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Comments
This works for me! I must be great then.
I figure that with the fewer fatalities you have to be looking at better car, better drivers or better roads. I'd place my bet on better cars.
I don't really think there's much of an added benefit to slowing it to 55.
That's for sure!!! I live in Alpine and hate driving into the city anymore. The San Diego freeway system is getting more and more like LA. Not a pleasant place to drive. I try to run all my errands and appointments between 10 & 2 PM, so I can avoid the worst of the traffic.
Well depends on what kind of vehicle. Smaller engined vehicle are certainly more FE at this speed, but larger ones may not be. Cars with powerful diesel engines have even higher sweetspots which are close to 75 mph.
> 2. We can save more than 30% of the oil supply before it is completly depleted.
Mmm, I'm afraid I don't think this way will do much. This won't settle the problems of very high consumption in traffic jams that clog many higways and urban areas. Therefore, it may influence Fuel consumption only in best traffic condition, which , in many areas, are unlikely most of the time.
>3. When driving 55 mph, you get to be in your car longer (assuming new) and enjoy the interior comfort around you. Plus, it's more relaxing and fun to drive, and you can multitask more easily at the same time, such as taking cell phone calls, eating snacks, writing notes, or reading papers.
This is interesting that you describe this so positively, whereas this is exactly what I think should be avoided as much as possible in a moving car. This may be cultural differences, but I attribute most (yes, I say most) of the non drunk driving accidents to this kind of behaviour. 40% crash because they left the road and 60% crash with another car. In both cases, the crash happened because the driver did not care to pay attention to the rest of the trafic and its surroundings, eventually letting him/herself into a hazardous situation.
My view is that drivers should concentrate on driving ONLY, as we don't get a second life. Should one want to do anything else but driving, the train is a healthy alternative.
>4. It can increase the engine life of the vehicle.
A small anecdote : In the country where I live, I borrowed a car for a few months. a small (1,1l) engined hatchback which had a terrible FE (22 mpg) and could not go above 75 mph. I drove it unsparingly , flooring the pedal on motorway (I was around the legal limit) and letting the engine revving in intermediate speed.
Guess what? after a few month, I managed to reach 28 mpg efficiency and eventually, I could go over 90 mph on the highway. Engine was running more smoothly (but it had already 25000 miles on the clock) after that. You don't believe me ? I don't even believe it myself... but this car was runned too slow, which led the engine to get dirty and loose efficiency. I have 2 others examples but not as striking as this one.
>5. It may (or may not) reduce the chance of getting into an accident.
As mentioned for 3) my view is that the likeliness of an accident will increase noticeably, because a sleeping driver is not one I would bet my safety on.
>Everytime I try to drive 55 mph on the highway, freeway, or expressway, people keep on honking, flash headlights
I think the US are lacking lane discipline. in Europe, most slow drivers stick to the right and quicker ones pass from the left. I am convinced a lot of fuel could be saved with a more organized traffic, instead of people chasing for the quicker lane (and other blocking others) that i often saw in California.
It is unacceptable, if you keep lane discipline, that other motorists behave aggressively towards yourself. Such behaviour should be fined. Otoh, if you don't, this is the result of you impeding the flow of traffic.
>or pass me
If you are going 55 where the flow is going 75, everyone is going to pass you. Safety distance must be respected by passing vehicules before and after passing, otherwise this is aggressove driving.
If passing you safely, what's wrong with that?
I want to make sure you have the right to go your pace, but I don't want your pace to be forced upon me.
>However, nobody seems to take advantage at this speed.
Le the administration put the gallon at 6 USD and people will decide what is best by themselves.
That is a very astute observation. I found the worst offenders in the HOV lanes. Those have limited entry and exit. The chances are good that you will get stuck behind some JERK that is not going to exceed the speed limit. So the other lanes are going by you at 70-75 MPH and you are stuck behind this imbecile doing 55 MPH.
There was a big article in the LA Times about this. I guess it has gotten much worse with the advent of allowing solo drivers in hybrids to clog up the HOV lanes.
The problem with slowing down 5 MPH is that a lot of idiotic poor, unskilled, and incompetent CA drivers will decide that they still want to go 5 to 15 MPH slower than everyone else, even if everyone else is suddenly driving 5 MPH slower or 55 MPH all of a sudden.
Therefore, you'll have those idiots driving 45 or so and you'll still have stress and conjestion and traffic jams. If everyone drove 55 all the time and never slowed down below that in the San Diego freeway area, then I'd actually be happy during rush hour. The problem is a few idiots can cause traffic jams (and a whole lot of wasted fuel) for thousands of others.
