One of the many important lessons I learned from my father was a healthy disrespect for partisan politics. A self described "pox-on-both-your-houses" independent, the elder Mr Niedermeyer has only ever donated to one political campaign in his entire life: the effort to repeal the federal 55mph speed limit. Though he now seems more interested in hypermiling than high-speed hoonery, it may be time for the paterfamilias to reach for the checkbook once again. The Wall Street Journal reports that Senator John Warner has written the U.S. Energy Secretary and the Government Accountability Office asking them to study the possibility of once again lowering federal speed limits. Though Sen. Warner says he's not necessarily advocating a return to the double-nickel, he wants to bring the issue before congress before the fall election recess. "I am every day trying to work on concepts to achieve some conservation now," Warner says. "I mean N-O-W." In his letter, Warner requests that the feds determine the speeds at which modern vehicles operate most efficiently. It's all a bit moot of course, as NHTSA data shows that three quarters of drivers broke the speed limit within a month of being interviewed. Oh, and Senator Warner retires this fall. And, as the WSJ aptly points out: "The speed limit issue isn't really about any of that. It's a powerful, easily grasped symbol of the freedom, mobility and affluence Americans enjoyed when energy was cheap. Letting go of that sense of freedom won't be easy, even if it is the sensible thing to do."
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If there’s one thing I don’t want regarding air travel, it’s any incentive to have to choose it over driving.
So 1/4 of all drivers are pathological liars?
I won’t drive 55, and I doubt most people, no matter how much they whinge about high gas prices, are willing to do it either.
My car is fuel efficient enough to not worry about slowing down to 55 mph.
Wait, an evil greenwashed thought just crept into my mind….what if they made hybrids exempt from the double-nickel?
Figures a near-retiree would suggest it. Those old people vote in large numbers though… I’m worried.
I’m only surprised they didn’t site safety concerns instead. Remember, it’s for the children.
There is no better argument for federalism than the example of a senator from Virginia that wants to slow down traffic in Montana and Texas. Warner isn’t running for re-election, so he can be contemptuous of public opinion.
To drive 55 on the 90/94/290/294/55/80/88 in the chicago area requires MAJOR “huevos”. There is a good chance you are going to get rear-ended from behind by someone going 20+mph faster than you.
All summer I use my motorcycle for commuting. At 75mph it gets mid 40’s. Why should I be driving 55 considering first gear doesn’t top out until over 70? Might as well just cut off half the rev range of my bike!
The litre bikes hit in the 90’s in first gear…even worse for them I guess.
Who comes up with this crap?
The 55 MPH speed limit was a failure imposed upon us by the government. I seriously doubt that it EVER saved fuel and was probably one of the most widely disregarded laws ever written in the US.
Why bring all of that stuff back? Cars are much more efficient today than they were in the ’70’s. Besides, $4+/gallon gasoline will do way more than the 55 and CAFE put together.
I think it already has.
Let economics decide how fast people want to drive – I mean the price of fuel, not the price and consequences of speeding tickets.
In the long run high prices will encourage many more creative solutions than a false speed limit with many false stats supporting it’s existence.
I guess the radar detector industry wouldn’t be sad though to have the 55 mph limit return.
When are we honestly going to become completely fed up with our entire government? What’s it finally going to take before US citizens do something about it?
geozinger> I thought immigration laws where the least enforced…? I guess speeding might be a close second or might be even less enforced…
if DoE and GAO drag their feet long enough, something that even the most incompetent bureaucrat knows how to do, Warner will be out of office, and they won’t have to respond.
Wow. Good Chicago representation on this forum.
I’m gonna agree with Robstar. My commute takes me down I57 then onto the Dan Ryan. 55mph the whole way. I generally do 75-80 on I57….and get passed. Even on the Dan Ryan, the most heavily traveled roadway in the state (and likely in the entire US), when moving, easily does 70….and there’s still lots of passing going on.
Its a joke. The best/worst part (depending on which side your on) is that I would say patrol is rather light, and the high volume of traffic all speeding makes it highly unlikely you’ll be the one to get nailed. I’ve passed ISP twice (and luckily…knock on wood) was doing 65-70 both times and he didn’t move. Don’t enjoy tempting it though.
