A reader asks a very reasonable question — if everyone having properly inflated tires could save a couple million gallons per day, why not prefer this to offshore drilling? Wouldn’t it provide a more immediate benefit?

The problem comes when we try to apply the benefits of behavior changes to actual human beings. A bit of the reaction on the right in recent days has been to pooh-pooh the benefits of tire inflation, which is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Basically, the problem is that most of the folks who would be most likely to inflate their tires because the president points out the benefits already have properly inflated tires.

Right now, two-thirds of drivers are driving around on properly inflated tires. These are, on average, the folks who are most aware of mileage benefits, car maintenance, safety issues, etc. Getting the other third to pump up their tires would be a good thing, but most of this third are the people toughest to reach. A government p.r, campaign, etc., might make some difference at the margins, but as an article that purports to defend Obama notes, “Tire pressure checks have been a key fuel-saving tip that automakers, tire companies and government experts have recommended for years.” Yes, that’s the point. The benefits of tire inflation aren’t some big secret or new revelation. Right now, when you get your tires rotated (every 5,000 miles or so, we’re told) most places check the air pressure as well.

In other words, if $4 a gallon gas hasn’t gotten people to get out the gauges and get to the air pump, I don’t know if billboards and PSAs are going to do it.

I don’t mind a President or Senator Obama saying, “hey, Americans, go check to make sure your tires are properly inflated”; the problem is when he says, “we don’t need offshore drilling (or any other idea) because we have this other idea.”

My sense is that there are millions of Americans who live and drive on our roads who are oblivious to not just car maintenance/mileage recommendations, but basic traffic laws. A recent Loudon County check point set up for three hours found a little over 1 percent of drivers had no license, expired licenses, suspended licenses, etc. My guess is that if you’re willing to drive without a license, you’re likely to be less than prudent when it comes to tire inflation.

There are a lot of good behaviors/simple steps that, if we could get 100 percent compliance, we would see massive benefits — organ donation, health checkups, setting up 401ks, paying down credit card debt, littering, avoiding drinking and driving, quitting smoking, etc. But getting 100 percent compliance is just about impossible, and once you take care of the easy cases, the remaining hard cases are… well, hard. That’s what makes them the hard cases.

UPDATE: Campaign Spot Richard writes in, “I’m shopping now for a new vehicle. Most of the vehicles I looked at last weekend had automatic tire pressure monitors which warn the driver if tire pressure needs attention.”