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55mph speed limit comeback.

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Not again! It was truly Democracy in action when for 21 years everyone did 65 anyway until politicians realized the will of the people was to do over 55.Now they want to bring it back.You have to be kidding me.One more way to get money out of people.Bad idea.
 
Don't be so sure it will never pass! I know very few Americans who do not want to drill our own oil, but the 'know it alls' will not let us. Greg
 
This can be discussed & politics left out.
Some parts of the country, 55 probably doesn't make sense, like Wyoming.
Around here (Wis.), if it has to happen, I'd rather hit a deer when I'm going 45-50 mph than 65-70 mph.
Yes, I have driven on the slow side for years to save fuel &$ and have never regretted it. (Then there should be a little fuel for the tractor & lawnmowers, too!) Mark SW Wis.
 

I remember 55 mph the first time was to conserve fuel, truckers hated it, but i think it kinda worked then. But with modern diesel trucks, gearing, & computer control,top fuel economy is probably going to happen @ a little faster speed-paul
 
65 is a nice speed, but 55 is incredibly safer. However, I would not like to see 55 again.

Now, In Arizona, I like to do 75-80, same for Utah and some parts of Nevada.

HOWEVERRRRR Doing 75-85 in Hilly pennsylvania and maryland is just downright suicidal.
 
I have 34 years in as a driving instructor. I remember that last 55 fiasco well. Those of us who were used to 65mph on the highways and 70mph on the freeways had a real hard time with slowing to 55mph. Especally hard was doing 55 on freeways where they were designed for far higher speeds, and many were running over the 70mph limit. Was a bitter pill to swallow!

In all reality, 55mph on the surface streets now in this time is probably a safer, and perhaps more realistic speed, and is the limit here in Michigan. Safer, because traffic is far heavier than it used to be. I do get passed an awful lot when I am going 55, so lots of motorists choose to ignore ihe limit, or push it as far as they dare! But 55 on the freeway? Drivers will never observe that, with any seriousness, unless the state police patrols are handing out tickets right and left, and do nothing BUT speed patrols!

It's a good concept, - drive slower, save gas, but it won't fly, didn't fly last time! People will ignore the law, mark my words.
 
The political climate has changed a bunch since the early seventies. In today's climate, it's much easier for politicians to let prices rise until nobody can afford to drive, rather than try to enforce fuel conservation through speed limits and fuel economy standards.

Another factor is the safety of roads and vehicles has increased dramatically in the past 35 years. It's much harder for proponents of lowered speed limits to argue "slower is safer". Remember, although the 55 mph speed limit was enacted to conserve fuel, it stayed around because it supposedly reduced traffic fatalities.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a national 60 or 65 mph speed limit. But no sane politicial is going to have his name associated with the hated "double-nickel".
 
Don't forget, the 55 mph speed limit in the 70's was in response to actual shortages, not prices. Anybody remember line, colored flags, even/odd days, etc? What's really annoying is that after not one, but TWO, count em, TWO, arab oil embargoes, we couldn't come up with a reasonable approach to a national energy policy.

We can't just blame the politicians for that. As long as gas was readily available, John Q. Public wasn't willing to push their representatives to do anything about the future. As, as is typical, politicians from both parties were more worried about their near-term changes for re-election than about a long-term comprehensive energy policy.

Plenty of blame to go around.

Keith
 
First of all let me point out that I am Canadian. But I have driven in a lot of different States. Most of your roads are designed for more than 55 mph, most vehicles are designed for over 55 mph but there are a few drivers that are not. Course they're not all that safe at 55 mph either. Same thing applies here. If you have the oil for C. sake drill for it, it just might make sense. Save it forever and there just might be nothing to save it for. I better shut up now, I've probably got myself in enough trouble for one day.
 
I ran a test last week , I pulled a 16 foot trailer with a JD 148 loader on it from Evansville Indiana to Louisville , Ky on I64 and then north to Columbus, Ind. This is very hilly Intersatate. I set the Dodge on cruise control at 59 MPH. My MPG was 20.7. On similar trips The truck would have got about 18 MPG running 70-75 MPH. This was about 15% savings in fuel cost. Personally I would vote for the 55 MPH again if it would save 15% fuel savings nationwide.
 
As others have said, a "national" speed policy makes no sense. The terrain is not the same the country over and speeds need to reflect the terrain (and hence safety) and what it can bear.

