Feds Blame Obese Motorists for Wasting Gas and Causing Accidents

Nanny State Liberation Front ^ | 08/12/2010 | Nanny State Liberation Front

[fish hawk]

Buy ammo now while you still can. Okay heavy people, time to revolt.

[annelizly]

let me get this straight.
obese people aren’t allowed to fly
not allowed to drive.

maybe the government wants them to just hole up in their house and not get out at all...which causes more weight gain. huh....nice logic.

[Mike Darancette]

They wouldn’t profile motorists would they?

[Pearls Before Swine]

A clear case of “junk in the trunk.”

[HiTech RedNeck]

A shoehorn!

[HiTech RedNeck]

“Fatties are people too!”

[HiTech RedNeck]

yoo hoo dough boy

[wolf78]

I must have missed the enumerated power in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution that grants Congress the power to regulate driving.

And yet one has to obey the speed limit and drinking and driving is a no-no. Alas, freedom theses days is always somewhat relative (not that I advocate drinking and driving, just saying...).

1. The weight of the car isn't a big factor in mileage for highway driving. Wind resistance is far more important — it increases with the square of the speed. An aerodynamic vehicle, with fat passengers, will get better mileage than a boxy wind pusher, with anorexic passengers.

Correct. For highway driving aerodynamic drag is the major factor, for city driving it is indeed vehicle weight, because of the lower speed and the repeated starting and stopping. BUT: With an average vehicle occupancy in the 1-1.5 persons range, being 150 pounds overweight doesn't matter THAT much if your car already weighs two tons.

[Vaduz]

Larger vehicles, which increases gasoline consumption,ban buses,jet liners,cruse ships and tax all fuels fifty fold study finds.

[musicman]

[DoughtyOne]

Can you believe this crap.

[nascarnation]

It’s none of the fedgovs business but there ARE way too many obese peeps in the USA.

My weekly trip to WalMart in a pretty nice part of town shows this every time.

Another reason why Obamacare will be overwhelmed - - weight related health problems. With socialized medicine, these folks have no economic incentive to be healthy.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

“Another reason why Obamacare will be overwhelmed - - weight related health problems. With socialized medicine, these folks have no economic incentive to be healthy.”

You've obliquely hinted at why socialized medicine is a huge threat to liberty, everywhere it exists. Government has an economic incentive to make you be healthy. As soon as some behaviour hits the health care budget; government moves to regulate it. It starts with the easy ones — smoking, drinking, drug use; and progresses without end. You like fast cars? Tough. Next: “put your hands in the air and step away from that double cheeseburger”.

Of course, some risky behaviours will remain immune from government regulation — those that cause AIDS, for instance.