Advocates push for return to 55-mph speed limit 20

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1. 

   Tasermons Partner Posted 5:35 am
   18 Aug 2008

   Lax enforcement......another one that's good in concept, but lacks enforcement to make it possible.
   Most people already speed and get away with it.  Lowerin' the speed limit would just increase that number.

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2. 

   renegade botanist Posted 6:05 am
   18 Aug 2008

   55In regards to 55, been there done that.  It was a waste of my time.  If I want to save fuel, I drive 55.  If I want to get there I drive faster.  Most people who favor a 55 mph speed limit don't drive long distances.

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3. 

   GlobalWarmingInc Posted 6:52 am
   18 Aug 2008

   These types of changes is where it begins...It's a free country: drive 55 if you want to save gas -just stay in the right-hand lane, please.
   But whatever you do, don't make it a law again. Like they said in the '70s: "55mph is fast enough to kill you, but slow enough to make you feel safe about it."
   The more the Global WarmingTM believers buy into these little "cost-saving" ideas from the government, the more they control you and pull the wool over your eyes.

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4. 

   Wolverine Posted 7:20 am
   18 Aug 2008

   Drive 55Funny, I seem to have forgotten the massive support for the 55 m.p.h. limit in the '70s.  Oh that's right, it wasn't at all popular.  But Jimmy Carter was a real leader, unlike the pandering jerks we normally have for politicians, and he forced the states to enact the 55 limit for the good of all.  Considering global warming and the other harms caused by consuming and burning petroleum products, anything that results in less consumption should be supported.
   As to Taser's concerns, law enforcement and traffic engineers know that 10-15% of drivers speed, regardless of the limit.  When the speed limit was lowered to 55 in the '70s, people slowed down.  I've seen no evidence that the percentage of speeders changed significantly.
   As to Renegade's complaints, the idea is to decrease consumption of fuel.  If you drive long distances, you should reconsider doing so, as it's the problem.

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5. 

   amazingdrx Posted 7:33 am
   18 Aug 2008

   70 mph laneAs with the special lane for those who carpool, have a high speed lane for high mileage, very safe and very light (less risk to other vehicles in a crash), hypercar carbon fiber plugin hybrid vehicles.
   Restrict the rest to 60 mph as a compromise.  55 has a bad conotation, but 60 seems reasonable to save gas.
   Incentivize modern fuel saving, ultralight vehicles with a higher speed limit.

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6. 

   Wolverine Posted 10:00 am
   18 Aug 2008

   It's About Physics, Not ConnotationsThe 55 limit was selected because above that speed engines consume a lot more fuel per mile.  Again, we should be leading, not pandering.  And I don't at all agree with a high speed lane for anyone.  High mileage vehicles should be able to use carpool lanes and be entitled to free tolls, but the faster they go above 40 m.p.h., the worse mileage they get also.

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7. 

   Delay And Deny Posted 10:35 am
   18 Aug 2008

   Yes...and No...
   
   For interstates within cities or in dense counties (King), the speed limit should be 35 mph.   This would allow better traffic merging patterns during rush hours.
   For open road such as 95 through the mountain states, there should be no speed limit.
   BTW -- if your hydrogen car runs out of "gas" (get it...gas...yuck, yuck) you can find a fuel up station here:
   http://www.hydrogenassociation.org/general/fuelingSearch. ...

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8. 

   earlysnows Posted 9:32 pm
   18 Aug 2008

   55 mph, great ideaAmericans just consume too much of world's resources and should realize some limits on that. 55mph would be great. some folks will speed. a lot of others will not because they realize the gravity of the situation and can see the big picture. the post world war 2 party is closing down.....let's get on with a reformation of the way society works.

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9. 

   emmapb Posted 3:14 am
   19 Aug 2008

   Bring it back!That's all I have to say.

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10. 

    GlobalWarmingInc Posted 4:48 am
    19 Aug 2008

    Let me choose...Instead of the Global Warming is Religion zealots chosing for me. If I want to drive 55 to save gas, then by all means, I can -it's a free country. If I want to haul-ass, and go fast, then I can as well -albeit, risking a ticket.
    You people sound more and more like Socialists and Communists with the "State knows best" mentality. The beauty of living in a free country is that you can drive 55 right now if you want to. Or do you have to have some lawmaker do it for you?

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11. 

    eriqa Posted 4:53 am
    19 Aug 2008

    Speed limits are a terrible ideaIn what other area of life do politicians pass laws that they know, with 100% certainty, the vast majority of citizens are going to break on a routine basis?  Laws that by definition can only be enforced selectively and therefore generate enormous resentment and ill-will toward police on the part of otherwise law-abiding citizens?
    I feel this undermines respect for the rule of law.  

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12. 

    Pangolin Posted 5:07 am
    19 Aug 2008

    People are too stupid.It's just not going to work simply because people are too stupid to override the almost genetic impulse to speed. The govenment would have to mandate cruise controls in every vehicle built that responded to roadside radio signals without a driver override.
    It's easy to drive 55 mph if you engage cruise control but without it drivers tend to speed up to the range where their concern for saftey and control overrides further increases in speed.
    On I-5 in California it's common to see large SUV's going over 80 mph on some of the longer, straighter stretches. I would bet most of those drives have no idea how fast they are driving.
    Let's just burn all the oil real first and crash the economy instead.

