A Call To Lower the Speed Limit to 55 (AlterNet)

[marmar]

A Call To Lower the Speed Limit to 55

By Matthew S. Miller, AlterNet. Posted May 31, 2007.



It's tough love for the oil addicted.

"I can't drive 55!" -- Sammy Hagar, Heavy Metal icon also responsible for the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack.

"People try to go as fast as the car will go ... One thing the truckin' industry has done year after year is raise the speed limit ...When man goes a little bit faster than walkin'; that's very unnatural ... People have a way of getting' carried away with it and they do this thing called speedin' ... I blame it all on the trucking industry, all of it, all this racing around and everything! So, I had this idea ... -- Michael Russell, Peripatetic Picker & Patriot

Fifty-five! Now there's a number that used to unite the United States. Coast to coast the law of the land was fifty-five miles an hour. Just as patriotic Americans worked together and planted victory gardens to fight food shortages during WWII, in the 1970s, with help from the insightful policies of an enlightened congress, Americans responded to the OPEC energy embargo with character and resolve. We reduced our consumption of petroleum.

Imagine the national unity of will it must have taken in 1975 to get Chevrolet to produce the subcompact Chevette and to persuade people to drive it! The effect of the collective effort knocked a dent in the all time petroleum production curve and set peak oil back a decade from legendary oil geologist M. King a> initial estimate of a 1996 peak. It's amazing what Americans can do when they work together! Just ask Neil Armstrong.

Congress laid the groundwork for mass-producing and popularizing fuel-efficient cars in 1974, a year before the Chevette hit the assembly lines, with The Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act. It prescribed a national 55 miles per hour speed limit to reduce gasoline consumption. Its follow up, The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, among other things, raised the corporate average fuel economy standards (CAFE) from 18 mpg to a 1985 level of 27.5 mpg. These steps were taken to mitigate the negative economic effects that our increasing dependence on "foreign oil" had wrought. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/audits/52403/

[Demeter]

1. My car gets better Mileage at 70 than at 55, and I Bet Yours Does, Too

The modern automobile engines are designed for commuting. The basic idle of my car uses about 1 gallon per hour (don't ask how I know, please). So any mileage above and beyond that is better. And the faster this streamlined, efficient little '94 Saturn goes, the more miles per gallon. My 740 '87 Volvo Turbo was the same way: built for the long distance driver.

That's why electric cars are so efficient---they don't "idle". When they go, they use energy, when they stop, they REALLY stop. The problem is getting enough energy stored in the battery system, and the extreme weight of those batteries, which makes more energy needed than otherwise. Hence they are only really useful for in-city short runs, with little or no cargo. Think golf cart.

That's how we ended up with internal combustion machines. after all. Loads of power at minimal deadweights and cheap oil.

[MemphisTiger]

2. I read an article not long ago, about a year ago, that disagrees with

you. You get good gas mileage up until about 60-65 mph. The reason being is the air friction going over the car. No matter how sreamlined your car is, it doesn't get "good" gas mileage at 70mph. I'll try to see if I can find the article but I have no idea where it was published (I read it in a news magazine in the gym one day on the treadmill)

[seemunkee]

4. This last weekend I did a non-scientific test

Went to a friends house for the evening.
When I got on the highway I reset the consumption gauge on my car. Set the cruise control for 75 and checked when I got off the highway. 37.3MPG. Did the same thing coming home only set it at 65, 36.5MPG The route was rolling hills and no significant elevation change from the endpoint to endpoint.

I would try it at 55 but I would be going 15-25 miles slower than everyone else and I don't consider that to be very safe. Plus I would keep having to shift between 4/5/6 gears depending on the hills.

Time the damn lights in the cities and I'll bet you save more than lowering the speed limits on the highways. Making sure your tires are inlfated properly would help also.

[MemphisTiger]

6. Tire inflation is important but

alot of the trial at home would also depend on wind direction. Timing the traffic signals is harder than it would seem. Try it at 55 one day in the right lane and see what results you get.

Good to talk to you again, it's been a while.

[Captain Hilts]

3. Yes! Most cars work most efficently at 60mph.

It's not about "personal freedom" like Dick Cheney says.

It's one atmosphere and it's one oil market. People don't have the inherent right to screw up either for others by driving 70mph in the left lane.

[elocs]

5. Been there. Done that. Don't work. Won't happen again.

The trick is not to drive slower. The trick is not to drive. A 55 mph speed limit may be the only thing that unites this nation--against it.