Can you drive 55?

AZ CRD · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:01 am

This old coot wants you to. :roll:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/03/warner.speed.limit.ap/index.html

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:10 am

I wouldn't trust him or most of his cronies over 25 mph :roll:

kjfishman · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:18 am

This a bad idea on many fronts but one big problem with a 55 MPH speed limit is most newer vehicles don't shift into overdrive until 60. The most efficient speeds are probably between 60 and 65 on most vehicles. Fuel prices should be enough to slow folks down. I would really hate to see 55mph speed limits again.

RTStabler51 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:28 am

I wouldn't think today's cars would be efficient at that speed. I would also think that when 55 was first mandated, that cars didn't handle very well at higher speeds where now cars off the floor handle great at 80 or so.

BTW, I drove back to IN this past weekend @ 68mph and got roughly 27mpg vice my normal 75ish and 24 or so MPG. I figured I saved about 20 bucks one way

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:47 am

unfortunately a lot of the folks who like 55 - are on the East coast and are in enough traffic jams that they can't get to 55 anyway.

They need to try 55 when you have 600 miles of West Texas in front of you.

gmctd · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:17 pm

Sure - I drive 55 all the time, anyway - well, everywhere except the hiway, and that's ~75mph.................

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:00 pm

ATXKJ wrote:

unfortunately a lot of the folks who like 55 - are on the East coast and are in enough traffic jams that they can't get to 55 anyway.

They need to try 55 when you have 600 miles of West Texas in front of you.

Agreed.

In texas, a "short distance up the road" usually means 50 miles. Whole lotta nothing in west texas that takes forever to cross. flat too.

fastRob · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:02 pm

The illustrious Senator from VA finds it easy to tell others to go 55,
From the back seat of his limo.
He and his cronies are of course exempt from and above the law.

UFO · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:25 pm

It's a different time now. No way will the public accept a forced federal speed limit again. I say let those who wish to drive 70+ pay the price for fuel.

dgeist · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:01 pm

UFO wrote:

It's a different time now. No way will the public accept a forced federal speed limit again. I say let those who wish to drive 70+ pay the price for fuel.

What? A market-driven economy? Next you'll be suggesting that people only be taxed on what they consume. That's crazy talk!

geordi · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:14 pm

I say abolish the speed limits completely, and let the market sort it out. These idiots that think that the capitalist market is god, then let it do it completely. Oh, but speed limits are for 'safety' right? Then why the monetary fines? Oh, right... Thats for 'protecting the public from the dangerous speed.' Yea, BS. Its for money collection.

Abolish speed limits completely, let the environmental conditions determine. People won't go much faster than they do now, which is what the road is capable of. But you still have to collect money, right? So quadruple the fines for 'too fast for conditions' and causing an accident will now cost $5000. Inattentive driving (like with that darn cellphone) will cost $500.

Threeweight · **Joined:** Mon May 14, 2007 5:57 pm **Posts:** 679

I think Warner's idea is stupid (because, as UFO says, it is a different time now and no one will accept the change). I am more than happy to let the goofballs who want to go 90 pay the extra price for it at the pump. Unfortunately, they also drive up the $$ at the pump for the rest of us, and then drive the political whining about drilling in wildlife refuges and off the coasts. Take some personal responsibility for using a fuel pig as a commuter, and driving it like a maniac, before pitching a tantrum.

Have to say though, while traffic fatalities have generally held steady or declined slightly over the last few decades (with more people wearing seat belts, and vehicles being designed to be more crash worthy), the two largest factors in deaths on the road are still excessive speed and alcohol. To swap the argument around, that speed limit may seem stupid when your looking at 400 miles of straight West Texas road. It looks a little different from the perspective of I-5 between Portland and Seattle during an October rainstorm, with a bunch of recent transplants from California trying to drive 80 on wet, gooved, slick interstate while weaving in and out of 3 lanes of traffic.