In fact, if Hitler was still alive, it would be a MUCH better idea to vote him as President of the USA in 2008 than to lower the speed limit to 55. That's HOW BAD of an idea it is.
If anything, we should mandate that States CANNOT set maximum speed limits below 80 MPH. Also, they should allow vigilante justice on slow blockers of the fast lane by allowing video tapes to suffice for fines on people blocking the fast lane at low speeds when they should be going faster. I'd love to send in video tapes to punish traffic "jammers" otherwise known as slow drivers in the fast lane in CA. Previous posts are absolutely correct about slow drivers blocking the fast lane in CA. It seems the slow pokes are as determined to block and cause traffic jams in the fast lane as fast drivers are to make the slow lane the fastest moving lane!!!!
The right lane seems to always be the fastest moving lane these days in CA; no matter where you go. Shameful!
Must be time to shut this one down already. :P
Somehow CA has attracted a lot of tree hugging, no nothing environmentalists. They feel they are taking the high ground by slowing down the flow of traffic. I would take their license away until they have taken a course in highway driving etiquette. I have no problem with drivers in the right lane going less than the flow of traffic for whatever the reason. They need to stay in the right lane and stay out of the left lanes and HOV lanes. I do not care if they were given an HOV pass because of a stupid law designed to encourage more hybrids. Going 55 MPH when the flow is 75 MPH is DANGEROUS to all those on the highway. GO with the flow or get OFF the highway and take a 35 MPH surface street.
I think they should repeal the idea that HOV is for hybrids, it should only be for cars with more than one person in them. I think motorcycles should be banned too, unless they have 2 on the seat also.
I think that Chrysler would quickly become the #1 automaker in the US if they were the first to equip their cars with dual .50 caliber machine gun turrets on the front bumper. Perfect for getting someone out of your way that is determined to block you in the fast lane and get you into going the same speed as the slow lane.
Or maybe optional upgrades to rocket launchers......
I wish I had a trigger button to get trigger happy with sometimes.
Reminds me of video games where you get to blow cars up while driving....
Instead of honking I want my horn to assume control of the vehicle in front of me so that I can better drive their vehicle for them directly in front of me.
Sort of like prohibition? I wonder if making alcohol illegal would reduce drunk driving deaths?
Oh, and 1stpik, when I said this:
"more revenues will be garnered from speeding tickets, and that money can be used to finally bring our roads up to better than a third world standard."
I was being facetious. :-)
There is no doubt WHATSOEVER in my mind that any reduction in the national speed limit would be completely ignored by a solid 97% (maybe more) of the driving public.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Right!, but you can bet the remaining 3% model citizen would make sure they drive 55 blocking the others behind them. It is too easy to have 3 cars occupying 3 lanes on the same row, blocking 100 cars. Some times looks like some people already anticipated such a bill.
There's no question that a 55 MPH national limit would save fuel, but I doubt it's going to happen. And, having spent quite a bit of time driving in Europe, I second the motion that American drivers are not only lacking in lane discipline, but discipline and driving courtesy period.
When you spend some time in Europe, especially Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, you realize what courtesy is all about, as well as proper driving techniques. I will give you an example: when I was driving in southern Germany near Bodensee or Lake Constance during the summer, I slowed for a stoplight. A BMW pulled up beside me on the left with its radio blaring, just like you hear and see here in the States. However, when I looked over at the driver, and he too looked at me, he not only turned down the music, but rolled up the passenger side window to lower the decibel level of the music even further! Now, how many drivers in the States would do that?? If anything, they would crank it up even louder.
This effectively answers the question of this discussion, "Should the US government bring back the 55 mph max speed limit again?"
IT'S NOT A GOOD IDEA
IT'S JUST THE LAW
Now that the authority to set speed limits has been returned to the states(where it belongs), all we need is a law which makes camping in the left lane a capital offense.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
That authority was returned to the states in 1995 after repeal of a national speed limit law. Some federal strings are attached to federal highway trust funds money. link. I think there are dui and public transportation strings attached; probably a few other "national" things.
All the rural interstates seem to run between 65 and 75 mph, expect for some sparsely populated counties in Texas where the limit is 80. I recall that Kansas had 80 mph limits back before the 70's oil crisis.
Check out the Who Pays for our Roads? discussion too.
Such a shame that they will never pass that one...
I remember that when they passed the national 55 law I had a Volvo 142. Now, anyone who ever had one of these things will know that you can get passed by glaciers driving one. If you could get the floorboards to rust out you could increase your speed by using the Fred Flintstone method of propulsion. That said, I had trouble staying awake doing 55 in it in New Jersey!
Surely given today's far superior cars there's no place for turtle speeds on Interstates.
