Is it time yet to drive 55?

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

I am hearing about opening the National Petroleum Reserve and about gas rationing.

Why not an emergency drop of the top speed limit to 55 mph with doubled fines for speeding?

It seems to me that if I can go from 65 to 62 mph and increase my mileage from 18 mpg to 26 mpg, then I should be able to improve further by going to 55 mph.

If everyone just drove 55 on the highways we could probably make up half the loss from Katrina right there, but that is just a guess.

Later DBDB

[LiberalEsto]

1. We did that in the 70s, 80s, etc.

Driving 55 mph was a national effort to maximize vehicle gas mileage. It was the rule on all major highways. Those 55 mph speed limits were repealed maybe 10 or so years ago.

[jackster]

3. it worked too and brought about fewer deaths!

I have a lead foot, my kids jokingly call me Mario - I LOVE to drive fast, but I know it's best to keep it down. I'm all for a reduction!

In fact, I've already begun to change my habits - stay under 65 - if I can remember - have to train myself!

[ArkDem]

2. I can't drive 55!

Gonna write me up a 125
Post my face wanted dead or alive
Take my license, all that jive
I can't drive 55!
No, no no,
I can't drive...
(I can't drive 55!)

[Strelnikov_]

8. Sammy, That You? n/t

[ArkDem]

11. Hagar the Terrible.

[TrueAmerican]

4. No

no

[Arger68]

5. I did an experiment last weekend

I drive a 2005 Honda Civic (non-hybrid). I've been getting 35-37 mpg on long trips, usually I drive 75. Last weekend I decided to drive 65 instead and got 42 on the way up and almost 41 on the way back. Seems to me 55 speed limit would save a lot of fuel in this country! Just my $.02.

[Dissenting_Prole]

6. No, it's time to buy a bike.

I think that someday historians will regard this event as the beginning of The Long Emergency

[tech3149]

7. 55 isn't the answer

Sure, you use less fuel if you drive slower, but that savings doesn't compare to smart driving. I drive a 98 Honda Civic with EPA mileage figures of 32/37 mpg. I bought it when I lived in NJ and my average mpg was 28mpg when the commute to work was mostly highway.(I love driving fast and in NJ that's almost required) On long distance trips that were only interstate highways, I could get 40 mpg with no effort and sometimes going over 100 mph.
I moved back to PA before the war started and have been unemployed since then. (no pity party needed, it was by choice) Driving smart with a light right foot and paying attention to what the other people on the roads are doing, I've been able to average close to 40mpg in what would be considered "city" driving paramaters. I haven't had the need to do any long distance travel to compare that aspect of my change in driving style with regards to mpg figures. I don't think I would see any imrovement unless I were willing to sit under the bumper of a Semi that felt comfortable pushing the speed limit.]
Whatever you drive, you can cut your fuel cost if you drive smart. Pay attention to what's going on at the limits of your visual "field of view". Accelerate only as fast as you need to. Let gravity and momentum do the job of getting you where you want to go. Most people brake for turns when they don't really need to. The average tire on cars in this country can provide enough side traction to handle 0.5G lateral acceleration, but most drivers don't approach half that capability.
I could go on for daysw, but the point is that more can be gained by smart driving than slow driving.
Final parting shot is that aerodynamic drag only a signifigant factor over 60 mph.
To get the mileage figues on short mileage local driving, I've regularly driven over twice the posted speed limit. If gravity can carry me two miles farther than a tenth gallon of gas, I'll take gravity any day.

Be smart and pay attention. You can cut your fuel consuption and not be a PITA if you just use your eyes, brain, and right foot while considering the long teerm effect.

[Strelnikov_]

9. Reduction To 55 mph Could Reduce Oil Consumption By 3.4%

The following report estimates a 3.4% reduction in oil consumption. Then again, there is the faith based science approach that any measure that may take a bit of sacrifice is worthless and will have no benefit.

Saving Oil in a Hurry: Measures for Rapid Demand Restraint in Transport
International Energy Agency
28 February 2005

http://www.stcwa.org.au/journal/210405/files/background_IEA.pdf

The tables below are from the report following publication and summarize fuel savings from speed reduction to 55 mph.


Table 2-35: Consensus estimate of effect of reducing speed limit to 90 km/hr

US /Canada

Thousand barrels saved per day 727 (672 US 2001 data)
Percent transport fuel saved 6.2% (5.1% @ US 13.1 M bbl/dy)
Percent total fuel saved 4.7% (3.4% @ US 19.5 M bbl/dy)


Table 2-29: Fuel Economy by Speed, based on ORNL
Percent Change In Fuel Economy

55–65 mph 11.0%
65–75 mph 17.7%
55–75 mph 30.6%

Note: Based on Model years 1988–97 automobiles and light trucks, based on tests of 9 vehicles.

