Last fall I observed a motorcyclist speed recklessly, hit a curb, and die as he impacted a street sign and the median strip. It was all so mindless.

As to the earlier poster who indicated that he had two cars, the one driven harder with the big engine got better mileage, I've heard that story before and either the smaller car is older and poorly maintained, or is driven overloaded and gets hideous mileage.

Efficiency in terms of miles per gallon is obtained by a properly driven engine operated at its most efficient rpm band in a car that is reasonably aerodynamic. Such cars as the diesels and hybrids are not getting better miles per gallon than the large motorcycles.

And I think the US government missed a lot of bets regarding:

1) Paying for the current war by slapping a large tax per gallon at the pump.
2) Requiring that autos in the US come with an instantaneous miles per gallon selectable readout.
3) Mandating fleet efficiencies not excluding Hummers.