For more entertainment, after a fashion, look up the guy who was speeding in that wiki link.
The problem isn't people clogging up the courts, its on officer's writing frivolous tickets making people want to clog up the courts.
I for one, don't see a problem with clogged up courtrooms; preferable to the current joke of a justice system our traffic rules in CA have led to.
:P
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
No word yet on the position of Lenin, Stalin or Pol Pot on it...
German attitudes on speed are interesting. Driving is taken seriously. Germans drive faster than we do, even on those parts of the Autobahn with a speed limit. But I sense a greater respect for speed and what cars can do over there. (They are also much more interested in the technical aspect of cars, and would never make vehicles like the F-150 or Camry best sellers, and GM would never dare to offer clunkers like the Cobalt, G6 or Impala to the German public.)
People take driving more seriously, and have a more “mature” view of speed. They aren’t running around squawking the “speed kills” nonsense, but they don’t glorify “hooning,” either. Drivers who camp in the passing lane are not tolerated.
Fast driving is seen as a pleasurable, safe and rapid way to get where you are going, and both cars and drivers are expected to have the capabilities necessary to handle it when on the Autobahn.
Drivers and cars both are held to a higher standard - and the result is a driving experience that is unimaginable compared to the dreck we see in most of North America. It's a completely different mindset, one that requires more discipline than is probably capable of being reached on this side of the pond.
Cellphone and donuts...sins.
You're right - cell phones and donuts behind the wheel are not tolerated. And cars and drivers are both better for it.
Imagine how I feel when driving an E55, stuck behind some airhead in a Saturn Ion text messaging and sipping a Starbucks as they merge onto a freeway at 36mph...
Damn, now I'm wanting a job on the continent
"The 55 mile speed limit really does lower gas usage, and wherever it can be required and that people will accept it, we ought to do it," Clinton said.
Interesting site too, I've never seen that before. Good information about the true motivation behind traffic laws and enforcement.
If it takes a National Speed Limit of 55 to conserve - who is the anarchist to object?
Some talk of lane disipline, but who speaks out for speed discipline?
Few musicians truly master their instrument and fewer drivers are qualified to aim the cars they buy, but they think they are qualified & therein lies the problem.
Over confidence combined with under expertise.
Particularly with the longer distances between cities in the West, lower speed limits lead to more falling asleep at the wheel, more road rage, and less respect for the law in general.
This is why the states were right in getting back the power to have their own limits.
It is why the states, with their differing geographic and traffic circumstances should retain the limits.
The fuel problem can be solved by investing in alternate fuels, not imposing bureaucratic will on others.
Now I don't think the distances between teh cities in the west got longer since last time we had 55, but yeah, driving 55 in the west was absolutely nutty. Spent the longest day of my life driving from Los Cruces, New Mexico to Kerrville, Texas.
falling asleep is a separate issue
road rage is a separate issue caused by the instigator lacking patience
less respect for the law in general is another separate issue.
The feeble attempt at blaming a 55 mph limit for the above incidents indicates not accepting personal responsibility for commiting those errors.
Funny that those who preach responsibility usually have little of it themselves...always some liberal or anarchist conspiracy behind every problem in the world, always the responsibility of others, never a mention of their own...talk about feeble. The silent generation should keep to this nickname... :P
If individual states want to impose a 55 MPH SL then fine let them, but the Federal Government should stay out of it.
I think right now a more strict enforcement of current SL's will do a lot too.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Lets face it for 95% of the people 95% of the time they will only save a few minutes at most.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Agreed.
I am curious though, where is the data that confirms that 55 mph saves fuel??
In the 70s (yes, I am that old), they thought that 55 would save fuel, which it didn't and chose that speed. Why don't we appease the environmentalists and everyone else who doesn't want to see any personal/private vehicles on the roads and make all of the highway speed limits 35 mph. It will definitely save lives.
Some folks have no idea of the amount of work that they do before they change any speed limit. There is a ton of research on the road they wish to make the change on, a "study" is done. If they feel that the road traffic cannot handle a change in the speed limit, then it isn't done.
Should the govt bring back the 55 mph speed limit? No. It was pathetic then, as it would be now. The new technology no longer makes a statement that it would save fuel true.
I will disagree with you on this. I have read many studies that claim that increasing speeds above 40 MPH does increase the likelihood of a fatal accident by as much as 5% per 1MPH increase. As speed increases the amount of time decreases, amount of force the car is exerting increases and the car becomes harder to control.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
IIRC Stalin had Packards.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Keep in the right lane and only use the left lane to pass.If we all did that traffic would cease to exist .
55 just wastes time.