Bring back 55 mph national speed limit?

[Deleted deleted]

With gas prices skyrocketing and our President pleading for Americans to conserve, do you think we should bring back the 55 mph speed limit?



I know my car gets 4mpg better when I slowed from 75mph to 65mph on a recent trip to Dallas.

 

[Buck Henry]

In the immortal words of Sir Sammy Hagar: "I can't drive.......Fifty Five!!!"

 

[James Willford]

negative, it didnt work then & won't now. most folks will slow down when paying $4 a gallon for gas. On the other hand it does'nt slow the Germans down.

 

[Heather Kudela]

Here in NY the state speed limit is 55 and it doesn't seem to help me any

 

[Gerald Pierce]

I was watching the drivers of the big SUV's this morning on the way to work.... none were slowing down... blowing by at 70-75 in 55 zones driving big suburbans and durangos... gas was 3.099



Me, 55 baby.... milking it for all I can.

 

[EddieS'04]

Here in Texas, only less than half drove 55 away from the city, on open highway.

 

[Tom Schindler]

Darin,



If your car gets 4 MPG more going 65 MPH vs. 75 MPH, good for you.



Myself, I should choose what speed I drive up to the legal limit, and the legal limit for all 50 states should be 80 MPH.





Tom

 

[Kevin Palmer]

As much as I will admit that I get noticeably better mileage if I do NOT go over 70 I will not be able to do the 55 thing.



I will pay the price of gas and be happy to travel at 70 ish plus a few, (74.5 ish).... LOL

 

[Richard L]

I don't like driving at 55 mph, but I think that is the only way to reduce oil consuption at this point in time.



I had to drive down to Ft. Hood the other day and was stunned that I found myself driving at 80 MPH just to keep up with the flow of traffic! When I slowed down to around 70 MPH, everybody was flying by me even the trucks. I eventualy settled on just under 75 MPH to keep from getting in everones way.



That tells me that no matter how hight the cost of gas goes, there are people out there who will complain about the gas prices, but will still not slow down to save gas.



...Rich

 

[TrainTrac]

Like everone has previously stated in this thread, there are still areas of this country where the limit remains 55mph. The whole concept is a joke, because the majority of the traffic goes faster than 55mph anyway. I don't think it ever really resulted in a major reduction in fuel consumption. However, it was/is a huge source of revenue for the municipalites enforcing the law. What a crock!:angry:

 

[Dreman]

There are few people in this country that really understand, or even care, that their cars and trucks get better mileage at lower speeds. They'll complain about the price of gas, and the bad mileage their vehicle gets, but won't do anything about their driving habits to improve the situation. It's part of the human condition. We have always been quicker to change the situation to fit us than to change ourselves to fit the situation. We would rather demand somebody change how much it costs to drive 80, than change the costs ourselves by driving 55.

 

[Tom Schindler]

Lets say I get paid $25.00 per hour to drive 200 miles. At 55 MPH, it would take me 3.6 hours to drive that distance. At 65 MPH, it would take 3.07 hours. At 75 MPH it will take only 2.6 hours.



To drive at the speed limits listed above, my employer would have to pay me...as follows.



55 MPH= $90.00

65 MPH= $75.76

75 MPH= $65.00



Lets say the truck I drive gets 24 MPG at 55 MPH, 20 MPG at 65 MPH, and 16 at 75 MPH.



200 miles at 24 MPG comes out to about 8.33 Gallons.

200 miles at 20 MPG comes out to about 10 Gallons

200 miles at 16 MPG comes out to about 12.5 gallons.



At 2.509/per gallon (The price in my area before Katrina destroyed LA) each trip will cost the following in gas.



55 MPH=$20.90

65 MPH=$25.09

75 MPH=$31.36



Add the above respective numbers to the wages I would make driving to or from a job.



55 MPH speed $90.00+$20.90=$110.90 for the trip.

65 MPH speed $75.76+$25.09=$100.85 for the trip

75 MPH speed $65.00+$31.36=$96.36 for the trip



Having a 55 MPH speed limit wwill actually COST us more money then it will save.





Tom

 

[Thomas Rogers]

But, Caymen, don't most long-haul truck drivers in this country get paid a certain amount per mile.



TJR

 

[Deleted deleted]

TJR: that blows Caymens math to hell

 

[TomT]

Most get paid by the load and they travel very long distances. The quicker they can drop off one load, the quicker they can pick up a new load so it's not going to save them much. We consumers are the ones that will end up paying more for goods because of the increased costs to get them to you.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Indies (owner/operators) get paid by the load, right, but those working for a company get paid by the mile, usually, no?

 

[Kevin Szagala]

Driving slower means you get to your destination later which means your engine is running longer and you end up burning more gas...



at least thats my excuse!

 

[Tom Schindler]

TJR,



Truckers <B>USUALLY</B> dont get paid by the hour, but by the load or per mile.



Also, most uf us get paid per hour. What makes the difference if we get paid or not paid? My time is valuable. I assume yours is too.



My point is we are looking for ways to save. A penny here, a penny there. We would be willing to save 10 dollars, but spend an hour to do it. If our time is worth $25.00/hr it cost us $15.00 to save that 10 dollar bill. Pretty stupid as far as I am concerened.



How much money would ANYONE save by lowering the speed limit? If you look at it as time is money, it is for me, you are spending more money then saving.



I guess it is OK though. Whatever gives us the warm and fuzzy feeling.



Most people would rather pay $5.00/gallon for gas with a coupon that will get you $2.00/gallon off, then paying $2.989/gallon because they can see the "discount" of the coupon.



Do we think we are saving money when we get home at 5:30 instead of 5:15, leaving for work at 6:15 instead of 6:30 jus so we can save $5.00 worth of gas?



IMO, we just blew 2.5 hours of precious family time. Can you really put a price on that?



Set the speed limit to 80 MPH and let me decide how fast I want to drive.





Tom

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Your right, Caymen, time is money. But in your example, more time spent traveling meant more money earned (more cost to your employer, sure).



There have been tons of studies. "Back of the envelope" calculations are often misleading. Most of the studies show that dropping the speed limit from 65 to 55, or even changing your driving habits to the same degree "can" save fuel and money without having a big impact in your time.



I am not an advocate one way or the other, but I just caution that overly simplistic analysis and statistics (used on either side of the debate) can be misleading.



Setting the speed limit to 80, on most roads in this nation is a bad idea, IMHO. I fear that most of the roads and the average skill of the drivers on them makes for an unsafe combination at such high speeds.



Oh, one last thing, Caymen, you seem to like equations and want to speed so that you have more time to do the things that make you happy. Consider this:



o Time = Money



o Money Cannot Buy Happiness



Therefore, by the transitive property additional time gained from speeding can't make you happy.







TJR

 

[WXMotorSports DecalsPartsAccs]

Speed limit on the Freeways in the Seattle area is 60. If your not doing 70 your getting run over basically. Of course everytime I've been on it I'm avg 25 with the log jam of cars.