On the flip side, when I drive to Michigan, it is 55mph on the Indiana Toll Road. Most people WANT to do 70+…but Indiana Patrol is constantly out in droves on this road. I drive it fairly regularly for work, and it isn’t uncommon to see 5-6 people pulled over in the stretch from about Gary to the I94-Detroit exit. If not pulled over, ISP is just sitting there waiting. Something seriously wrong with this picture. Rural Indiana with draconian speed patrol and 55mph on top of it. And its usually “under construction”, guranteeing the great state of Indiana a double-revenue fine each time they nail somebody.
And don’t get me going on the 55mph limit on the new stretch of I355 between I80 and I55…. this area is about as rural as it gets, on a brand new 3-4 lane expressway with VERY light traffic….meanwhile patrol is out….I’ve seen lots of people pulled over.
In Michigan its 70. Most people do maybe 70-75, though seems lots like to do about 80. The issue, again, is that now you’re a whole lot more likely to get nailed due to far less traffic.
Guess my whole point is that people go the speed they feel comfortable going, and that there is something SERIOUSLY wrong when traffic drives faster in the City of Chicago with 55mph limits than they do in Michigan on 70mph limits. Seems things should be reversed…. And it isn’t a Chicago/Michigan thing. Noticed the same thing in the Bay Area (boy o boy was 280 the California Autobahn) while I5 would travel slower due to the likelihood of being caught.
I’d say 80mph would be appropriate in most of the US provided proper lane discipline and tailgating were followed with 70mph the limit in urban areas. If traffic gets bad enough, you won’t go that fast anyway.
And to the question about being fed up with the gov’t, I think most of us accept it the way it is because we all know that our chances of being caught are small, and that the “price you pay” for most of us is a fine every several years. Just the cost of doing business I guess. Now, if we all started suddenly getting mailed tickets every time we crossed the limit, watch how quickly things would change….
The law is supposed to represent the will of the people. At some point it stops working when you make most of the population criminals. ie prohibition.
If you don’t like this idea, call your congresspeople!. the main number for Capitol Hill is 202-224-3121.
Call Warner too and tell him you disapprove. Same # will get you to him.
I drive in and around Detroit,MI. Back in ’95 a congressman from our state thought it’d be interesting to try and drive 55 mph on I-75 during rush hour and then write about his experience.
As I remember, he only lasted a few minutes and then promptly sped up to 85 mph. At 55 mph he was afraid for his life as people zipped past him at 25-40 mph faster than he was traveling.
Here we go again. I’ll just throw out brief thoughts here.
1. Insurance companies loved the ticket revenue.
2. This is dumbing everyone down to the lowest common denominator.
3. It is an overly simplistic and only partially effective measure, even if it could live up to its billing. Which it will never do because . . .
4 It will be widely disregarded by huge numbers of drivers. It was then , and would be again
5. It goes against the (supposed) thing this country is supposed to protect, personal freedom.
6. It will creater further disrespect for the law. Bad law can be worse than no law at all.
7. I’d take $10/ gas with the choice of approprate and comfortable speed over $2/gal and being compelled to drive too slowly.
8. In the old 55 days, I violated that law pretty much continuously, with only two tickets for speed in the 13-14 year time span. I did “speed” and would do so again just because the tedious mental boredom of inappropriately slow speeds needs some sort of mental stimulus to keep me awake.
9. I’d much rather go 85 in my Corolla and get 35mpg rather than drive 55 in a monster SUV and get 17.
10. High fuel prices are a far better way to incourage conservation at all speeds on all roads, not just open rural roads and highways.
11. I have been slowing down, I am playing some hypermiler tricks to nurse mid 40 mpg’s out of my Corolla, but when it comes to a road trip where driving all day is involved, 55 vs 75 is quite significant in time and distance.
12. Law enforcement agencies get hooked on the easy revenue.
13. Will the Feds blackmail the states again with their arcane games of compliance rates linked to highway funds?
14. Slowing down traffic on some more crowded roads(I’d guess primarilly urban highways) will result in decreased carrying capacity of certain roads, leading to far more instances of gridlocked slower traffic jams which result in even greater fuel use per mile traveled.
15. This is overall a one dimensional, simplistic dumb idea that attempts to accomplish a goal that is actually determined by a constellation of variable factors. Juggle all the other factors in a nuanced way and we can have our conservatiion, personal freedom, and safety at the same time. We just need to approach it with an intelligent adult frame of mind rather than a childish ideological authoritarian frame of mind.