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13. 

    glBoe Posted 8:42 am
    19 Aug 2008

    55 wastes my fuelI drive a 2005 Chevy Impala, and believe it or not, I get my best gas milage at 70-75 mph.  I have tested over the years at 55, 60, 65, 70 and 75+ (on various Interstate Highways - as allowed - with cruise control on flat drives for consistent results). Consistently my best milage occurs between 70 and 75....so the assumption that ALL vehicles get their best milage at 55 mph is a fallacy.  Thus, a speed limit of 55 mph would sentence me to a life of lower fuel economy!  PLEASE DON'T DO THAT TO ME!!

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14. 

    Wolverine Posted 10:10 am
    19 Aug 2008

    Best Fuel Mileage Is At 40 M.P.H.The reason that fuel mileage decreases as speed increases beyond 40 m.p.h. is due to wind resistance.  (This is also the reason the vast majority of animals can't run faster than 40 m.p.h.)  Unless you can show me an independent lab test proving that your car gets better gas mileage at 70 than at slower speeds, I simply don't believe it.  I suppose there could be some quirky aspect to your car's fuel or engine system that might cause this, but it's so unlikely that I require proof.

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15. 

    eheath1000 Posted 10:29 pm
    19 Aug 2008

    40 to 45 is most fuel efficientI agree with Wolverine on this. You car uses the least amount of gas when you just get into your highest gear (and are not lugging, for sticks). For some cars (three speed automatics) this might be 35 MPH, for my five speed Accent this is somewhere between 42 to 47 MPH depending on whether I am on a hill or not. Over that speed, road and wind resistance combine to reduce fuel economy. But 45 MPH is too slow for a trip of much more than a half hour, so 55 MPH is a good compromise. But to get almost hybrid like results, don't go over 50 MPH.  

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16. 

    amazingdrx Posted 10:44 pm
    19 Aug 2008

    IncentivizeThe less gas you use the faster you ought to be able to drive.  The lighter, safer, and more renewably electrically powered, the higher the speed limit.  It makes sense.
    Hummers should have to limit their speed to 45, plugin hybrid hypercars with 40 hp electric motors should have a limit twice that fast.
    That would take the vroom out of gas guzzling.

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17. 

    Wolverine Posted 3:25 am
    21 Aug 2008

    Untenable, JohnOK Dr. X, how in the world would your idea be enforced?  Cops don't catch most of the speeders now; how could they possibly determine which car gets to drive how fast in addition to what they are already having trouble doing?  What you've proposed is a recipe for allowing everyone to speed, because it would cause utter chaos in enforcement.

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18. 

    cdm Posted 10:29 pm
    25 Aug 2008

    fairness? logic?I think it would be unfair to make a Prius getting 48 mpg to drive as slow as, say, an SUV getting 15 mpg in order to reduce fuel consumption of the general public.  Fuel taxes sure seem a more fair method, and why not better CAFE standards before a return to 55?
    As for enforceability, there are already different limits, in some places, for Semi's vs cars.  So, why not a different limit for SUV's vs cars?  That might double as a safety benefit too.
    But, in the end, IMO, speed limits should be about safety.  We should tackle fuel consumption more directly and logically and fairly.

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19. 

    ghostlly Posted 3:26 am
    26 Aug 2008

    I can't drive 55Yes cars will get great gas mileage at slower speeds. I tried it on a non-busy backroad and got great milleage. If I drive 55 on the interstate I am going to be at a serious risk of an accident or death. My life is not worth going an unsafe speed. You have to go along with the traffic most of which is going 70+ mph. Most of them go 70mph regardless of the posted speed limit which is ussually 55 already in the cities and soemtimes even 35 in constructions zones and is routinely ignored by 98% of the people. Lowering the limit nationwide would only generate more speed traps. Design a car with less wind resistance instead of making them look like square boxes. The only way you are going to get cars to go 55 is to mandate governors on all cars which will not allow them to go over 55 mph and make it illegal to alter them or remove them that is the only way it is going to happen because people will ignore the rules.  
    
     

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20. 

    mauryh Posted 5:39 am
    26 Aug 2008

    Yes, you can (drive 55).Ouch.  For an ostensibly  pro-environmentalist newsletter read and responded to by ostensibly pro-environmentalist readers, I'm getting a very elitist, pro-oil vibe from both your article and most of the comments. First, you leave out any reference to the tens of thousands of lives that were saved by the lower speed limits.  Second, you claim the law "...was yanked in 1995 after 21 years of low compliance and high complaining..."  Low compliance by whom? High complaining by whom?
    I was a car driver back in those days who loved to drive fast as much as anybody.  Weeks after the law went into effect, I was slapped with a $35 ticket for speeding.  After that, I drove 55.  As citizens of the United States of America, we bear witness to selective prosecution on a grand scale.  "Low compliance" with legal requirements is commonplace for corporations and the wealthy.  On the other hand, most of us don't have that option.  So who was complaining?  The Ferrari-drivers who never got ticketed? I don't think so.  Those who drove 55 or got ticketed?  Since when did our complaints effect public policy?  
    I think the complaints that changed public policy were from the Oil Industry who wanted to maximize demand.  The Oil Industry who didn't care about death on the highway any more than they did about the dangerous political and environmental impact of their corporate greed.
    
    

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