Speed Reduction - 55 MPH Limit

[bluefront]

Unfortunately most people are not driving cars that get better gas mileage at 65/75 than at 55mph. And if that limit were really enforced, shortly most everybody would be doing 55mph max.

How about a $500 fine and loss of your license for 30 days for the first offense? Want to drive 75mph now?

Pretending there is no gas problem won't get things fixed......

[norcalfocus01]

Originally Posted by bluefront

Unfortunately most people are not driving cars that get better gas mileage at 65/75 than at 55mph. And if that limit were really enforced, shortly most everybody would be doing 55mph max.

How about a $500 fine and loss of your license for 30 days for the first offense? Want to drive 75mph now?

Pretending there is no gas problem won't get things fixed......

okay, a police officer pulls you over and said you were gonig 58mph, you say but my speedometer says i was doing 55mph, the cop say yeah right, gives you the ticket and you pay $500 and lose your license

[WeeAsp]

I have to side with Loco on this one.

The study is flawed and so is its premise.

"Cars of yore" were HEAVY steel things with big engines and lower gearing. They were also CARBURATED, a very inefficient means to deliver fuel to the engine. A 55 MPH speed limit made sense because of the technology constraints.

Today, that is not the case. Modern fuel injection meters the fuel with unfailing accuracy (mechanical or electrical failures aside). Furthermore, emission standards are much more stringent and require that vehicles burn cleaner and that translates into efficiency. This is true at 55MPH or at 75MPH. The difference is the level and rate of consumption.

By reinstating the 55MPH speed limit, what is really being attempted is a cultural change. The original 55MPH speed limit was not about fuel economy, but SAFETY. One of the counter arguments to the national speed limit was called "Principle 42 (or something like that)".

Principle 42 basically said that no person is going to drive any faster or slower than their comfort level. For some, that speed is 40MPH and others 80 MPH. What the study found was that for people with higher thresholds, lower speeds caused their minds to wander. For those with lower thresholds, they became hyper aware at higher speeds, but were more prone to panic. So, to arbitrarily pick a number, i.e. 55MPH, had no basis.

So, back to my original point, the premise is flawed and it really is a cultural issue.

Americans view driving as a right, not a privledge. In Europe, speed limits are considerably higher, but so are the fuel costs and the penalties associated with breaking traffic laws. Combine this with a very robust public transportation infrastructure and people view driving as a something less than a necessity.

Not so here.

So, I do not fault the OPEC nations. They are greedy , but that's capitalism.

We have no one to blame but ourselves...

[cdsilver02]

Why would they fine and suspend our license? Instead they should cut off our right foot if we were caught speeding.

Punishments like that only occur in the middle east. My bad.

A new government study really needs to occur. JK

[turbovation]

Yeah that's true Wee Asp except for the fact that generally speaking, the lower your RPMs at freeway cruising speed, the less fuel you will consume. Unfortunately, the highway mileage isn't where we usually suffer. Look at Corvettes..they're in the mid to high 20's on the highway now thanks to plenty of torque and solid gearing. So sure, we will individually save a penny dropping the speed limit 10MPH, but we will never see a difference in the price of gas because of it. I'm not sure we'll ever see gas drop below $4.00 per gallon no matter what happens from here on out. Unfortunately, driving isn't the only thing it effects..it effects anything and everything.

It's pretty rapidly sending us into an economic depression. The rich may (or may not) get richer, but they will at least stay where they are, but the robust middle class who have spent most of their lives a little bit closer to the comfort line, will really have to make changes to the way they live to offset the cost of things. It's hard to say how it will effect poor families since most of them could barely afford to drive before gas was so expensive. I think we'll see an increase in the poverty rate though.

[WeeAsp]

Originally Posted by turbovation

Yeah that's true Wee Asp except for the fact that generally speaking, the lower your RPMs at freeway cruising speed, the less fuel you will consume. Unfortunately, the highway mileage isn't where we usually suffer. Look at Corvettes..they're in the mid to high 20's on the highway now thanks to plenty of torque and solid gearing. So sure, we will individually save a penny dropping the speed limit 10MPH, but we will never see a difference in the price of gas because of it. I'm not sure we'll ever see gas drop below $4.00 per gallon no matter what happens from here on out. Unfortunately, driving isn't the only thing it effects..it effects anything and everything.

It's pretty rapidly sending us into an economic depression. The rich may (or may not) get richer, but they will at least stay where they are, but the robust middle class who have spent most of their lives a little bit closer to the comfort line, will really have to make changes to the way they live to offset the cost of things. It's hard to say how it will effect poor families since most of them could barely afford to drive before gas was so expensive. I think we'll see an increase in the poverty rate though.

Exactly my point and you did a much better job of articulating it.

Given the fact that we have a "thirst", a speed limit will have little or no impact on our cultural view of driving....

[MattZX3]

here in the chicago area the speed limit IS 55mph...

everyone drives 70+ though

if you drive 55 on our highways up here, you will be a hood ornament..

[TKE_Quailman]

u wanna solve the gas problem no more 6.0 v-8 engines and if u do get one u should have to pay a gas guzzler tax everytime u fill uup

here in miami you could do about 80 in the posted 55 limit highway without getting much attention everyone else is doing like 70

[viney266]

I hated every minute of the 55MPH hell.. Please God, not again. I"ll move out of the country.

[Rudel]

Originally Posted by warneej

there is no shortage of gas, nor have the arabs raised the price of gas substantially in the past year...

the price gouging is due to people playing the market...check forbes.com for info

Not to mention we are competing with China on oil too.