Requiring thermostats to be set the the double-nickel during the winter months would do far more to save the environment and conserve our fossil fuel resources. Many houses heat with natural gas, so cutting back on heating could go towards running your CNG-based car, which would save 100% on gasoline. Instead of waiting and waiting for an EV vehicle, go right out an buy a Honda Civic GX this very day. http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-gx/
To drive 55 on the 90/94/290/294/55/80/88 in the chicago area requires MAJOR “huevos”. There is a good chance you are going to get rear-ended from behind by someone going 20+mph faster than you.
Having driven in Chicago and New York I can attest to this. Speed limit signs 55, cars doing 80. I remember Johnny Carson saying “55 in L.A.? They change a tire at 55.”
John
TriShield,
If the American populace is willing to swallow the suspension of habeas corpus or the whole concept of extraordinary rendition, then a little thing like a 55mph speed limit should go down easy.
On the other hand, the fact that the 55mph limit would get more opposition than the pillorying of essential liberties is very, very sad.
Edward Niedermeyer: Though he now seems more interested in hypermiling than high-speed hoonery
I resemble that remark. It’s true, I do seem to vacillate between the extremes (117mph/40mpg in the xB). Anything to fight the boredom. And the rigid enforecement in the early 55 days was mind-numbingly deadly. In some states (Maryland comes to mind) 57 would get you a ticket. And the CHP would do rolling roadblocks between LA an Las vegas at exactly 55.
The less revenue that the state makes from gas sales tax the more tickets they can hand out at 55. They have to make up the difference somewhere why not make it as troublesome as possible.
GS650G.. are you kidding me? For the children? Screw the children, especially yours! Are you one of those morons that has a “Baby on board” aka a screaming poop machine with irresponsible parents who will blame the entire world for their brats… i mean children’s problems because God for bid them to ever do any kind of decent parenting?
Just slap a good-size tax on oil and let nature take its course.
A 55mph speed limit encourages people to reduce oil consupmtion by slowing down a little when police might be present.
A tax on fuel encourages people to reduce oil consumption by car-pooling, buying smaller cars, buying highly aerodynamic cars, buying electric/alternative fuel cars, taking rapid transit, walking, biking, whatever other strategies occur…
And it would really suck to buy a highly aerodynamic car that gets GOOD fuel economy at 70+mph(like a Prius) and then drive at 55 (or whatever) right alongside a Tawhore that gets 22mpg (or worse) at 55mph.
Just slap a good-size tax on oil and let nature take its course.
Do we slap a good-sized tax on personal income to discourage people from earning more money?
Do we slap a good-sized tax on property to discourage people from purchasing larger houses?
Do we slap a good-sized sales tax on all items purchased to discourage people from spending money?
These so-called ‘sin taxes’ are a shameful ploy to put money into a government that by the admissions of the B&B are definitely not deserving of any extra revenue that my come to them. I’d rather buy into GM than accept this tax.
So in Europe, where most of the population drive small fuel efficient vehicles and just about any politician can’t open his mouth without saying “global warming”, they still have high speed limits. But in the US, it would be political suicide to even suggest that the freedom to buy and drive a brick-on-wheels might possibly be the cause of over-consumption, so we all must be tarred with the same brush and all forced to slow down.
Kixstart> I agree 100%. If I choose to drive my motorcycle at 75mph which is more fuel efficient than my car at 50mph…….Why should I be penalized?
The “in favor of everyone @ 55 crowd” needs to consider that people who ALREADY drive fuel efficient vehicles who want to get somewhere a little quicker should be allowed to. They are already making a sacrifice. The difference between 55 & 75 or 85 on a 1000 mile trip is SIGNFICANT. If you are going to make me sit in a car an extra 5 hours, I’m going to drive the most comfortable vehicle possible which PROBABLY won’t be the most fuel efficient vehicle available.
TriShield Says:
When are we honestly going to become completely fed up with our entire government? What’s it finally going to take before US citizens do something about it?
It will not happen any time soon; probably not in our lifetimes. When it does, I’ll bet it won’t be a peaceful election-type revolt.
What a load of crap.
Senator Warner must not do a lot of driving out West, where driving 75 instead of 55 from Seattle to Denver will save you SEVEN HOURS on the road.
He probably doesn’t have a lot of experience driving economy cars, either. I got over 40 mpg with the cruise control set at 75 on these trips.
Really want to save gas on the interstate? Lower the speed limit for big rigs, SUVs, pickup trucks and anything else with barge-like aerodynamics.
