"In the past thirty years, fuel standards have become one of the major causes of death and misery in the United States -- and one almost completely attributable to human stupidity and shortsightedness"

From American Thinker via Jeff Jacobs via Carpe Diem: Death by CAFE Standards

According to the Brookings Institution, a 500-lb weight reduction of the average car increased annual highway fatalities by 2,200-3,900 and serious injuries by 11,000 and 19,500 per year. USA Today found that 7,700 deaths occurred for every mile per gallon gained in fuel economy standards. Smaller cars accounted for up to 12,144 deaths in 1997, 37% of all vehicle fatalities for that year. The National Academy of Sciences found that smaller, lighter vehicles "probably resulted in an additional 1,300 to 2,600 traffic fatalities in 1993." The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration study demonstrated that reducing a vehicle's weight by only one hundred pounds increased the fatality rate by as much as 5.63% for light cars, 4.70% for heavier cars, and 3.06% for light trucks. These rates translated into additional traffic fatalities of 13,608 for light cars, 10,884 for heavier cars, and 14,705 for light trucks between 1996 and 1999.

How many deaths have resulted? Depending on which study you choose, the total ranges from 41,600 to 124,800. To that figure we can add between 352,000 and 624,000 people suffering serious injuries, including being crippled for life. In the past thirty years, fuel standards have become one of the major causes of death and misery in the United States -- and one almost completely attributable to human stupidity and shortsightedness.

It's a momentum thing, as in bigger vehicles have more. Which is good for the bigger vehicle, bad for the smaller one. As per my last post on this issue: Feds should propose graphic warning labels on small cars they are pushing rather than cigarettes. Here are two suggestions. I suggest the feds do one better and provide warning labels for small cars the are pushing via unrealistic CAFE standards. Here are just 2 suggestions:

A reminder from USA Today back in 2007: People buy small cars even though they can be deadly

Americans are buying more small cars to cut fuel costs, and that might kill them.

As a group, occupants of small cars are more likely to die in crashes than those in bigger, heavier vehicles are, according to data from the government, the insurance industry and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

The newest small vehicles, of course, meet today's strict safety standards and can be laden with the latest safety hardware, such as stability control and side air bags. They are safer than ever. And differing designs mean some small cars are safer than average. But even the safest are governed by the laws of physics, which rule in favor of bigger, heavier vehicles, even in single-vehicle crashes.

And from Edmonds:

...the numbers don't bode well for small cars. Below is a chart from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) showing the latest fatality rates for the different vehicle sizes. (The mini car category wasn't included because the sample size of registered vehicles was too small.)

Remember that Morticians Association of America endorses Obama's CAFE standards that will make cars smaller