Reinstating "55," Are They Crazy?!
May 29th, 2008 Posted in Fuel, James Baxter, Speed Limits, Traffic Tickets
By James Baxter, NMA President
The same forces that resisted the use of fire many thousands of years ago are still with us, only now they are advocating the return of the national maximum speed limit of 55 miles per hour.
Anyone who endured the last 22 year long “experiment” with the “folly of 55” knows that this proposal goes beyond being absurd.
The only likely beneficiaries are insurance companies (ticket surcharges), local governments that live off speed traps, P.R. firms (the genius creators of public service ads like “Save Gas Save Lives, Drive 55”) and perhaps the radar detector industry. In return, the driving public is treated to aggravation, maddening traffic flow, tickets, bloated insurance premiums, and billions of hours of lost time.
As in 1973, the justification for a snail’s pace speed limit on major highways is that it will save gasoline (and now reduce global warming).
It didn’t work then and it won’t work now. The reasons are many.
For starters only two percent of the four million miles of streets, roads and highways in the US have speed limits in excess of 55 miles per hour (approximate numbers). Of those there are many that suffer congestion and construction on a regular basis such that traffic is lucky to maintain a 40 MPH pace, let alone 55 miles per hour.
It’s true that our Interstate system carries about one third of our daily traffic volume, but here too congestion, construction, and bad weather frequently limits traffic to sub 55 speeds. In many urban areas the Interstates are already posted at 55. Granted, when conditions allow the actual speeds might be 70 or 75 MPH, but clearly the speed limit is not the controlling factor.
That brings us to point #2, public compliance.
After 22 years of propaganda, millions of tickets, and billions in insurance surcharges, actual motorist compliance on Interstate type highways ranged between five and ten percent. Those in compliance were typically mechanically unable to exceed 55.
Did it save fuel? In 1984, in what started out to be a promotional “study” of the “Benefits of the 55 MPH National Maximum Speed Limit” the Transportation Research Board (Part of the National Academy of Science) determined that keeping the 55 MPH speed limit, versus allowing the states to raise the limit to 65 MPH, would result in a 0.18 percent (less than two tenths of one percent) fuel savings (Source: TRB Report, 55: A Decade of Experience; page 176)
This is not an amount that will devastate the oil economy of the Middle East. The same study did determine that the 55 MPH national speed limit was wasting approximately one billion man hours a year (page 123). This did not include state trooper man hours being burned up enforcing an arbitrary speed limit on the safest highways in the nation.
Along with misallocating enforcement resources, the federal law forced the states to play games with their highway monitoring data, gaming the numbers so it appeared that traffic was moving slower than it really was. The states were supposed to maintain 50 percent compliance with the federal limit, they couldn’t come close, at least not honestly.
Safety? Today the national and the interstate highway fatality rate is far lower than at any time during the “55 era.” In fact, the last time the fatality rate increased from year to year was in the mid 1970’s when compliance and enforcement were at their highest levels (see chart below).
High fuel costs are certainly a burden. As individuals we can drive less, use more fuel efficient vehicles, and even drive slower, if we wish. But no sane person should wish another 55 MPH speed limit on the country. We already have a dysfunctional aviation system, let’s not allow the same thing to happen to our highways.
Source: NHTSA 2006 Traffic Facts (page 16)
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427 Responses to “Reinstating "55," Are They Crazy?!”
By TONY RICH on Dec 26, 2008
And yes Randy the value of the dollar did go up some but in addition to that what is also happening is what oil industry experts were predicting for at least 2 years they were saying that the price of a barrel of oil was artificiality inflated higher than it should be because they were over estimateing how much oil China and India were going to be needing they were saying all the way back in 2005 that we could once again see $30 dollar a barrel oil and even $20 dollar a barrel oil is a possibility.
By Randy on Dec 24, 2008
Ya right TONY RICH. What about all those government vehicles that use all of that high priced fuel? Think about many government vehicles there are that use fuel.
By TONY RICH on Dec 24, 2008
Just like I said before if you use all that much gas by driveing that fast then raiseing the speed limit would be a hidden tax increase and a lot more states would have raised the speed limit my state would have raised the speed limit.
By Randy on Nov 30, 2008
So TONY RICH did the value of the dollar more than triple then since this summer?
By Jeff on Nov 28, 2008
Now that the price of gas is down, watch the politicians try to ram higher gas taxes down our throats.
By TONY RICH on Nov 28, 2008
You see the price of gasoline came back down without reinstating it the price of gasoline was not high because there was a shortage it was high because the dollar was not worth the paper it was printed on did I not say that if you just let the price of gasoline go up as high as the market will pay for it the bubble will burst and the price will come back down.
By Todd on Oct 21, 2008
WARNING - This is all just sarcasm. Everything in which you are about to read is just a joke.