Speed as an accident cause should not be a big issue. A much worse factor in the cause of accidents is the closeness with which vehicles follow another vehicle. 70 mph on good roads (good doesn"t have to be freeways) won"t cause accidents if everyone followed the proper intervals between vehicles based on your speed and properly followed all other driving rules.
I"ve traveled 70 on many non-freeway roads in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, etc. Rarely see a law enforcement person, because speed is not that big of an issue in those flatter areas of the country.

Every day I"m on the road, I could get someone plowing into my vehicle"s rear, if I had to suddenly brake hard, because they are following me too closely. I have wondered how strongly our driving instructors emphasize the following-too-closely thing.
 
I'll go ahead and throw a rock at this hornets nest. We don't need anyone to set national speed limits....When Gasoline is $7.00 per gallon many will slow down and do less driving to conserve wherever they can. I have changed my driving habits drastically over the last year (both speed and quantity)and gotta admit $5.00 diesel helped persuade me!
 
I am more concerned with the cost---TO US-- to change all the signs. Probably millions of dollars to add to our taxes. Just imagine if there was NO SPEED LIMIT, what would that do? Most every vehicle passes me when I am doing the speed limit. They will drive over the limit regardless of the law. I don't enderstand how people afford insurance associated with several speeding tickets. But I will sleep good tonight because I know we have a lot of smart law makers to make that decision. Ha!!!!!!!
 
We will tell you what to do and how fast to do it. We have no solutions and never do what we promise to do , but who cares?

We will add regulations to every energy company to raise their cost of doing business.

We will not allow nuclear plants, even though they are prevalent in Europe, because we will not be proactive on any energy source.

We have hundreds of years worth of clean burning coal but we will not allow a new plant to be built, because we don't care about you little people.

We will raise taxes on gas, not because it will do any good but because we can.

We will not allow wind farms because it might kill a duck. And we will not allow wind farms five miles out in the occean because that is where my fellow dictator Ted Kennedy swerves around in his yacht or sailboat and I don't want him to worry about running into anything in his usual drunken stupor.



Vote for us again or we will choke you into starvation with our regulations, just wait and see.
 
I've always HATED the 55 mph speeed limit on interstates. It's just, like seatbelt laws, another way for the government to shake us down for more money. The "double nickles" is a double "Krock of Krapp"!
Mr. Bob
 
Watching the tachometer on some of my personal vehicles convinces me that vehicles with electronically-controlled automatic transmissions probably get better fuel mileage at some speed above 45 miles per hour. One of my pickups (automatic) shows about the same RPM at 20 MPH and 40 MPH as at 60 MPH due to gear shifts and the lockup of the torque converter above about 45 MPH. With manual transmission, the operator really does choose the gear. But automatic transmissions are far more prevalent. Obviously wind drag increases with speed and does adversely affect fuel mileage.
 
Why change the speed limit? Just pass a law mandating that all cars be retrofitted with a governor. With modern computer controlled vehicles this should be easy to implement. This would gaurantee that no one speeds and would save lots of fuel. In a few years it will seem as normal as a seatbelt or an airbag.

Seriously though, in the 70's there was a fuel shortage. Right now there is no shortage, just uncomfortable prices. When people feel the pinch they will slow down.
 
France gets 76%of their electricity from nuclear.
Are you comparing the outdated poorly built Russian plant with the state of the art technology plants in France?
 
It would seem that high prices would make people slow down but......I see lots of people still driving 70+ and its all cars and pickups.
 
Dont matter, people are still going to fly like a bat out of H... to ge twhere they need to go, and most cops are just going to sit there and let them go. Cant stop everybody. One of out loca lhwys. was lower to 60 and you still have to do 75 or youll get ran over.
 
It has always been much dearer here than the US. We pay about $1.75/litre and our $ is worth nearly as much as the US $ now. Assuming there is 4.5litres per US Gallon?

All dearer fuel has done here is that we buy more fuel efficient cars more readily than before and people spend less time driving for holidays/activities they can no longer afford. Cost of living goes up cause in Australia like everywhere everything we eat, drink and wear comes to us in a truck. Truckers are already having blockades here, very organised ones that dont disrupt people, but they are very unhappy guys at the minute.

Heard to that one oil field in Gabon (Africa) flares off 60 million cubic metres of gas from one oil field. I beat no one is accounting for that in green house carbon trading.
 
