a return to federally mandated 55MPH on highways?

[sweetbmxrider]

where are most of the exits? right hand side. so people burnin down the road cut off the people doing the speed limit and can cause some issues. there is no need to go any faster than 70. the speed limit should be dropped. speed kills.

if the government is thinking about doing it, obviously something is up. i mean, they represent the whole country, they must know a thing or to

[Tsar]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

where are most of the exits? right hand side. so people burnin down the road cut off the people doing the speed limit and can cause some issues. there is no need to go any faster than 70. the speed limit should be dropped. speed kills.

if the government is thinking about doing it, obviously something is up. i mean, they represent the whole country, they must know a thing or to

Grasping for straws much, with the whole "exit is on the right" stuff...

Speed limit is 65 in most places, so yes if you went the SPEED LIMIT you would not be going faster than 70. Once again I ask YOU, what stops YOU from following the speed limit or driving 5mph under to conserve on gas.

Are you serious with that government knows best stuff? Government also separated Columbia so they can have the Panama Canal; do you wanna talk about slavery; Use of depleted Uranium, ETC. Honestly I can probably fill in the whole page of what the government has done that can be filed under the "questionable" category (College came in handy ). But this is not a thread about that. This is a thread about 55mph nation wide zone and how it wouldn't do anything but increase town revenues.

[Squirrel]

Originally Posted by JL8Jeff

It depends on the car/truck, but my 454SS pickup got 14 mpg at 70 mph which was right in the perfect rpm range for the combo but would get 12-13 at lower speeds. The F-body get best gas mileage at 70-75 mph as well. 55 mph in an F-body is too low in the rpm range and will hurt gas mileage. A couple of my old 4Runners got best mileage in the 65-70 mph range so I don't think this 55 mph thing is accurate. With overdrive, almost all the new cars are geared for best cruising rpm around 65-70.

-

14...matt hasnt seen 14 mpg in his truck since the last time it was towed by a vehicle that got 14 mpg lol

[firehawk1120]

this country was built on freedoms. If I want to waste gas and spend money I have the freedom to do so if I choose. Just because you want to save a few bucks and honestly over the course of a year how much more money are you currently spending then you were a year ago. $1,000 - $2,000 more per year. Here's a way to save that money if you smoke stop smoking all those packs of cigarettes at $6 a pack will save you the difference. If you drink coffee from starbucks stop drinking coffee at $3.00 a cup that will make up the difference. People are bitching about the cost of gas and I agree it sucks that it increase SO fast so quickly but there is nothing that is going to curtail the cost immediately so cut back on other things.

Like so many times already stated dropping the speed limit will not stop people from speeding. It will however give police more targets to pull over and collect their money. If you want to do 55 and sit in the right lane then by all means go there, be happy and save your precious gas. Otherwise, do the speed limit which thankfully is 65 in most parts of NJ or a little faster within reason up to I'd say 75. If you are driving over 75 you're probably a douche bag weaving in and out of traffic and hopefully you'll hit a pot hole spin out, crash and die but that is just a dream I have which includes most motorcyclists too but thats another rant.

Either way don't tell me I have to drive slow to save you a buck or two which won't even happen because as much as we are trying to be good here all the 3rd world countries who are now making money are burning fuel like it's going out of style which it is and they don't care about conservation. India, China these countries are growing like you can't imagine. What this planet needs is another plague to drop our number down DRASTICALLY, that will slow down our demand on oil. LOL

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by Squirrel

14...matt hasnt seen 14 mpg in his truck since the last time it was towed by a vehicle that got 14 mpg lol

IIRC Jeff's 454SS had the 4 speed auto, not the 3 spd. OD FTW!

- Justin

[sweetbmxrider]

this is more of a world problem and our country's first baby step towards fixing it. you guys have every reason to disagree with it, but after driving up and down the highway between yesterday and today, i see very little difference in the way people drive. gas isn't going to last forever, conserving some would help though.

[Tsar]

No one is stopping you from conserving... we have been over this. And you still didn't answer my question.

[sweetbmxrider]

see its gotten to the point that it can't really be a choice. most people are oblivious. oh and on our way home from up north, we were almost rear ended several times. maybe dropping the speed would help prevent that??

when did i say i don't try to conserve? not just with gas too. but i guess somehow you know my life story and i should just stop talking.

