents a gallon. In the 1970s perhaps I was a little too smug as I cruised past those long gas lines in my Volkswagen bug.

Now people look at our enormous Chevrolet van, an obvious gas guzzler, and ask me what kind of mileage we get.

"What difference would it make?" I retort. It is our only vehicle and I wouldn't trade it, not even for a wind-powered Porsche. The van's No. 1 feature, which makes it extra heavy and hard on gas mileage, is a hydraulic lift that plucks up my husband’s wheelchair and deposits him safely inside.

The van, with lift, was a gift to John nine years ago from his fellow newspaper publishers after he suffered his stroke. We’ve averaged less than 10,000 miles a year, but they’ve been essential and sometimes even glorious miles.

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THE ONLY TIME I become vexed about the van’s fuel consumption is when I’m driving alone. After John was given the van, I sold the venerable BMW that had served us faithfully for 200,000 miles. It didn't make sense to have 2.0 cars for 1.0 drivers.

Occasionally I consider buying a small car for solo trips, but gas would have to get well beyond $3 a gallon to make up for insurance, license and upkeep of a second vehicle.

Still, I was rethinking the issue while driving to a friend’s farm for lunch recently. Eastern Washington being a spacious neighborhood, it was a 300 mile round trip. Even without knowing my mileage precisely, based on what it cost to fill the tank I realized lunch cost at least $40. Of course, my friend also sent me home with bags of fresh greens and some perennials for transplanting.

Considering all that, I guess 40 bucks wasn't too big a splurge. I just wish I could have burned money instead of fossil fuel.

Once again I decided a second car isn’t economical, especially when I consider that the Transportation Department says 45 percent of our trips are for short errands. Nine years of pushing a wheelchair have taught me to be thankful that I still possess the best, most efficient form of transportation for short trips. They're called feet.

(Mary Koch writes about health care issues and her experiences as a family caregiver. Her husband, retired newspaper publisher John E. Andrist, was severely disabled by a stroke in 1993. They welcome your letters at P.O. Box 3346, Omak WA 98841 or e-mail them.)