CBC Radio supporting speeders?

Many mornings on CBC Radio’s drive show, I hear warnings to drivers of police having set up radar speed traps.

Every time I hear these warnings, it jars.

Is it even ethical of the peoples’ radio to give these warnings?

I actually want the speeders to get caught. 

Long ago I read that most accidents are caused by sudden, unpredictable actions - the kind of things speeders do when they are pushing you from behind or weaving in and out of traffic trying to go faster and faster.

Now, with the news that some of those people are texting while they’re at it - I want them pulled over and ticketed. 

I want there to be a big huge financial disincentive. I’m sick of people riding my bumper when I’m going at the speed limit or when, for safety reasons, I choose at times to drive a bit below the limit.

CBC Radio, what's your point in helping these dangerous drivers slow down just long enough to not get caught at it? Please, CBC, stop giving the show away.

Why "Don't Buy Gas on [date]" Days are a waste of energy

Every time the price of gas goes over $1.25/L, emails full of exclamation points start circulating:

"DO NOT  BUY GAS ON [...fill in the date...]!!!!"

Let's think about why this is basically a waste of time and why oil company execs probably have a big belly laugh around the water cooler when they start going out. 

Select any date and say "Don't Buy Gas" -- and what are people who participate going to do?  Fill up a couple of days before or the day after.  

Gas companies know this. They know they just have to wait out the day - and it's only a matter of time before we have to guzzle up again. So why would the one-day boycott motivate them to lower prices?

Oil companies don't lose the revenue on these "don't fill up" days. It's just delayed for a day or two,  and they seem to be able to ride that out.

Losing revenue is the only language corporations speak or respond to. So what might work is a "Don't Drive Week."

Imagine a week when we all stayed off the roads.  (Should I add some !!!!!!s here?)

.....A week when the fillings-up simply stopped. 

.....A week when we would make the sacrifice we really need to make to get the attention of both the oil corporations and governments.

And then maybe make it a week every month. And then maybe…..

We don't need designated days when we stop filling up. We need periods when we stop driving altogether.  When we simply stop consuming the over-priced petrol. And it needs to be long enough that it has an impact on their cash-flow and their just-in-time inventory process. So their tanker farms start backing up, and the ships are sitting in harbours, full of product.

One day they can manage. But seven?

That would send a meaningful message. It would also help us rehearse how we absolutely have to lower our consumption of petroleum products and find other ways of getting there.