Unmentioned Energy Fix: A 55 M.P.H. Speed Limit -NYT

[Rose Siding]

President Bush made it clear last week that he sees no quick fixes to the nation's energy woes. The problem has been long in coming, the argument goes, and so will the solutions. But if history is any guide, there is one thing he could do immediately: bring back the 55 miles-per-hour speed limit.

It has been done before. Along with record oil and gasoline prices, improvements in fuel efficiency and a lasting economic recession, speed limits helped curb fuel consumption for the first time in American postwar history between 1974 and 1984.

Of course, energy eventually became cheap again, the economy expanded and Americans became complacent and unwilling to make more sacrifices.

Instead of opting for small fuel-efficient cars, people switched to large sport utility vehicles and larger pickups. As drivers groaned and states fought for their right to speed, the limit was raised.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/01/business/01oil.html?ex=1272600000&en=4cef66ea0e5c53d5&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[bemildred]

1. Better yet: 55 for SUVs, 65 for small efficient cars.

We'd probably reduce the amount of carnage on the highways too.

[trotsky]

4. Now THAT'S a good idea.

Double the incentives!

[Gman]

2. This would be the spark for a revolution

People would go nuts.

[NorthSideCubsFan]

3. I wonder where you live?

Bet it's not in a rural or semi-rural area.

My car gets 32+ mpg at 70+ mph. I see no reason why I should take an hour to an hour and a half away from my family each week to save two-thirds of a gallon of gas.

My time is worth something too.

[Demeter]

14. I Bet You'd Get Worse Mileage At 55

Today's cars are designed to run leaner at higher speeds--unlike the dinosaurs of the 60's.

[LostInAnomie]

5. I know one guy who wouldn't follow it.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

9. Good ghod.

He looks like such a buffoon.

Then, I remember that he is a buffoon.

[RC]

6. HELL NO!

A 200 mile trip, That is another hour on the road burning gas. Now at 70 that trip is 2 hours and 40 minutes. At 55 mph it is 3 and a half hours.

At 70 I can make a round trip in one day, no problem. At 55 the trip is too long and I have a tendency to fall a sleep.

[AndyTiedye]

7. Another Way To Save Gas

The Trouble with 55 is that nobody wanted it,
so it was so widely disobeyed that it became unsafe to drive the speed limit.
Since almost everybody was going over the speed limit, it got
really interesting (and dangerous) when a cop showed up, and
everyone jammed on the brakes and tried to merge behind someone else.
It is not good to turn the majority of drivers into lawbreakers.

There is a better way.

Mandate that all new cars and SUVs come with a real-time readout of MPG,
just like the hybrids do.

Then people will see how much speed is costing them.

Step on the gas and watch the MPG needle dive towards zero.
Back off and watch the mileage go up.

It will also make the abysmal mileage of certain vehicles even
more painfully obvious.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

10. That is an excellent idea.

Make the display very prominent, bright and readable.

People would use it.

[enki23]

11. how is that situation any different than now?

most places, regardless of the speed limit, people go over it. when they see a cop, at least half of them panic and hit their brakes. this didn't change when the speed limit was relaxed, so far as i can tell. the only difference is, now we're doing it ten to twenty mph faster.

[AndyTiedye]

12. Some People Speed Now. Practically Everyone Did When it Was 55

It simply wasn't safe to drive 55, even though it was the speed limit,
because so many people were driving faster. Even the trucks in the
slow lane were going faster than 55, and they would go lurching over
into the faster lanes to pass.

[bloom]

8. I was surprised to see

that my state - Indiana - just RAISED the speed limits.

[illflem]

13. Comparing '74 to '84 with nowadays doesn't jive

Many of today's cars get close to the same mpgs at higher speeds as they do at lower. Besides engine efficiency aerodynamics plays a great role, ever notice how many of the newer cars look the same?
It's because most all of them are designed with aerodynamics for increased mpgs in mind.

[Delphinus]

15. This is what just happened here in Indiana.

The lawmakers decided to raise the speed limit right around the time the IEA (International Energy Agency?) warned everyone to stop consuming and suggested the Autobahn's speed limit be lowered.

I am living in a whole other world - feels like the Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. Some people get it, others just go along their merry way.

[Rose Siding]

16. Time saved vs lives lost

Using Mandated Speed Limits to Measure the Value of a Statistical Life

ORLEY ASHENFELTER
Princeton University - Industrial Relations Section; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
MICHAEL GREENSTONE
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); American Bar Foundation

Abstract:
In 1987 the federal government permitted states to raise the speed limit on their rural interstate roads, but not on their urban interstate roads, from 55 mph to 65 mph for the first time in over a decade. Since the states that adopted the higher speed limit must have valued the travel hours they saved more than the fatalities incurred, this experiment provides a way to estimate an upper bound on the public's willingness to trade off wealth for a change in the probability of death. We find that the 65 mph limit increased speeds by approximately 3.5% (i.e., 2 mph), and increased fatality rates by roughly 35%. In the 21 states that raised the speed limit and for whom we have complete data, the estimates suggest that about 125,000 hours were saved per lost life.

Valuing the time saved at the average hourly wage implies that adopting states were willing to accept risks that resulted in a savings of $1.54 million (1997$) per fatality, with a sampling error that might be around one-third this value. Since this estimate is an upper bound, we set out a simple structural model that is identified by variability across the states in the probability of the adoption of increased speed limits that is consistent with this claim, but it provides estimates of the value of a statistical life that are very imprecise.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=331463

published by the Journal of Political Economy
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?id=doi:10.1086/379932

[MadisonProgressive]

17. Bush is the biggest hypocrite on the planet

I was looking to buy a 20050 Prius Hybrid, there is a $2000 federal discount. Someone told me that was going away and the feds will be giving up to 10,000 if you buy a pickup or SUV. Anyone else heard of this?

[Selatius]

18. Several proposals could work in tandem

As mentioned above, have cars include a readout of real-time MPG. Also, raise fuel efficiency standards. Other solutions could be some sort of tax incentive for purchasing hybrids, and more money could be invested in refining hybrid technology to increase power yet maintain fuel efficiency and, if possible, even raise it further in light of increased power.

[Boo Boo]

19. I can't drive 55

Uh! :banghead:

One foot on the brake and one on the gas, hey!
Well, there's too much traffic, I can't pass, no!
So I tried my best illegal move
Well, baby, black and white come and touched my groove again!
Gonna write me up for 125
Post my face wanted dead or alive
Take my license, all that jive
I can't drive 55!
Oh No!

Uh!

So I signed my name on number 24, hey!
Yeah the judge said, "Boy, just one more...
We're gonna throw your ass in the city joint"
Looked me in the eye, said, "You get my point?"
I said Yeah!
Oh yeah!
Write me up for 125
Post my face wanted dead or alive
Take my license, all that jive
I can't drive 55!
Oh, yeah!

Uh!

When I drive that slow, you know it's hard to steer
And I can't get get my car out of second gear
What used to take two hours now takes all day
Huh!
It took me 16 hours to get to L.A.
Gonna write me up for 125
Post my face wanted dead or alive
Take my license, all that jive
I can't drive 55!
No, no, no

[Democrats_win]

20. Blame Reagan: We SQUANDERED the hard work of the '70s

We drove 55, we turned down the heat, we conserved and we built the energy department. By 1984, we were in good shape. Then Reagan abandoned our goals of becoming independent of terrorist oil.

The problems of today are one example of Reagan's poor legacy. We may come through this crisis, but only to experience a worse one in a few years.

The die is cast: Americans will die for ME oil.