Comments on: Question of the Day: 55 MPH

By: USA-USA-USA

USA-USA-USA — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:26:15 +0000

It’s funny(sad) how we justify our actions. 55 is too slow because it will take too long to get to get to where you want to go? Then move closer and it won’t take so long.

Because oil is a declining, non-renewable resource, every drop you use is a drop I can’t use later. And the more you use now, the more I can’t use later. And it’s costing more and more to find more oil, increasing the basic cost of non-Middle East oil. So enforced conservation is needed for all you greedy, selfish people.

By: charles

charles — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:34:25 +0000

55 is fine is that’s how slow you want to go, but please stay to the left, because I’m going to be going 70-75mph. Time is money, and I drive a lot for business. I’m not going to add time to every trip so I can go 55. Besides, I get 35 miles per gallon on the highway (at 70-75mph).

By: KC

KC — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:05:50 +0000

My car gets its best mileage at around 65mph. Actually I still get 30mpg at 90mph if the people around me are moving and I don’t have to slow down and speed up so much. But that isn’t the case anymore – most people are driving at 65mph.

By: Christopher Smith

Christopher Smith — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:51:32 +0000

@stef: I’m not sure whether you’re being sarcastic, but I can say for certain that you don’t live in Texas. I’d be happy to use rail transport if it were practical, but the only pragmatic solution to traveling distances of 100-500 miles out here (a typical trip) is on the road.

By: ebow

ebow — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:34:56 +0000

I’d be in favor of making an MPG display standard in all vehicles. That could motivate people to find their own “optimal” trade-off between mileage and speed that favors mileage a bit more. I think we’d see a lot more people sticking closer to the current 65 limit, which would probably be a significant improvement.

And in response to everyone reminding 55ers to stay in the right lane, I’ll remind any maniacs out there to not pass at 80 mph in the right lane.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:19:18 +0000

@Don:

It is useful to remember who invented speeding. Once upon a time there were two things: safe driving and unsafe driving, and eventually governments started deciding that there are magical numbers that separated the two, such that anything faster than an arbitrary posted limit is unsafe, which is bullshit.

By: Harm

Harm — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:39:11 +0000

“Save gas, just don’t ask ME to sacrifice in any way.”
That’s what it all boils down to, isn’t it?
I don’t think the government ought to make it
mandatory, no, but doing it on your own would
make a difference, yes…….

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:34:28 +0000

I can’t believe that people are seriously discussing a return to a 55 mph speed limit. Don’t people ever learn?

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:33:42 +0000

I find that my new vehicle gets the best mileage between 60 and 65 MPH. What sucks is that city highways in Oregon are 55, which isn’t optimal, but at least the open freeways are 65. I used to speed everywhere, but I am finding that it is more relaxing and easier to drive at the speed limits. I just get into the right lane and set the cruise control.

I would rather that they kept a speed limit of 70 on open freeways and then strictly enforce the limit. Originally people got an extra 5 MPH due to court cases that showed the accuracy of radar to be +/- 5MPH, so the courts would not strictly enforce…I am sure that radar has become a bit more accurate since the 1970s.

Cross state driving seems to be fine with 70 MPH, but 55 is just too slow. That, and I am not a fan of federally mandated speed limits…this should be handled by the states.

By: EnoughWealth

EnoughWealth — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:56:24 +0000

Lower speeds are much safer and more fuel efficient – so lowering maximum speed to 55 mph (or 90 kph in Australia) would be great. Unfortunately speed limits are only partially effective, and are often used more as a revenue raising exercise than a safety one.

The best way to save both fuel and lives would be to make the maximum speed part of tightened fuel efficiency regulations applying to all new cars, rather than just a traffic rule. With modern cars it should be quite easy to program them to not be able to exceed 55 mph.

As someone else pointed out, restricting the top speed of fossil fueled vehicles would also make alternative vehicles more attractive to consumers.

Unfortunately I don’t think such changes have any chance of actually being introduced.