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| Yes | 12% | 13 votes | Total: 106 votes | |
| No | 88% | 93 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesHybrid owners should definitely be fined more than conventional vehicle owners! I feel very strongly about this, because I usually observe that hybrid drivers get in the way and disrupt traffic more in general. Why do they do this? I believe it is because they are driving while obsessed and fixated on some efficiency gage or indicator, and are basically either ignoring traffic patterns totally; or because they are attention seeking "look-at-me" types who will do ridiculous things to get noticed. Disclaimer - I am sure that my observations do not universally apply to all hybrid drivers, so please only get offended if they do apply to you.
All too often, driving on the highway, they will pull out to pass and accelerate at an astonishingly snail-like pace. Then, when they finally get around that truck they pull over to allow you to resume the legal speed. Five minutes later or so, they come speeding by you, smug in their imagined world of saving whales because their car looks funny. A few miles down the road, they are stuck behind another truck and the ritual resumes. I can't wait until they add a hybrid class at the drag strip or in roundy-round racing. NASCAR Hybrids - three hours for the Daytona Five-miler! John Force sets new quarter-mile record and breaks the one minute and 60 mph barrier!
If hybrid-hippies are so obsessed with doing the right thing for the world, then maybe they should just stay home or walk places. It took a great deal of energy and produced a great amount of greenhouse gasses to make that pixie-slipper of a car, and shipped a good chunk of American money offshore so they could contribute to our unemployment problem as well. Heck, they should get tickets in general for being so un-American to start with. There are plenty of American Brand cars and trucks that get nearly the mileage of the hybrids, and when economics enter the conversation it is really difficult to find the cross-over point where they are economical over three years or so. (Obviously this part of my rant only applies to foreign-branded hybrids)
So - whether it is because they are habitually disruptive drivers; because they sold out American workers to buy the thing; because the cars look funny; or because they seem to be fad-embracing attention seekers - I believe that law enforcement should watch them very closely and ticket them whenever they violate their own creed and speed.
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No
Speed limits are set to allow for the greatest safety for drivers and pedestrians. Fines for speeding are set to discourage people from exceeding the safe speed and to punish those who choose to exceed it anyway. Many people will argue that speeding fines are really meant as a source of revenue for the government. The type of vehicle the person is driving should not have anything to do with the amount of fine, except for maybe semis and heavy trucks since they are heavier and can do more damage if they hit anything. The question of fining owners of hybrids more than owners of conventional vehicles simply doesn't make any sense.
The type of car you own is a personal choice. So is obeying or disobeying the driving laws. I will admit that I own a hybrid vehicle. I will also admit that I occasionally exceed the speed limit. I usually try to go with the flow of traffic. When on a freeway, most cars will go over the speed limit by at least 10 mph so I try to keep up. I don't pass every car but just try to keep up with the majority of the cars on the road. When on a residential street, however, I go the requisite 25 mph or slower. The higher the chance of people coming out unexpectedly, the slower I will go. Does this excuse me for my speeding? No. I will also say that if I do get caught speeding, I will take my pittance and pay my fine. This has nothing to do with the type of car I own.
Hybrids are vehicles meant to maximize gas usage and minimize emissions into the environment. Hybrid owners are offered a tax credit the year they purchase the vehicle. You could assume the government wishes more of us to own hybrids. It is better for the environment to use a hybrid car and uses less gas, which is a limited resource. When you drive a hybrid car you learn how to maximize the gas usage for your car. Speeding actually doesn't help. If a hybrid car is exceeding the speed limit, the driver is at fault not the car. The same is true with any other car.
Any driver who exceeds the speeding limit should be fined. The fine should be dependent on the speed. It should depend on where the speeding occurred. If a driver speeds around a school or park, the fine should be increased since there is a greater risk of hitting a child or pedestrian. Residential areas should also be protected. The amount of the fine should be dependent on the danger imposed on those in the area such as residential, schools, or parks. The type of car should not have anything to do with it. Speeding is the decision of the driver not because of the car.
Learn more about this author, Heather Rascon.
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