Re-Institute National 55mph?

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by webshowpro

Ageist, yes I am very guilty. The question I have is when was the last time you met a truly open minded senior citizen? One who was truly not afraid of to try something new? One whose mind was not made up 40 years ago?

You could try my neighbor: in his 90s, still works part time as a mining engineer - which means he drives off to remote sites and crawls around in the mines.

More generally, you might consider that a good part of the lack of open-mindedness you bewail is in fact experience. Quite often, when those old people reject your "something new", it's not because they're afraid of trying it, but because they did in fact try it back when you were in diapers :-)

[Matt Herring]

While there are many benefits to lowering the max highway speed to 55mph I think the only way to "sell" it to those voting would be from an energy conservation/economical standpoint. I doubt many "normal" everyday drivers are going to agree to 55mph because it is safer.

Here's something interesting happening in New Hampshire and soon in many other states...some towns have adopted 4 day workweeks for town/state employees to reduce work commutes by 1 day a week. Instead of working five 8 hour days they are now working four 10 hour days. Same commute to work just done one time less each week. Not a bad idea I think. If an average commute is 20 miles (10 miles both ways) then over the course of the year each commuter is saving 1000 miles of driving (based on 20 mpg at $4/gallon that's about $200 and 50 gallons of gas each commuter saves every year) and there's less traffic on the road so it's an easier commute. 100 people on this plan saves $20,000 and 5000 gallons of gas.

Or...we could adopt the China Olympics plan and only allow odd number license plates to drive on Mon, Wed, Fri and even number plates on Tue, Thur, Sat. Sunday all cars can drive.

[Bror Jace]

Oh yes taxes, that's just what those addicted-to-money gov't folks need ... more of our money to waste. Besides, if the government gets any more revenue from energy consumption, you could slowly, gradually see attempts to conserve be diminished or disappear.

Instead of taxes, I'd just as soon let market forces start dictating behavior ... as they are already doing. Smart people are downsizing vehicles and driving less. Gas is taxed heavily enough already.

What I was hoping for, when I started this thread, is some data people knew about to show how much we might save. Unfortunately, the only thing I've got is a homemade chart I found in that other thread, the one Lazarus referenced.

Using my eyes to add values to the lines on that chart, I figured the cars were losing just less than 6mpg average ... about 14.3% I can't believe I'm losing that much with my stock '06 Honda ... maybe even less than half that.

Of course, I don't know the accuracy of the data ... nor where it came from.

It's interesting ... but I'd love to see better data.

[dcb]

The thing about that graph is that fuel is in the denominator, the "Gallons" in Miles/Gallons. So while it looks like things are leveling off, the gallons per mile are really going ballistic as the speed increases. For example, those two dark blue dots in the lower right represent a %37 drop in fuel economy. And it is %270 worse fuel consumption than at 50mph.

Does anyone NOT know what a denominator is?

[cfg83]

dcb -

Originally Posted by dcb

The thing about that graph is that fuel is in the denominator, the "Gallons" in Miles/Gallons. So while it looks like things are leveling off, the gallons per mile are really going ballistic as the speed increases. For example, those two dark blue dots in the lower right represent a %37 drop in fuel economy. And it is %270 worse fuel consumption than at 50mph.

Does anyone NOT know what a denominator is?

I think the graph is fine. It is expressing information in units that it's target audience will readily understand. In this case it's USA MPG.

I also wouldn't look at fuel efficiency numbers above 80 MPH because they are not realistic for "normal" driving. In fact, I indent to use the graph as a teaching tool when people ask me about ecomodding. At 55 MPH, a person can get about 27 MPG in their BMW 535i. At 80 MPH, they're getting 20 MPG. That's about a 35% drop in MPG.

It still gets the point across in terms that people in the USA will understand.

My only critique would be that they didn't display data below 50 MPH, but again, the purpose of the graph was probably freeway driving.

CarloSW2

[justpassntime]

Instead of lowering the speed limit to 55mph, how about a better public transportation system? If you had more trains and buses, less people would be on the road.

You would gain so much more by improving our transportation problem. Dropping the speed limit to 55mph is nothing more than a bandaid for a much bigger problem. You would end up with fewer cars on the road and fewer emissions, which would eliminate many more problems.

Our transportation systems suck here in the US. Overseas in countries like Japan, Hungary and many other European countries for example kick our but in this area.

There are very few cities in the US that even have public transportation systems that are even anywhere close to anything overseas.

What we need is better public transportation.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by cfg83

At 55 MPH, a person can get about 27 MPG in their BMW 535i. At 80 MPH, they're getting 20 MPG. That's about a 35% drop in MPG.

Right there is one of the best reasons (or many) that a 55 mph speed limit is more about control than about actually using significantly less gas. At best it gives marginal savings, if you consider that most people drive under 80 most of the time. Swap that BMW for a Prius, and you cut fuel use in half. Make the Prius a PHEV, and you cut it in half again. Telecommute 3 days a week, and you knock off another 60% of commuting use. And on down the line.

[cfg83]

jamesqf -

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Right there is one of the best reasons (or many) that a 55 mph speed limit is more about control than about actually using significantly less gas. At best it gives marginal savings, if you consider that most people drive under 80 most of the time. Swap that BMW for a Prius, and you cut fuel use in half. Make the Prius a PHEV, and you cut it in half again. Telecommute 3 days a week, and you knock off another 60% of commuting use. And on down the line.

I disagree because millions of cars driving slower adds up. The WW II Victory Speed was 35 MPH to save fuel and tires. And yes, I think it was nearly impossible to enforce, .

The 55 MPH speed limit may be a "simple club" to you, but it can also be described as a low-hanging fruit.

CarloSW2

[RH77]

I thought about this recently --

The problem: each state sets its own limits.

I can go to Ohio with a 65 MPH max Interstate / limited access road speed, or Oklahoma with 75 MPH max. "55" was a Nationally-Imposed Limit during the oil crisis with mandatory compliance.

The population loves to speed. Whatever's posted is what a lot of people will do... and then some. Heck, David Lee Roth was passionate enough to sing a song about it (fun song I may add).

Aside from the congested urban areas, I propose reducing the highway limit by 5 mph, known to the local residents. You often have to do it when driving from state to state, so it shouldn't be that hard. 75 to 70, 70 to 65, etc...

Going back to 55 would be a big shocker, and met with lots of resistance.

RH77

[ALS]

This whole gas shortage garbage was created by Government.
What you talking about Willis?
We have had this major exodus from out cities due to high taxes and a decline
in the quality of life. The people fled to the suburbs and outer counties to flee these degrading conditions in the cities.
With these people leaving they also took the tax base with them.
Cities can't pay the bills with what was left in the cities.
Lets raise gasoline prices to $6-$7 per gallon. Forcing people to have to move back into our cesspools of government creation.
Personally I think it will back fire all it will do is cause people to cut back their spending while working in the city.
People are not going to pay the Government more in taxes only to see it pissed away on feel good make work projects.

Look what is happening in France with their high taxes.
washingtonpostl

Sarkozy is trying to get 500,000 millionaires to come back to France.
Come back we need the money