Wow I disagree with the NMA. I think that Speed alone does kill, 120 mph on a sunny day in an open wide smooth flat road with no people, or drive ways is so EVIL!!! 55 mph in a school zone where kids a present is very safe and if you hit a kid at that speed there will be no problems since 55 mph is slow and safe. 70 mph will cause us to run out of oil and cause the earth to end in 2012. 55 mph will save us. Wait I have a good idea lets make a 1 mph national max speed limit so we can save so much oil. Also if you crash a 1 mph there will nothing to worry about since 1 mph can’t do that much harm. All american citizens are all bad drivers and we all need nannyism and speed governors to limit vehicles to 1 mph. Guns are bad. Fast food is bad. Las vegas is bad. Haveing a fun life is bad. Suffering is noble. Being broke is spiritual.
P.S. - REMEMBER I AM JUST JOKING!!! I really did not mean what I said. PEACE!!!
By Sherman on Sep 16, 2008
The only reason I noticed is that I don’t know that area of the country very well so I was checking it out on Google Maps to get a better picture of your drive.
By Baja Joes on Sep 16, 2008
Yes Sherman, Evanston. Actually close to the fwy not in town. My fingers got ahead of my mind.
I’ll proof read next time.
By Sherman on Sep 15, 2008
Baja Joes,
Did you mean to say _Evanston_?
By Baja Joes on Sep 15, 2008
GUYS, After the election the speed limit may be a much leeser concern than than concern for our children and realtives. THERE WILL BE A NEW DRAFT! Probably within a year after the election. Women are no longer excused.
This has been admitted by both parties and I will provide links if requested. This would indicate a massive war in the future with the military taking over the job market. Prepare your children and nephews/neices. This will get serious! No Way Out!(whatreallyhappened.com)Check out the new draft proposals there with major backers.
They were not ready for the ’60’s but they are now! I know people who graduated and took jobs out of country to be safe.(Australia)They know what is happeneing.
We may owe our country help but not our LIFE!
By Baja Joes on Sep 15, 2008
Jeff, I’m familiar with Int.80 in WY which was similar to NV & MT in ‘68.
My friend an I crossed at Nite. We gassed at Everton and didn’t stop until Cheyenne. It was an Indian summer with a warm nite and little traffic. It was fun but with the perspective of age I wouldn’t do it again.
We were in our 20’s, young and perhaps a bit reckless but in our mind the only danger was to ourselves. It took aprox.6 hrs for the trip with NO stops. If the LAW cared they didn’t show it. I guess no one travels Sun nite in Wyoming. I am grateful it was uneventful.
By Jeff on Sep 15, 2008
Baja Joes - Prior to 1974, Nevada (and Montana) did not have a maximum speed limit. It was “reasonable and prudent” and people used to drive 100+ mph there. For some unknown reason, Nevada only allows 75mph now.
By TONY RICH on Sep 11, 2008
If lower speed limits saves all this gas then it would make more sense to raise speed limits the federal highway trust fund will be out of money in 2009 so if we use more gas then the government would make more tax money also how come the oil industry is not lobbying for higher speed limits it would mean more profits for them instead they have been lobbying for lower speed limits why would they throw all this money away?
By george 2 on Aug 24, 2008
Why doesn’t NMA simply ask the questions to Senators or any politician on camera and let’s see how react. Obama, Biden, Schwarzenegger et. al., many if not allot of these guys could also be very irritated with the drive 55 buffoon NSL activists. After all, our politicians enjoy trips to Europe on our tax payer dollars enjoying 75-81 speed limits but of course cruising safely at about 95 and no fear of ever getting pulled. Some if not many politicians could very well love to see speed limits in America in the European tradition. May I add that America is the laughing stock and ridicule of millions of Europeans who visit our country when they see That all American 55 sign on a majestic 3-4 lane highway highway that is big enough to land a 747.
By Darryl on Aug 18, 2008
Hey Baja Joes,
I just read the article about the 55 mph limit. USA Today interviewed that hack Tim Castleman (go back a page in this forum and you’ll see the response he sent to my letter) from drive55.org.
From the way I read it, Tim’s gushing about how much “support” his campaign is gaining. The article is buried in the online edition and I had to do a specific search to find it so that in itself makes his claim suspicious at best.
He’s no doubt embellishing quite a bit and of course USA Today being a media outlet has certainly put a spin on it so if I were you, I’d take it with a large grain of salt.
Sounds to me like he’s nothing more than an opportunistic snake oil salesman out to make himself a tidy profit.
Here’s his e-mail address:
timcastleman@gmail.com
By Baja Joes on Aug 18, 2008
I hear you Joe.
In regard to planes they even have a speed limit, except for Military they aren’t allowed to exceed the Sound Barrier, aprox
700 mph.
I guess we need to leave the country to have Freedom to Speed.
O.W. To Frankfurt Please!
By JOE on Aug 18, 2008
Darryl, thanks for the heads up on this report. I wonder what Randy thinks about this?
