Gas Out - Don't Buy Gasoline On A Specific Day

The message urges people to not purchase ANY gasoline It claims this will hit the oil companies in the pocketbook and force prices down, but does that really make sense? 

The message makes this claim:  "IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES."  One has to look a little more carefully at the wording first: "it has been calculated. . . " by whom? Where does this authoritative information come from? Has anyone bothered to look into whether this is true or not?

Urban Legends presents the following information: The claim that a one-day boycott would result in an industry loss of over $4.6 billion is a pure fabrication, by the way. According to Euromonitor International, the total sales of petroleum products for all U.S. gas stations in 2002 was $205 billion, which works out to just over a half-billion dollars a day. http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_no_gas_may_19th.htm

However, on researcher also pointed out that:

Even if a one-day boycott of all fuel purchases would be effective in lowering prices, it would be nearly impossible to achieve. On any given day, only about 10-20 percent of Americans buy gas (a very conservative estimate), so at best, only 1 in five people could participate in this boycott, to begin with. If you wouldn't have bought gas on May 19 (or whatever date this one has on it by the time it reaches you) anyway, your absence won't be felt. Add to that the fact that only 63 percent of adults are online and that not everyone online drives. http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/gasout.html

Further complicating supply and demand issues are other countries, like China, who are now needing major imports of oil.  Consider the following info:

"China could be facing shortages in coming years, but for different reasons than that of Russia. Statistics show that at its current economic growth rate, China's energy demand should grow at about 4.5% per year through 2010, outpacing its own resources. Once an oil exporter, China now imports about 30% of the oil it consumes, and that number stands to grow. A recent Baker Institute study shows China oil imports could rise to 2 million - 4 million b/d by 2010, depending on the country's economic development."

(2)  The U.S. economy is highly dependent on transportation.  Perhaps some don't believe that.  I turn their attention to September 11, 2001.  What were the results of loss of flights for a week?  Living in a mainly tourist area I can assure you that the results were horrendous and the people most effected were those who could least afford it - the minimum wage earner and the small business owner.  Each of those jets must be filled up with gasoline.  Next, each truck that carries the food to your supermarket has to be filled up with gasoline much more than once per day.  Imagine the truck drivers not buying gasoline for a day!  What would happen?  Is the ripple effect beginning to make sense?

(3) Next, think about the people who must drive on a daily basis in order to provide needed services to the community.  In our area, there are very few jobs of merit.  People with really good jobs commute 30 -60 miles one way on a daily basis.  My husband is a Hospice Chaplain.  His entire job is dependent on him driving to the assisted living and nursing homes in a three county area on a daily basis.  When someone is dying, he must respond.  Imagine him telling a grieving family that he can't come because he's not supposed to buy gas!  What about the ambulances?  Some days they would need to fill up more than once I'm sure.  This little scheme might sound good until it's your life and your family on the line.

Not Buying Gas From Specific Refiners Will Bring Down Prices

These messages encourage people not to buy gas from two big refiners.  The earlier messages encouraged people not to buy from them on certain days.  The one that has been circulating since about 2002 encourages people not to purchase at all from two refiners.  This message is dusted off and circulated EVERY spring, but is it a good idea?  Will it work?

The end result of refusing to buy gas from stations marked as being Exxon or Mobile would be meaningless, except to raise rates (supply and demand) to all the other stations they supply, meaning ALL gasoline prices would rise.   Whoever puts this stuff out every year needs to get a little education. 

I knew most of this stuff without even looking it up.  Snopes came to the same conclusions and also made the issue about the fact that gasoline is not the only product these refiners put out.  Jeff Richards was helpful in pointing out where much of the money really comes from that sustains these companies.

Buying Gas From Certain Refiners Supports Terrorism

Another message that began circulating shortly after 9/11 claimed that purchasing gas from certain refiners supported terrorism.  What it doesn't mention is that buying gas might be supporting a socialistic country that is not on good terms with the U.S. at this time.  The message further claims that there are companies that do not purchase crude oil from the Middle East at all.  This is untrue.  Snopes did a a fine job of getting the correct information.  The figures are from the Department of Energy in 2002, about the time frame of this message. Here are the DOE breakdowns listed on the Snopes website for 2001: 

Citgo:  a wholly-owned subsidiary of the national oil company of Venezuela, so naturally most of its crude oil comes from there. However, in February 2002 CITGO also imported from Middle Eastern countries in the following quantities:  Iraq: 1,342,000 barrels; Kuwait: 437,000 barrels.

