I can't drive 55: So how about 60?

Around here -- from Ventura to Orange County -- the only Speier in the newspapers this week was Justin Speier, a relief pitcher for the Angels. U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier's (D-San Mateo) me-too* proposal to lower the speed limit in many urban parts of the country to 60 miles-per-hour didn't merit coverage in the Orange County Register, the Los Angeles Times or the Ventura County Star. Not that I saw, in any event.

Maybe Southern California media know how unappealing to citizens is the idea of not being able to drive as fast as you can when you can on the freeways here. Maybe, like me, they wish they could go 60, even 40, on the 101 or 405 or 10 or 5, where I more often seem to drive about 20 alongside Lambos and Bentleys whose burn rate is incalculable.

In reporting Speier's proposal, the San Mateo Daily Journal stated in a short, authoritative manner, "Numerous studies prove lower speeds reduce gas use." The piece goes on to cite figures from the Environmantal Protection Agency and American Automobile Association that if you drive between, say, 45 and 50 mph, you'll save money and the county could save more than 150,000 gallons of gas a day.

The San Francisco Chronicle had an interesting take on gas mileage back in April when gas was already above $4 a gallon.

"A Chronicle reporter circumnavigated the bay last week - with the cruise control set at 59 mph - and found little company in th e slow lane," the piece reported. "In 111 miles of freeway driving during noncommute hours, he passed just 118 slower-moving vehicles. And on some stretches of freeway -- most notably Interstate 80 between the MacArthur Maze in Oakland and Vallejo -- almost nobody was driving slower than 60 mph."

As they say in places mostly not near L.A., passing Speier's liltingly titled Gasoline Savings and Speed Limit Reduction Act is going to be a tough row to hoe. If the reaction on the radio call-in shows and my cell phone is any reliable measure, the public reaction is generally going to fall somewhere in between the following two comments.

Comment 1 from a gentleman calling into the Patt Morrison show, on which Speier was a guest, on Friday, July 11, went something like: "If you drive slower on the freeway, you're out there longer and burning more gas. Driving faster gets cars off the freeway sooner."

Comment 2 from a woman calling me after I mentioned Speier's proposal: "Well, i t's a fact that I need my SUV to carry my kids and my dog and I need to get places quickly and I think people who don't need larger cars should drive smaller cars so that there will be more gas for people driving larger cars." She really does talk that way and recalls the very LA joke that ends with, "But enough about me, what did YOU think of MY latest movie?"

In the face of the ignorance shown by the first caller and the arrogance of my friend, is it any wonder politicians accomplish little, if anything, useful when it comes to vital issues like air quality, emission standards and mass transit? ("White House puts warming threats on back burner")

We could benefit greatly from some reporting that puts into context what's at stake. Among other things, we all need to understand a lot better that all of these issues are now global and that the U.S. is no longer necessarily in control of the whole shooting match. Maybe that argument is being made in some recent books, but the people who need to know this don't read books. Hell, they can't even read this column once it gets longer than a headline.

Reaching people who create "evidence" to support their positions or who find "facts" in support of their lifestyle is very difficult. Changing their minds, if it means they are going to be inconvenienced, is nearly impossible without real leadership.

I felt sorry for one caller, a woman talking to Patt Morrison, who criticized those Americans who demanded that countries like China and India make sacrifices to protect the environment, but wouldn't consider making a sacrifice themselves. Maybe she is the change she wants to see, or however that goes, but her neighbors, at least in SoCal, haven't gotten there yet.

Maybe they're stuck on the 101.