HUGE gas/oil saver--should drive-thrus be closed except to the handicapped or after dark?

Question

I think drive-thrus should only be open after dark and for the handicapped.

Can you imaging the gasoline savings if people stopped waiting in drive-thru lanes with their air conditioners running?

And just think--people might actually walk off just a little bit of the fat from a McDonalds burger and fries, too!

Answer 1

This is a great idea.  In the town I live, there is a little ice cream place that people line up around the block, even when the inside is completely empty.  I often thought, why don't you people get you fat arses out of your cars, and go inside to get your sugar fixes, and stop blocking traffic??!!

Answer 2

The government endorses excessive energy use. Federal taxes alone are more than a half dollar per gallon.

(How much fuel would we save if we disassembled the war machine?)(EPA rules don't <and shouldn't> apply to the military.)

Answer 3

People would save a lot of gas, but they just don't seem to care.

Answer 4

Why stop with closing the drive throughs?  Close ALL businesses and save even more energy!  We can all stay home and watch solar-powered TV coverage of the latest energy-gulping Earth Aid concert!  Hooray!!!

Answer 5

I honestly have never thought of this before. Interesting idea.

The problem with it, of course, would be implementing it. Pretty much impossible (as much as I hate the word 'impossible').

Answer 6

Your not asking a question just stating your opinion.

Answer 7

I think that it's a good thing that you aren't in a position to make any laws that effect me.....

Answer 8

I think they should have walk throughs cuz i tried doin that and they told me to go inside and i was like $*&$&(##@$ that!And they only let bikers go through every blue moon!(not like vroom vroom bikers i mean pedal bikers)

Answer 9

Ah yes, good idea, let's make the people who have dogs in the car go inside and leave their pets in a hot car.  After all this is fast food....how long could it possibly take, if everyone were forced to go inside and order?  I mean it only takes 5 minutes for a dog to die in a hot car, but certainly the food will be delivered much faster than that.

Let's also make the pregnant women trudge out into the heat, and stand in line fanning themselves with a paper napkin.

I certainly would enjoy being in McDonald's also when the van-load with 7 children in it is forced to walk in with all those screaming and running about children, while an overwrought adult tries to catch each one as they run by, to find out what they want to eat.  Heaven knows the adult has to order just what the child wants, or s/he will throw a screaming fit.  Of course I will only be happiest if this hoard manages to make it into line BEFORE me, and stops the line cold for 20-30 minutes.  I will simply stand there joyfully thinking of all the gas that is being saved.

Oh yes, I know people who have expensive items in their vehicle they are transporting someplace will certainly not mind leaving those objects in vehicles as they walk out of site.

I'm sure the bride will be TOTALLY forgiving to the person who made her wedding cake, and had to stop for a quick bite to eat, because the cake has to be delivered to someplace 4 ours from the bakers establishment.  I mean honestly, what bride is going to care if the frosting has melted into a giant goo puddle?

Flu season will be fun too, wont it?  Kind of like Russian Roulet...touch  yet another door handle (one tons of snot nosed children have been touching) and linger in the germ laddened air, as the hulking trucker behind you coughs over the top of your head...why you can actually feel the fine mist landing on your face and hand, rather like mist from a waterfall..........

Oooo, it will be ever so much more fun, in areas where there is a lot of gang activity, when too rival gangs arive, and lay stake to the fast food joint you and your family were so inocently ordering at........

People who have mearly sprained their ankle and there for do not have handicapped stickers can certainly hobble in....

And hey, people with seasonal things, like serrious seasonal allergies can just hold their breath, as they dash from car, to fast food joint.....

That teenage boy who just spent 6 hours in the parking lot of the autoparts store, and FINALLY managed to get his car running, and is now starving, because well, he's a teenage boy, can just park and turn off his car....after all the fast food joint will be REALLY patient if his car doesn't start.  I'm SURE they will let it sit there for several days, until the teenager can talk one of his friends into coming and help tow his car home....

Yup, I think your idea will save a lot of fuel....well except for the person who finds Rex near death in the car, and races off at high speed to take their pet to the Vetrinarians....of course that ambulance that comes to get the pregnant woman who overheated might use a tad more fuel than she would have sitting in her car with the A/C running....and the person who waits (patiently of course) for the adult with 7 children to finish their order will only use a "bit" more gas as they gun their car through traffic, because they are now way late returning from lunch (of course that person will also spread good will and cheer by waving their middle finger at many other drivers).....the person with the expensive stuff in their car, well that's what insurance is for, right (not like it's going to raise everyones rates or something!).....and the bride, well we've all see "funniest wedding videos" on TV, right?.....for all those extra folks who caught the flu, and used copious amounts of kelenex (cutting down even more trees to make them) and missed many days at work cutting the overall productivity of America, hey maybe that saves even MORE gas...or did we use it up with all the medication we took, which was shipped here from countries overseas?....and everyone who got shot, because of the gang bangers, well sorry but all those ambulances and cops did use more fuel than would have been used sitting in ones car (of course the funneral procession for the person who died also used more fuel), and nobody minds paying taxes to help support hospitals to stitch up gangbangers......that person with the sprained ankle, didn't use a bit more fuel, having to hobble in....the person with the seasonal allergies, sorry, but they have to now use a bunch more medication (shipped from overseas) to control their symptoms, so they are using more fuel....the teenage boy, well because he had to turn off his car (which otherwise would have stayed running and gotten him home) has now shown up with 6 of his friends to help him, and each one is driving a different car!

I'm begining to think maybe this isn't such a sound idea after all.  Except people with sprained ankles....they should all be forced to hobble in, despite the doctors saying it's better to keep off a sprain.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Listening to George Carlin for even longer.........

Answer 10

I agree that people waste lots of gas leaving their cars running while waiting in drive-thrus.  

On the other hand, I think drive-thrus have their place.

Fast food/junk food is a different topic, so I'm going to leave that issue out of my answer.  For the sake of argument, let's assume that any food we might be purchasing at a drive thru is locally grown organic salad.

One drive-thru I use a lot is Walgreens.  I turn off my car while I am waiting.

Other people who benefit from drive-thrus in addition to handicapped & night owls:

*people with a load of small children

*people who are sick

*people with a load of small children who are sick. (Been there, done that.  Aren't you glad I kept my drippy-nosed slobbering kids with strep out of the drug store where you shop?)

*people who are elderly or injured or in some way fragile or vulnerable but not strictly "handicapped"

*people doing errands in the rain...intense heat...frost-bite-in-seconds cold.  (Welcome to the Midwest.  Actually that sums up a whole bunch of our weather)

*everyone stuck doing errands when a parking lot is a complete sheet of ice.  It's an easy way for any of us, but especially those most vulnerable, to move from "non-handicapped" to "handicapped."  

These situations are just the ones I could think of off the top of my head that I've actually encounted.

Perhaps drive-thru places could voluntarily post signs suggesting people turn off their cars when waiting beyond x seconds?  X= the point at which the gas needed to turn on the engine becomes less than running it in a typical vehicle.  Whoo-hoo!  A money-saving and environmental tip for free while waiting for your antibiotics or spinach.

[Off topic but I just have to share this with any environmentally concerned folks I can find: I recently had my tires filled with pure nitrogen rather than air.  My highway mileage increased 15% instantly!]