[Tru2Chevy]

I drive at or slightly below the speed limit on my way home from work every night (about 15 miles worth of highway) in my black Jeep, and I haven't once had an issue with someone almost running into me.

You claim that people are oblivious....so what makes you think that a lower speed limit will correct that? They will still be oblivious, no matter what the posted sign says. If they are going to do 80 in a 65 zone and almost hit others that are only doing 65....what makes you think that they won't be doing 70 in a 55 and almost hitting all the people doing 55?

- Justin

[Tsar]

Once again, lowering speed limits will NOT stop people from driving over the speed limit. Is that so hard to understand? it doesn't stop them now; what's so magic about your miraculous 55mph? And it IS a choice, you have free will, you either go over the speed limit or you do not. It's like you kick a puppy or you do not kick a puppy, you know... you DO have a choice, and do not tell me otherwise. Driving is one of the more dangerous activities humans do on this earth so if you can't handle the highway than plan an alternate route, simple as that. My mother, for example, avoids it all because she does not like it, her DIC shows an average speed of 35mph. Tonight if someone rear ends me while I'm going to visit my gf , I will have a new car, no big deal.

You wanna drive 55, do it, stop preaching about it, stop pushing your agenda on people who do not want to hear about it. I will drive 75 and get my near 30mpg in my 5.7 liter car and be fine with it.

[Tsar]

Originally Posted by Tru2Chevy

I drive at or slightly below the speed limit on my way home from work every night (about 15 miles worth of highway) in my black Jeep, and I haven't once had an issue with someone almost running into me.

You claim that people are oblivious....so what makes you think that a lower speed limit will correct that? They will still be oblivious, no matter what the posted sign says. If they are going to do 80 in a 65 zone and almost hit others that are only doing 65....what makes you think that they won't be doing 70 in a 55 and almost hitting all the people doing 55?

- Justin

wtf, you teleported in time, copied my post, teleported back and posted before me. I think you should be banned!

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by Tsar

wtf, you teleported in time, copied my post, teleported back and posted before me. I think you should be banned!

Impossible.....

- Justin

[Tsar]

Originally Posted by Tru2Chevy

Impossible.....

- Justin

[jims69camaro]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

this is more of a world problem and our country's first baby step towards fixing it. you guys have every reason to disagree with it, but after driving up and down the highway between yesterday and today, i see very little difference in the way people drive. gas isn't going to last forever, conserving some would help though.

you are a woman, aren't you? well, at least you argue like one. when you are trumped in your argument, you change the topic. that's why we can never win arguments with our girlfriends and spouses - they don't fight fair.

anyway, you have ignored the gist again and again, so i will boil it down for you: you have the power, the freedom of choice, to drive whatever speed you want to. why do you feel the need to control others (those against the 55 mph limits)? there is no rationality to your argument, and now you want to get the whole world involved... huh? it wasn't enough to start pointing the finger at other states, now it's other countries, too. see, i really could care less what happens in other states (or other countries) because i live here. now, if a federally mandated 55 mph limit were imposed, then it would affect ALL states, including the one i live in, which i cannot accept. there is no argument for going slower other than this whim that it conserves energy. do this, get in your car and fill the tank. drive normally, stay with traffic, do all of the things you would normally do. write down the mileage. now, fill the tank again, and do NOT go over 55 mph on ANY street. write down the mileage. if the difference in mileage is more than 10 miles, i will buy your next tank of gas. i think what you will see, instead, is an increase in mileage because cars are not built the way they used to be - they are much more efficient and more capable to do speeds over 55 without a corresponding loss in mileage. the cars are more aerodynamic and the motors with their electronic fuel injection (soon to be direct injection) are so much more efficient than their predecessors... there is no comparison. if you really want 55 mph badly enough, you can build a time machine and travel back in time to the 70s and 80s and drive to your heart's content in 55 mph speed limits. i do not want any part of those years or the speed limits that they brought. i lived through that and i do not want to return.

btw, i have driven on the roads of other countries. one of them is italy, where the pollution problem, i have to say, is out of hand. on the autostradt, italy's version of germany's autobahn, there is only a speed limit near exits, and it is slower in the right lane. cars are going to be exiting and entering the roadway, so they know that there is no way to leave that part of it uncontrolled. btw, the left lane does not have a speed limit. i was pushing the little 4 banger in the fiat uno we rented to 180 kph - and i was being passed by mercedes going much faster than that. i learned how to drive there within a few hours and we were happily motoring along, paying somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 per gallon (it's a little hard to pinpoint because they pay for gas by the liter and then there was that pesky lire to consider...) so, hey, it's not a global problem. about the only problem i see is that we don't all do like montana and abolish speed limits, conditions permitting. then, if everyone learned to drive like that, i would be able to go as fast as my car would let me and i wouldn't have to worry about anyone blocking my lane because they would have learned to keep right or get run over.

and, even with abolished speed limits, you'd still be able to putt along in the right lane at 55 mph and not have to worry about getting run over.

ya see?

