Should The Government Lower The Speed Limit to Save Gas?

posted by DonWhite
The American car maker industry has steadfastly resisted any increase in the CAFÉ. Congress has cheerfully gone along. Now WE must pay for bad government.

History Channel in its Mega Disaster series has a story about PEAK OIL on today and it will re-play at 6 PM EDT, Monday, June 9. If they follow their regular pattern the show will run a half dozen times this week.

It's a good background story.

[edit on 6/9/2008 by donwhite]

I think it should be done in order to force those who don't care to change their driving habits. I've noticed many pickups and suv's haven't changed their driving habits or seem to be worse. Maybe they steal their gas or charge it. There are probably many ways.

Traffic jams or bumper to bumper wastes gas big time.

On the highway, many traffic jams seem to be related to tolls and accidents. Accidents are probably greatly contributed by the mix of speeders and blindspots by larger vehicles and using the far right lane to pass. I feel that many trucks block exits or cause blindspots. Maybe they should have the far left lane during certain hours? I look forward to a day they have their own freeway.

Everyone who uses the tollway should have the device that allows them to pass through without having to stop. I believe this is also available for trucks?

Trucks seem to also add greatly to the congestion. Night driving and night deliveries by trucks could also help greatly. I have found websites of dealerships with hybrid technology for trucks or carriers.I've heard some are using smaller delivery vehicles now.

Many traffic lights will stop a vehicle or many vehicles when they need not to. These should be controlled by the numbers also. A traffic light could then change when there are less vehicles to stop. Allocating driving time to work and to home to limit traffic jams or getting advanced traffic reports.

reply to post by groingrinder


Yes I am. Nearly all interstate truckers get payed by the mile. You drive less mails, you make less money. You can only drive 70 hours in a 7 day period. Less money made the less you can afford the fuel. More trucks get parked the less tonnage can be moved. Hence supply goes DOWN and prices go UP. Simple economics. Its the system truckers have to LIVE by and DIE by. You also pay for the time lost.Most corporations live on an 'Just In time" delivery system for parts to build everything we do here. If the system gets slowed down, people get layed off. Less money to spend, the economy suffers as a whole.

Zindo

Let's just make the assumption that everyone that drives on American highways knows the laws and can read the English speed limit signs. On each and every Interstate Highway, 40 MPH is the minimum. Go ahead and voluntary drive 55 and all you have to worry about is someone running over you.

Now, let's get back in the way back machine and discover why 55 MPH didn't work. It seems perfectly logical to someone in Rhode Island or Massachusetts, but the problem is there are counties larger than those state in the midwest and western states. Do not compare East Coast driving with any other part of the country. People who travel on the road found out how really big Montana or Kansas or even Nebraska was, at 55 MPH.

As was mentioned earlier, the modern engine is built for higher speeds and saving fuel.

Let McCain bring this up and see how many votes he gets. It's political suicide.

reply to post by hinky


55 mph is definantely too slow on the highways. there was minimal gains in mpg when decreasing speed from 65 to 55. The big gap was between 75 and 65.

most people will drive anywhere from the speed limit to 5 to 10 mph over the speed limit. If the speed limit was say 60, with cops not really enforcing it until 65 maybe it would have a better effect and would go over better with the public. After all, you no longer in the 50's so it appears that your not really going that slow. around here, we have mainly 65 and 70 speed limits. so since people will most likely push the limits as much as they can, 65 mph means 70 to most, which puts them out of the sweet spot for mpg.

reply to post by tdubz


I lived in Louisville, Ky, all my life until I moved to Florida in '03. My only sibling, my sister, moved to Florida in 1963. My parents and I drove from KY to FL 2 times a year. Always the same. Louisville to Nashville I-65, to Chattanooga 1-24, to Atlanta I-75 to I-10 and then on to Jacksonville. 820 miles by interstate. At the beginning the posted speed limit was 70. In the 60s, 70s and until the 1974 cutback, I'd set my cruise control for 79 mph. Very rarely would I be stopped for speeding. Once ever 4-5 years. 80-81 mph was the bell-ringer for many cops on radar patrol. I had a cb radio but my mother rebelled.

It was like riding a Greyhound bus. 4,000 lb full size cars, 6 or 7 liter 300 hp engines and cheap gasoline! 60-70-80 cents a gallon. It was a little bit of Heaven! But those days are gone forever. We have triple the number of cars. Same size roads. We've had TOO many wars in the Middle East. The Yom Kippur War. The First Lebanon War. The First Palestinian Uprising. The Second Excursion into Lebanon. The Second Palestinian Uprising. In every WAR we back Israel which WINS. Then the Arabs raise our gasoline prices. If Israel wins ONE more war, we'll be bankrupt!

Since 1948, when the Western world - mainly the United States - invited the Jewish survivors of the Nazi Holocaust into old Palestine without thinking to ask the Arabs who lived there. Then followed the 1956 Suez War, then the 1967 Six Day War and we're where we are. Israel with American aid wins each war and the Arabs raise the price of oil. At some point in time we are going to get the message. A JUST settlement of the SIXTY YEARS OLD Arab-Israel Conflict might bring us cheaper gasoline?

At $4 a gallon, we still won't talk to Hezbollah. We still won't talk to Hamas. But I'll betcha at $5 a gallon we'll TALK to anyone!

[edit on 6/9/2008 by donwhite]