In this most recent report, I noted that NHTSA gave law enforcement part of the credit for the lower numbers. That’s to be expected from NHTSA. This paves the way for more federal money to flow into enforcement spending, particularly on holidays. So look for you favorite holidays to be filled with enforcement further enhancing your holiday experience with complements from NHTSA. And of course the municipalities get to use this extra federal money from the public feeding trough and get to keep all the revenue from the enforcement action. What a hell’va deal.
And you can bet the focus of most of the enforcement will be the usual speeding ticket frenzy. I can assure you that speed enforcement had little or nothing to do with lowering the numbers in this latest report from NHTSA yet it remains a priority for law enforcement. Apparently fuzzy math dictates that the factor (speeding) that causes the least accidents gets the greatest enforcement focus.
TomV, you’ve got a point but the thought of a U.S. autobahn just isn’t going to happen.
I’m sorry to say will remain just a pipe dream. Higher speeds on our roadways remain a issue that to me is more of a philosophy then anything. It’s simply taboo. The “slower is better” crowd and members of the anti-destination league simply will not allow it. High speed terrestrial transportation has been talked about for years, even on trains. The reality is that air transportation will remain the high speed transportation for this country. I can assure you that if aircraft didn’t require higher speeds to remain in flight, they too wouldn’t be allowed to move so fast. So be glad that at least the laws of aerodynamics don’t allow slow flight.
There are some people in our society (I believe a minority) when it comes to the setting of or enforcement of higher speeds or speeding, it has become almost a Taliban like mentality with them. They get worked almost into a frenzy just talking about it.
By Baja Joes on Aug 18, 2008
Arrrgh! I spoke too soon. In todays
USA Today paper there is an article saying that the 55 NSL is trying to come back.
Also of interest is the listing of all state speed limits. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of 75mph states although they were all Midwest/Western.
Darryl, I guess they haven’t read about your latest numbers.
Sammy, start your song!
By Baja Joes on Aug 18, 2008
Let us hope that Everyone is grateful that
driving is becoming safer as is without any
changes.
If its not broke, it dosen’t need to be fixed
By Darryl on Aug 17, 2008
Lowest death rates in history on our highways with more motorists on the road than ever before and no national speed limit.
I just wonder what kind of spin the slower is safer crowd is going to put on it!
By Darryl on Aug 17, 2008
U.S. traffic death rate at record low
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/14/traffic.deaths.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch
By Baja Joes on Aug 17, 2008
Yes Tom it would be a challenging undertaking
If I had the wherewithal to try I think I’d
start from the California border to LasVegas
a 50 Mle swath and make it a Toll Rd. A ticket would give a disclaimer like a
Baseball ticket.
I estimate this part
could be built for the aprox price of the
BELLAGIO($1 Billion$+)in Vegas.
It would make for a great entry to SIN CITY!
By TomV on Aug 17, 2008
Why couldn’t one state in the US have an autobahn?
Because it’s not (just) a physical thing, or a law or a lack of laws. There would have to be a confluence of needful things to make such an effort safe and successful, such as:
1. A highway encompassing all of the necessary physical features: width, grade, curve radius, sightlines, signage, drainage, ramp length and profile, runoff and breakdown areas, et cetera.
2. Destination points for the highway to serve, so it isn’t just one long dragstrip destination for thrillseekers. Maybe an I-80 to Las Vegas connector that doesn’t take the driver past every shut-down whorehouse in NV?
3. Driver training regarding etiquette and safety (keep right except to pass, be mindful of your vehicle’s condition, people flashing high beams behind you are doing you a favor, no one “owns” the road by dint of status or a given law, et cetera)
4. Drivers would have to sign a witnessed “hold harmless” affidavit so that they would be personally responsible for the outcome of their own actions. A window sticker or license plate frame could be used to display evidence of compliance, or perhaps a vinyl pocket inside a vehicle window, so a “license” could be displayed when driving the highway and then removed at other times, or transferred to to other vehicles, since it would be the driver (vs. the car) that was authorized.
5. Other steps as necessary to control the “just sue them” aspect of our culture
6. Said highway would have to be new construction (no shutting down interstates for our project,) and limited access, which pretty much precludes it from directly replacing a rural 2-lane. PR work would have to be done with the locals to ensure (again) that no one thinks they have a particular privilege due to any kind of status. Mayhem is egalitarian, but safety is not; people need to understand that safety is an individual responsibility.
Even with all of those hurdles, I would be glad to be part of the corporation that could do such a thing, or even just to pay a toll to use it. Ever driven to Reno at a reasonable speed, hoping you don’t catch an LEO having a bad day? Then there’s the whole braking-for-a-town business.
Count me in, if it’s done right.
By Sherman on Aug 17, 2008
EXCELLENT idea, Baja Joes!
I like the Nevada suggestion.