[midnight armadillo]

10. 55 mph is a crossover point in drag

I forget the exact numbers, but for a typical vechicle aerodynamic drag is proportional to speed up to about 55 mph, after which drag begins to be proportional to the square of the speed. Hence the major decrease in mileage going 75 over 55.

[happyslug]

12. Remember people the First NATIONAL SPEED LIMIT was 35mph.

Most cars are at their most efficient at 35mph (The reason 35mph was picked during WWII for the National Speed Limit). Whether you are in an automatic or standard if you are Cruising (as opposed to accelerating) your car is in its highest gear at about 35 mph (25mph if on a real flat surface and barely touching the gas pedal). Given that most roads are NOT perfectly flat, most times you need to go 35 mph to get into the highest gear (in an Automatic) and have the car not buck do to being in to low a gear (In a Standard Transmission).

The reason Congress in the 1970s picked 55 instead of 35 was that to many people objected to even the reduction from 70 mph (The design speed of the Interstate Highway system) for Congress to pass a lower speed limit.

You will be surprised how much gas is saved going 35 mph. I once made a trip going 25 mph and had 20 mpg in a 350 cubic Inch V-8 pushing a 3/4 ton pickup (Loaded, I was moving from one state to another). I was on an interstate and it seemed like the trip took forever (which is the main objection to 55 mph speed limits) but I DOUBLED MY FUEL ECONOMY.

Furthermore if the Government would impose a 35mph speed limit, people will buy cars whose max speed is around that speed (For example mopeds). Mopeds max speed is around 40mph, but at that speed get 100mpg. This is achieved by the low speed that permits the maximum use of the engine at that low speed. People forget how much more weight a car has to be to be able to exceed 35 mph. You start with the engine that has to be able to get up to that speed. Than you have to connect it to a transmission and drive train that can take the power being provided by that engine AT MAXIMUM POWER OUTPUT. Than the body and frame to carry these mechanical parts in addition to the Driver and Passengers.

A typical car weighs over a ton do to the weight of the Engine, Transmission, Drive Train, Wheels, body and Frame design to operate over 65 mph. A bicycle that does roughly the same function weigh 20 pounds. That over 2000 pounds more than a bicycle is to be able to go 65 mph.

The best way to increase fuel economy is to reduce the weight of the car. As you reduce max speed, you can reduce engine size and than Transmission, Drive Train, Wheels, body and Frame size. The reduction in performance feeds on itself, as you reduce engine size all the other components of the car can be made smaller and lighter. Thus sooner or later the best way to reduce oil usage will be to reduce the performance of cars.

Now I do NOT see this occurring this year or next, people will justify their cars. What I do see is people opting for secondary vehicles to reduce fuel usage (For Example I foresee people buying bicycles and Mopeds for their better duel economy, but retaining their large SUV to haul around the "kids"). As the price of oil continues to go up (and it will) you will see people use their bicycles and Mo-peds more and more and their SUVs less and less. Some day people will accept that they do NOT need their SUV and then and only then get rid of it.

Now I see the present run up of gas prices as panic buying (Much like what happen in 1979 during the first months of the Iranian-Iraqi war). Prices will drop, but not to $2.49 like it was before Katrina. The drop will take 2-3 times as long as the run up of prices (This is the concept of "Price Stickiness" which simplify means that it takes 2-3 times as long for prices to go down than for prices to increase). Now I do not mean that prices will stay down, but that the present price increase does not reflect the fundamentals of the market for Oil TODAY. $2.49 a gallon did reflect a very tight market, $3.00 a gallon does NOT (It might in a few years but NOT TODAY). I mention this to remind people the price of Gasoline will drop from today's high (Through not in the next few weeks and the price will go higher before it starts to drop). I go into this detail to inform people that do NOT panic over such panic buying but plan for the long term. The long term is lower performance automobiles (Including increase use of Bicycles).

Now I do NOT foresee today's Congress passing a 55 mph speed limit, let alone a 35 mph speed limits (both speed limits were imposed by DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSES). What I see is Congress doing nothing except complaining about the high prices (Complaining to show their are with the American People, but doing nothing for their are Republicans and in bed with the oil Companies).

[rfkrfk]

13. this is a state issue

and is an opportunity for people like
Mark Warner to show leadership.