Encouraging everyone to slow down a little
 

I figure all out eco-modding and hypermiling just isn't realistic for most of the population.

There is a precedent already for slowing down to save gas entering the public consciousness, but despite rising awareness of fuel/energy issues, the easiest way to save seems to have been largely forgotten.

Neapolitan: Slow down. My philosophy for life also applies to the road.

Obviously this was not written for people who post/read here, but perhaps you might like to take facts or arguments or forward the link to friends and relatives and hopefully encourage less hardcore people than ourselves to do their part too.

Thanks for the great article. I've slowed down my driving a lot since retiring, and am reaping the rewards of terrific gas mileage.

Dropping the speed limit to 55 was one of the BEST ideas we've ever had.

Agreed...what's the benefit of changing 55 mph highways to 65 mph? At 55 mpg posted speed limit everyone is going 65 mph...at 65 mph they are going 75 mph. Changing from 55 to 65 is like turning the knob on your stereo from 9 to 10...it's still loud and serves no purpose.

There was a time in this country when the people considered themselves 'citizens' first - now its 'consumers'.
I think of WWII recycling drives, everyone, even children, expected to do their part. I think the 55 limit was one of those individual sacrifices for the greater good kind of things which is almost unspeakable today. Even Obama, in a speech regarding energy security, includes phrases like: "without changing our lifestyle".
If adding 7 seconds to drive a mile is too much to ask, I'm afraid we are in trouble...

America today is an EMBARRASSMENT, in almost every aspect. *i'll probably catch a little crap for this but it's true*

Just a question, do other states have lifted 4x4's? Or is that just a southern state thing?

lol
We have a few here, and I not only live somewhere it never snows, I live in a major metropolitan area where the nearest unpaved roads are a few hours highway drive away.

Lifted 4x4's are some of most deadly vehicles on the road for other traffic. The lifting process puts their bumper at about window height for most cars, so when they do run into a car, their bumper overrides any crash protection built into the car's doors or bumpers and intrudes straight into the car's cabin with deadly result. Especially when they T-bone a car and their bumper becomes a 4000+ lbs battering ram coming in through the window at about head height. Even when they run into another truck or SUV, their lifted bumper rides above the other truck's OEM bumper height and the design height of any crash protection built into their doors.

You'll catch crap only because it's true. The truth hurts, after all. :p

We have a scattering of them here, in southern Ohio. Not enough to become numb to them, just 1 or 2 I see a day.

If you do any long distance cross country driving the 55 mph speed limit will drive you crazy. I drive long distances for vacation several times a year and I limit my speed to 65 mph for fuel mileage on 70 mph roads. It only adds on about 45 minutes to my 1170 mile trip. 55 mph would add on another 3.5 hours to the trip. That would mean I would have to stop over somewhere instead of being able to drive straight through to my destination.

If your averaging 52 mph on a 2000 mile cross country trip it is going to take you 38.5 hours driving time. Yet at and average of 62 mph it will take you 32.25 hours. That is an additional six hours and fifteen minutes driving.
Two day trip vs a three day trip for the same distance.

Under 100 mile trip the 55 mph speed limit is fine. 100-200 miles, 100kph / 62.1 mph is a good compromise. When you start getting up there over 200-250 miles on a trip the difference between time and fuel mileage gets into the grey area as they say.

I have found that over 250 miles 65 mph is fast enough to get you there in shortest possible time with the least hit in fuel mileage for the added time advantage. Above 65 mph you take too big of a hit in fuel mileage to justify the limited time savings.