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Gas giveaway leaves a few drivers fuming

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aquajet

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Feb 12, 2005
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MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) -- Two car crashes occurred and four people were arrested in excitement over a gasoline giveaway Wednesday to reward the city for its safe-driving record.

For the most part, hundreds of drivers waited patiently for hours for about $30 worth of free gasoline each that Allstate Insurance provided at one station.

However, some motorists started lining up before midnight and the queue stretched far from the station into a residential area, trapping some residents in their driveways, said police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz.

That led to fights and arrests for disorderly conduct. In one case, three officers were sent to a hospital as a precaution because they were spattered with blood from someone's bloodied nose, Schwartz said.

The two crashes apparently occurred when queued-up motorists tried to let friends into line, Schwartz said.

"Any time you offer free gas when it is $3 a gallon, it is not surprising people would get excited," she said.

Allstate gave away a tanker truck load of gasoline as a reward to Milwaukee for ranking No. 1 among mid-sized cities on its safe drivers list. The insurance company gave free gas to more than 700 motorists, said company official Bill Mellander.

The giveaway lasted a couple of hours, Schwartz said.

Clarence Jefferson said he thought he'd be first in line when he got there at 4 a.m. -- but found hundreds of others already ahead of him. Pumps were turned on at about 6 a.m.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "It helps. Every bit is worth it."
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I almost feel sorry for the fiends. :rolleyes:
 
I don't feel sorry for them. They're dumb. Sorry, but they only saw $30 in gas. I see more...time spent waiting, time spent away from home family and friends, time you should be sleeping, time you should be getting ready for work...the list goes on.

It's stupid if you ask me. When the cheapest gas station in town is even remotely crowded I pay 5 cents more to get it now.
 
jessica. said:
I don't feel sorry for them. They're dumb. Sorry, but they only saw $30 in gas. I see more...time spent waiting, time spent away from home family and friends, time you should be sleeping, time you should be getting ready for work...the list goes on.
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All good points.

Surprising what people will do isn't it?
 
Good to know there was an Allstate agent there to help out with the acidents :rolleyes:

If they did this here in San Diego it would probably be worse that what it was. Yesterday I paid close to $50 to fill up my CR-V at Exxon.
 
emotion said:
$3!! It's the equivalent of $8 here in the UK (99p a litre)
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Bah, that's "only" $US7 per gallon. (linky) Wake me when it's £1.15 per litre. ;)

Anyway, I wonder how much fuel they waste sitting in line for hours on end. And if they have smaller or partially-full tanks already? Did they get the remainder of their free gas in a doggy bag or something?
 
I say we jack up prices to about $6 a gallon, skim that $3 off the top, and use it to pay off our deficit. Right there we have solved three problems. Energy consumption (people will drive less if it takes them $3 to get anywhere). Energy efficiency (people will demand more energy efficient cars). The Deficit ($3 a gallon x 42 gallons/barrel x 20 mil barrels/day = $2.52 billion/day).

:rolleyes:
 
ham_man said:
I say we jack up prices to about $6 a gallon, skim that $3 off the top, and use it to pay off our deficit. Right there we have solved three problems. Energy consumption (people will drive less if it takes them $3 to get anywhere). Energy efficiency (people will demand more energy efficient cars). The Deficit ($3 a gallon x 42 gallons/barrel x 20 mil barrels/day = $2.52 billion/day).

:rolleyes:
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assuming you're serious, that's not a bad idea. it'd never get past the oil lobby though :(
 
homerjward said:
assuming you're serious, that's not a bad idea.
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I don't think he is. At least, I hope not. It's hardly that simple. Doubling the cost of gasoline isn't without consequences. And likely dire at that.
 
homerjward said:
assuming you're serious, that's not a bad idea. it'd never get past the oil lobby though :(
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No, it would never pass. But if it would push us away from being so darn dependent on oil, it could very well be a good thing to do. :)
 
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