RTStabler51 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:29 pm

fastRob wrote:

The illustrious Senator from VA finds it easy to tell others to go 55,
From the back seat of his limo.
He and his cronies are of course exempt from and above the law.

He's used to being in Northern Virginia where traffic is so bad we can't do 55. We waste more fuel idling in traffic than actually moving forward.

geordi · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:57 pm

Threeweight, I agree with you about the Californian drivers, I got to experience their insanity when I was in Vegas for a year. But that is where the 'too fast for conditions' ticket would come in. If there was someone doing something stupid in bad conditions, they could easily be doing it below the current limits and be JUST as hazardous to the populace.

Threeweight · **Joined:** Mon May 14, 2007 5:57 pm **Posts:** 679

My driving experiences going back and forth to Seattle just really color my perceptions. Last Thanksgiving the wife and I drove up to Seattle from Portland during a really nasty rainstorm. It was the most terrifying driving experience of my life. There were 13 separate crashes in the 160 mile stretch of interstate. most of them multiple cars. And yet people were still blowing past us at 80 mph as soon as they were out of eyesight of the troopers working the crash scene.

Of course, when I go to Steens Mtn in SE Oregon on Highway 20 east of Bend (think 120 miles of straight, deserted two-lane through the sage brush) I've always had a hard time keeping it under 70. The Jeep has helped with that (knowing it's mpg sweet spot is 64 mph, I tend to set cruise control and enjoy the drive).

AZ CRD · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:12 pm

ATXKJ wrote:

unfortunately a lot of the folks who like 55 - are on the East coast and are in enough traffic jams that they can't get to 55 anyway.

They need to try 55 when you have 600 miles of West Texas in front of you.

Exactly.

I drive a fair amount across New Mexico on either I-40 or I-10. 55 MPH speed limit would just induce me to buy the latest laser/RADAR detecting technology.

btw . . . This paternalistic, Big Brother proposal is brought to you by a supposed "conservative" who voted against more stringent CAFE fuel economy standards because "conservatives" are opposed to "government regulation." :roll:

AZ CRD · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:26 pm

And, if the 55 MPH speed limit were to be enacted and it inspired another Sammy Hagar song, I'd kill myself.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:29 pm

One of the proponent who pushed 55 (Ralph Nader) also set the air bag design parameters that killed people weighing less than 165#. As far as I am concerned these two stupid moves wiped out any positive that he had done by recommending the rear sway bar on the Corvair.

As pointed out, there are idiots who drive way too fast in blinding rain, snow and fog who should be considered Oxygen Thieves. Police should target these idiots and let the existing laws be used as written. Another group the police should go after are the drivers who drive like they are playing the latest version of Grand Theft Auto on the highest skill level. Driving like some one playing a video game is as stupid and deadly as bringing and using an Anti Aircraft 50BMG belt fed full auto to a Paint Ball rally.

I have seen Illinois State Police running radar and reading novels when the traffic is moving as slow as 15mph in a 55mph zone. When I see this, our tax dollars along with the officer's time and talent are going to waste. They should be ticketing and/or arresting the stupid dangerous drivers pointed out in my posting and in the other postings in this thread.

danoid · **Posted:** Fri Jul 11, 2008 7:53 am

AZ CRD wrote:

And, if the 55 MPH speed limit were to be enacted and it inspired another Sammy Hagar song, I'd kill myself.

I'm ready to now. It's going through my head. Help me...

RTStabler51 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 11, 2008 10:47 am

warp2diesel wrote:

I have seen Illinois State Police running radar and reading novels when the traffic is moving as slow as 15mph in a 55mph zone. When I see this, our tax dollars along with the officer's time and talent are going to waste. They should be ticketing and/or arresting the stupid dangerous drivers pointed out in my posting and in the other postings in this thread.

People who drive well below the posted speed limit are as dangerous as the ones going way over it.

Can you drive 55?

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