I would guess that 90% of newer cars have 2-3 mpg difference whether they travel at 55 or 75.
 
Best fuel efficiency seems to be just above the speed where the trans shifts to overdrive and the torque convertor locks up. Approx 45 mph seems to be the speed most vehicles do this.
 
We enjoy the superior 160 fl ounce/4.45L gallon while the Americans have the little 128 fl ounce.3.78L gallon.
Amazing to think how much natural gas has been flared off rather than piped to market.
The safety nazis/enviromental dictators are not interested in facts and reality. Just the "Power & Authority" they wield through fear, ignorance and money.
 
It not like we haven"t been warned.
Then again nobody execises, quits smoking and looses weight until after they have had their heart attack. If then..........
 
Seat belts are just good common sense. They work for race car drivers, they work for families.
Better to walk away from a wreck then be tossed out the window and be rolled over/drove over/hit something.
 
Seat belts are probably a good idea, but NOWHERE in the US constitution is the government empowered to protect you from yourself. Seatbelt laws are one more small encroachment of our freedoms under the guise of safety.
 
were enacted for one reason. So the cops can pull you over without probable cause. They can use the excuse that you didn't have your seatbelt on. You have no way of proving it.

Many laws were enacted under the disguise of safety, but in reality are an encroachment of our civil rights.

I was pulled over the other day. Officer said I didn't have belt on ( I did have it on) Says while I got you here why don't we do a safety check on that trailer. He couldn't find any violations so he let me go and forgot about the bogus seat belt infraction.
 
buickanddeere your in Canada is that right? That make my conversion at about $6.60/l US. Still alot.

Your righton the carbon trading green house emissions thing, heaps of wastes gas from those oil fields which is just too difficult to capture and transport to the big gas consuming nations likes South Korea and Japan. We already sell them heaps of our gas. Oman burns oil to convert sea water to fresh water. I bet they dont do it with $145 a barrel oil though.
 
I dont think that it would hurt anything to lower the speed limit to say 60 mph.Right now with a 70 mph limit everyone drives 80.Maybe a 60 mph limit would slow everyone down to 70 mph.Quite a bit of fuel would be saved.

I used to drive 75-80 and slowed down to 60 to see how much it helped.It let me get 3-4 mpg better mileage and was lots more relaxing.Of course everyone passed me.
 
The market can only bare so much. At $7.00/gal there will be a serious decrease in consumption and therefore demand. Prices will come down at that point. However, the damage will have been done to our economy by that point.

I am in no way a pessimist, but I believe we are headed for a serious recession. We are not in one now, the economy has yet to have negative growth for any quarter, still growing. But with the lay-offs at the airlines and in Detroit and related areas, we will have soon. I am an example. Just closed my small transportation company, had to let two employees go, now I'm working for someone else.

I now have a nice 17' V-nose enclosed aluminum trailer if anyone is interested. :)

Stand by for heavy rolls. It's gonna get nasty.
 
I've been driving at 55 for a couple years now. I could care less if the law requires it or not. It definitely saves fuel. I'm currently getting 19.2 mpg from my 2006 Ford F150, 39mpg from my 1.8L Volkswagen, and 62mpg from my BMW motorcycle by driving 55 or less. I just stay in the slow lane and let everyone pass. No big deal. And a 50 mile trip only takes 8 minutes longer. So I just leave a few minutes earlier. Most drivers are pretty courteous and pass safely.

As far as I'm concerned, everyone can drive whatever speed they want. Just let me enjoy life in the slow lane. As far as I'm concerned, it's a luxuy not to be in a hurry.

Dale
 
Yes, it saves fuel but it doesn't address the real issue:the need to DRILL more wells and the HECK with the environmentaliusts!
 
you mean they finally found a use for governors. I wonder if they would survive very long with the heat of the motor and all!!! Just a thought!
 
My 96 F150 gets the same milage.The auto transmission shifts in to over drive at 45 so I keep it at 45 to 50.I dont have gas or money to waste.Many people dont seem to know that milage drops as speed goes up.Ive replaced too many tie rod ends, ball joints, faulty tires etc to drive over 50.The hiway is littered with tire treads that have peeled from tractor trailers here.Reaction time is a problem when you are moving at 100 feet per second.Notice how hard it is to avoid junk in the road at speeds over 50.Lots of scrap metal in the road with the high price of junk now.
 
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