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Having driven in that era, I'd call it mostly a failure. The great safety gains pushed during the first year of 55mph seem identical to the safety gains of $4 gas. I suspect both are due to target poor environments for unsafe drivers.
One thing to remember that nowadays, a car can be considered "underpowered" if it produces less than 200hp (and heavier cars/trucks expect even more). The high point of US car efficiency (by owners as well as manufacturers) was in the 80's. In that time a car didn't need 100hp, largely due to low weight (don't expect to survive an accident in one) and low speed (no need to merge at 80mph from a 20mph ramp). It could take more than a few years to design cars for the new speeds.
Mercedes also makes a radar controlled cruise control that slows down if a car is in front of you. I'd have to wonder what type of mileage we could get by using RCV (radar controlled vehicle) instead of HOV lanes. The catch is that RCVs would be spaced about a foot apart for close-in drafting. Doing this would keep speeds well up, keep mileage way up (even more with engines/gearing designed for it), congestion down (RCV lanes would be dense and moving). Designing the safety aspects would be tricky.
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