[Savage_Messiah]

Originally Posted by edpontiac91

Just for kicks I speed up to 80 mph and get in the left lane and THEY STILL BLOW PAST ME IN THE CENTER LANE TO GET AROUND THIS SLOWPOKE.

Move over. The left is the passing lane. No matter what, you shouldn't be there unless passing other cars. That's just adding to the problem.

[ShitOnWheels]

When gas was headed to over $4.00 a gallon for regular not too long ago, I attempted the "drive slower save gas" thing. I normally do 75 - 80 mph on the highway. For 2 tanks, I drove no faster than the speed limit on the highway, whether it was 55 or 65. I saw NO change in mpg in my 4 cylinder Hyundai Elantra. Maybe 1 mpg difference, but it wasn't enough to make me change permanently. Driving mixed driving (and still doing 75 - 80 on the highway) I get 30+mpg in a 7 year old car. If I do all highway (again at 75-80 mpg) I can get 34+ mpg. There was no difference in those numbers sticking to the speed limits.

So why should I accept this reduce speed limit if I don't see any difference in fuel consumption? It's just a way to make more money, and the government needs more money...forget about the peons that make up the country needing the money too.

[jims69camaro]

Originally Posted by ****OnWheels

So why should I accept this reduce speed limit if I don't see any difference in fuel consumption?

you shouldn't have to. this is the crux of my argument. someone, at some point, said that if you slow down you will use less gas for the same distance covered. i don't buy it. i never have. the car will use the same amount of gas to cover a mile at 55 and at 75, it defies physics to says otherwise.

[sweetbmxrider]

well apparently more people are arguing against changing the speed limit, so you guys win. maybe they should increase it.

i hope this holds some water with you guys. i know its only a camry they tested, but the way people are shopping these days, with geo's going for how many $$?? this is a rather valid point.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...l-dollars-406/
jims69camaro, don't ever call me a woman.
/me caring about this thread

[Frosty]

There's no right answer for this situation however I don't agree with lowering the speed limit. I doubt many people will change their driving habits and it'll be a ticket magnet. I choose to do 68-ish on the highway because that's where the sweet spot on the 'vette is for gas mileage.

This is just another reactionary idea due to the gas prices. I'd rather see the gas tax get dropped for a bit, something a certain group of people don't want to do yet didn't pay for said gas tax in Denver, just saying...

I'd LOVE to see people on the the major highways in CA, some roads in NY and in Texas adhere to a 55mph speed limit....not happening lol

[LTb1ow]

Yea staying with traffic means your going at least 80, when the speed limit is 65. I highly doubt changing the speed limit will change that. Radar/laser detector FTW. And its another big brother thing.... whats this country coming too. I don't the federal government to tell me what is safe and not safe for or how to save gas. Whats next? Them telling me I can't drive a car that gets bad MPG?

[Frosty]

It'll eventually get there...we're heading towards how Europe does things...

[LTb1ow]

Moving to Mexico when that happens...

[jims69camaro]

Originally Posted by Shownomercy

Moving to Mexico when that happens...

will the last person out of the country please turn off the lights...

[LTb1ow]

Nah, I would never leave the good ole US of A. As bad as I think it is, its worse in other countries. Hopefully the coming election will stir things up a bit. For better or worse I don't know.

[Frosty]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2008072...ouldyoudrive55

A law only works when it's obeyed - and it's an open question how many motorists would comply. The 1974 law was considered a joke by the many drivers, who violated it with impunity. "Real compliance out on the interstate was somewhere around twenty percent," says Jim Baxter, president of the National Motorists Association. "Eighty percent of the population was exceeding the 55 mile-per-hour speed limit!"

Like I said, field day for cops....and so much for State's rights.