(But then there’s the barge-like Scion…have to make exceptions here and there.)
Senator Warner will never have to live the 55 mph limit because his motorcade can drive on closed-off interstates at any speed they dare to drive.
Just like the other 534 congresscritters, when he gets tired of the motorcade, the military will send a helicopter or a private jet for his comfort.
I am for not changing limits lower myself.
But if you just gosh darn insist, insist “NOW”. Okay, fine lets think it through at least two minutes. Long time for a congress critter I know.
The object is fuel savings, and of course immediately someone will bring up safety. Fine, okay lets do it this way. Divide vehicles into 3 classes. Big, medium, and small or guzzler, regular and econo if you like. Set the limits accordingly. 75 for econo, 60 for regular and 50 for guzzlers. That means your bigger vehicles that are more dangerous to others and least able to maneuver to protect themselves are slowest. While your lighter, nimbler, more efficient vehicles are able to drive fastest. You accomplish your safety and efficiency goals with the added bonus of giving people an extra reason to be efficient without penalty taxes being involved.
Just put a colored sticker on tags for the appropriate class each vehicles fits in. None for econo, yellow for regular and a big red one for guzzler models.
For motorcycles, either no limits or 100 mph.
# GS650G Says:
July 14th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I’m only surprised they didn’t site safety concerns instead. Remember, it’s for the children.
Your inability to use adequate birth control is not my problem…
The Children have nothing to do with me getting
from one place to another…
SteveL
esldude>
I have a friend who with “fun driving” can get sub 30mpg from his ducati. Why should he get to go 100mph? Also, does my 4 cylinder sports car count as a guzzler? It gets about 22 highway…maximum I’ve seen is just under 25.
Bring it on. Let them do it again, seems like the people are forgetting history too quickly. Need a refresher; perhaps we oughtta jail some commies and burn some withces while we’re at it. Keep ’em memories fresh.
Here I was waiting for the day that we would increase speed limits, to keep up with modern car technology (you’ll recall that in the 1910’s, the speed limit was 10mph — just about what cars of the era could handle).
It always bugs me to now end, when travelling between two cities on long stretches of smooth highway, that my 3-hour trip could be a two-hour trip, were it not for some artificial limit.
… and another thought applies here.
“Ships in harbour are safe. But that is not what ships are for.”
Cars may be most fuel efficient in sixth at 40mph… but why have a car then?
I really like the speed limits for different classes of vehicles. This was used in Italy when I lived there. Big trucks and buses were restricted to the right lane only unless literally passing and their top speed was 100 kph. There were also some microcars that were restricted to 100 kph as I recall. Everybody else drove in the middle lane at 65-80 mph. The left lane was reserved for fast (FAST!) cars running in the triple digits. Officially the speed limit on the open highway was about 80 mph but if you wanted to you could drive faster. They could pull you over for being an idiot or exceeding good sense (weather, time of day, traffic levels). You were also screwed if you caused an accident. I think like the rear-ending law here in TN there if you were the faster car you were at fault. I mean you could have been going slower and that 1.0L Fiat might have been stupid but they were going as fast as they could. The speed differential was you fault.
They could (ought) to do the same here. Folks would get smarter but it would require some creative police enforcement. Jacked up 4WDs or beat to death used cars with poor lighting, shocks or tires need not use the left lane ever. Folks would be required to maintain their vehicles better. I got stopped up north once (I lived in southern Italy) and the police really gave me crap b/c my Rabbit was cosmetically a beater. I had been investing in mechanical improvements, not paint and body work. He really gave me a good cussing (I knew what he was saying) but let me go.
Let gas prices do it’s job sorting out what we drive and use something like the vehicle class system to sort out how we drive them on the highway.
Around here (Nashville, Atlanta, Knoxville, to a lesser extent Chattanooga) – the traffic SPEEDS UP once you get into the city. Open highway speeds = 70-75 and the city speeds are 10 mph FASTER it seems.
Busbodger> I like the italy system. Right lane for my neon, left lane for my motorcycle :)
f the American populace is willing to swallow the suspension of habeas corpus or the whole concept of extraordinary rendition, then a little thing like a 55mph speed limit should go down easy.
On the other hand, the fact that the 55mph limit would get more opposition than the pillorying of essential liberties is very, very sad.…
I, for one, are absolutely disgusted about them both…this country is headed into the crapper and nobody seems too concerned. Sad is an understatement.