Conoco: when this message was written, Conoco imported primarily from Mexico, Venezuela, and Canada, and not from Middle Eastern countries.  That all changed in August of 2002, when they merged with Phillips, which does purchase from Middle Eastern countries.

British Petroleum:  imports from many countries but here are the Middle East purchases in 2002:  Iraq: 470,000 barrels; Kuwait: 415,000 barrels; Saudi Arabia: 2,123,000 barrels; Algiers: 3,853,000 barrels.

Phillips: Again, imports from a variety of countries including: Iraq: 717,000 barrels; Saudi Arabia: 1,100,000 barrels.

Sinclair and Sunoco:  as of 2002, these refiners were not purchasing Middle East oil.  However, that may have changed to some degree because of the new situation in Iraq and the current strikes in Venezuela. 

According to Snopes, the "math" that the message insists that you do, doesn't come out as the message claims: "So, "doing the math" and multiplying these monthly figures by $30/barrel and projecting them over the course of a year, supporting only the companies listed above would still be putting $3.76 billion dollars per year in the coffers of Middle Eastern countries. "

One final note:  this message came out about one year before the U.S. entered Iraq.  Obviously, there have been some changes there for the good, at least as far as Hussein having control of the oil.

Can static electricity REALLY cause fires at gas pumps?  YES.  Can cell phones?  NO.

updated May 18, 2004 on cell phone use (near the bottom of the page)

Although some of the figures used in the currently circulating email message can't necessarily be upheld by the report, the issue is VERY TRUE.  However, the issue about cell phones causing static electricity has been tried by several sources and NO ONE has been able to make such a thing occur.

The National Petroleum Equipment Institute is real.  Their members are manufacturers, distributors of gasoline pumping equipment.  This is apparently not a real widespread problem, but enough incidents had happened to warrant some study.  It seems that most incidents happened when people re-entered their cars while they were still fueling.  There also seems to be some question about cell phones causing incidents, but none of these incidents has been confirmed. 

In our area, there are now notices on all the pumps about this issue.  The notices say not to touch the car while fueling and not to get back into the car while fueling. 

Some versions claim that the information is from a report by Shell Oil.  That is not true. 

Click here to read an article on this issue on Urban Legends and Netlore.

The Petroleum Institute's Summary Report

Some current versions of this message go to great lengths to also include cell phones in the list of issues causing static electricity.  The American Petroleum Institute and the Petroleum Equipment Institute have not identified cell phones as a cause of static electricity fires at pumps.  In the report I read, all cases concerned the motorist attempting to re-enter the vehicle while still pumping gas.  In fact, the report by the PEI said that none of the reported cases involved cell phones.  HOWEVER, in March 2003 I saw that a warning notice about using cell phones HAS been added to ALL gas pumps in our area. 

A test was recently conducted by the Discovery Channel program "Mythbusters" to test this idea but without any success.  In May 2004, Good Morning America included a segment on this and came up with the same conclusions.  Their question to one expert was "why the warning signs at the pumps then?"  His reply was that this was cautionary on the part of the gas companies.  In other words, they want to avoid any future lawsuits should this ever be determined as true.  As a result, most of the major refiners are placing stickers on their pumps.  Canadian refiners have banned the use of cell phones at the gas pump and one Illinois city has passed a law banning their use while refueling.  Meanwhile, reports of two possible incidents involving cell phone use as the culprit of static electricity have been disproved and Good Morning America has tried the same experiments without any success.

Having worked at a convenience store, I can tell you that people do all sorts of well-known unsafe things while refueling and could care less if it might hurt someone.  I've seen them leave their engine running (one with small children inside - we should have called the police) and I've seen them smoking while refueling.  I doubt that many heed ANY warnings on those pumps anyway. 

Will overpaying a ticket keep points off your record?

The latest versions of this message (2003) claim that it has been sent by an insurance company.  However, there is no state in the United States in which this scheme will work. No knowledgeable insurance agent would make such a claim.

So, where did this strange idea start? In Australia! The very first version, which came out in 1998, showed that it was supposedly from the Royal Victorian Automobile Club of Victoria. However, research done on the message shows that this never was the case in Australia either. Research indicates that the message was a hoax from the beginning.

What happens if you make an overpayment? The city or county involved will take it an put it in a general fund. It will not be refunded and it sure won't keep any points off one's record.

ARTICLES:   Snopes     Break-The-Chain    Hoax Info     Truth or Fiction  

Urban Legends

Can Using Cruise Control In Wet Weather Cause An Accident?

This message first came out in November of 2002.  no researcher has been able to confirm the story itself, although there's is some reason to doubt it.   As usual, some of the text has been changed over time.

First, let me address why the supposed explanation by the supposed Highway Patrolman does not make sense.  This is an excellent illustration sent to me by reader Gary Panulla. 

Let's start with the basics: Cruise control adjust the throttle only (gas pedal).  It is in no way, shape or form connected to the breaking system of a vehicle.  It measures your speed using "a speedometer like" sensor and adjusts the throttle. to maintain the set desired speed.

Let's say your traveling down the road with cruise control on. You start to go down hill. What happens? At first, gravity begins to speed up the car a little above where you had the cruise control set. The cruise control begins to "throttle back" (you can hear the engine "slow" a little). The longer you go down hill, the more the cruise control "throttles back" to keep the speedometer reading where you set the cruise control. When you reach the bottom of the hill and begin to climb another. Now what happens? Well the car now begins to slow as gravity acts in the opposite direction and the speedometer shows just that. The cruise control increases the throttle slowly and your speedometer reading (and your forward speed) are maintained. Simple enough, right?

So, as you can see, when the wheels (and the speedometer reading) slow down (going up hill), the cruise control increases the throttle. When the wheels (and the speedometer reading) speed up (going down hill) the cruise control decreases the throttle.

Now think about the last time you tried to start at a light when the road was slippery. If you apply too much gas (throttle), the wheels break free. You can "feel" this in your foot. The speedometer swings widely and show a speed of 50 or more MPH. You know you are more or less "just sitting still", but the speedometer "thinks" you are doing 50! (Actually the wheels are spinning as fast as if you were going 50! but you know better, the car does not!)

Now let's combine the two. Your traveling down the road with the cruise control on. You hit a patch of ice and the tires break free. The speedometer swings widely upwards. The cruise control "thinks" you've started down a very, very steep hill and immediately "throttles back" to try and slow you down!  (and if you kept your foot near the accelerator, it would "slap back" against your foot!)

Now remember the quote: "He said if you did and hydroplaned (which I did) that when your tires were off the road your car would accelerate to a high rate of speed (which it did). You don't have much, if any control when you hydroplane, but you are totally in the hands of God when the car accelerates. I took off like I was in an airplane."

The "(which it did)" is a total fabrication, the cruise control computer would have responded with the CORRECT action of releasing the gas pedal faster than even the most seasoned winter driver!!!

So, either the policeman was telling a "fib" and the "driver remembered" that facts in a way to support it, OR. . . . It's a total "urban legend", complete with victim (driver who never knew better), authority figure (the knowing policeman) to lend credence to the story, and a "this could happen to you" content to "get you attention."

Still, the general consensus is that cruise control should not be used in any wet conditions. This is not because of any unsafe issues with the cruise control itself, but mostly because of two issues:  disengaging the cruise control by braking and "road feel."  Braking in a skid is problematic. Our first tendency is to brake when steering and gradual slow down are the keys to control. There is also an issue about not being able to "feel" the road and gauge what is happening with cruise control on. I've gotten quite a bit of good info about this from some knowledgeable people. According to a defensive driving school instructor, The problem with driving in any inclement weather with cruise control on is that you cannot tell what the car is doing when your foot is not in contact with the gas pedal. He calls it reading the vehicle language. So, you really cannot tell if you are hydroplaning or not.   The upshot is that cruise control is great, but only optimal weather conditions.

ARTICLES:  Snopes     Truth or Fiction     Break-The-Chain

Can Electronic Locks on Cars Be Opened With A Cell Phone? NO.

Cell phones can't be used to unlock car doors. The unlock devices don't use tones or sound to lock or unlock your doors.  They are radio frequency devices.  You've probably read about RF devices being used in stores to track inventory.  The device emits a data stream or code to the lock.  The RF devices work at a frenquency of 300 mhz and phones operate at 800.   So, you'd have to have an RF device at the right frequency to unlock the car or have the exact code number.  Onstar keeps the codes in a database - that's how they unlock from afar.  Newer RF's have a surprising range and can sometimes work through walls these days.

ARTICLES:  Snopes     Truth or Fiction     Urban Legends & Folklore