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Who cares. If people are too stupid to realize they can save a lot of gas (and $$) driving 55-60 in the truck lane instead of 80 in the fast lane, it's on them. Most people would rather get there sooner even if it costs more.
Mpg For Speed - Fuel Efficiency Vs. Speed
Obviously it's going to massively vary by what kind of car you have (Prius is extremely aerodynamic and gets away with 80 mph with much less penalty than a Suburban). But for my car driving 30 miles on the freeway, I could save a whopping $1 a day and my commute would only be 6 minutes longer! Not a big deal. Note the sarcasm above.
When the 55mph speed limit was imposed, vehicles with automatic overdrive were quite rare; in fact I don't remember any automatic OD transmissions before the early 1980s, but if I said they didn't exist someone would come up with an example to prove me wrong.
Anyway, these days that overdrive transmission is the rule rather than the exception, so even if we did set a national speed limit at an optimal point for fuel efficiency I think it would be a bit higher than 55.
But to answer the question, no, I wouldn't be in favor of it. Those who have done highway driving in both Montana and Rhode Island understand there is a big difference and top speeds should be set accordingly by the respective states.
I do little highway driving in this day so a return wouldn't really affect me much so I voted YES! We need to cut oil consumption and this would help a lot. The highway speed in SC where I live on some interstates is 70 mph.
Oh, another "it will not affect me" types, yet you are all willing to have it affect others. I just do not get people who think like you.
Who cares. If people are too stupid to realize they can save a lot of gas (and $$) driving 55-60 in the truck lane instead of 80 in the fast lane, it's on them. Most people would rather get there sooner even if it costs more.
Mpg For Speed - Fuel Efficiency Vs. Speed
Obviously it's going to massively vary by what kind of car you have (Prius is extremely aerodynamic and gets away with 80 mph with much less penalty than a Suburban). But for my car driving 30 miles on the freeway, I could save a whopping $1 a day and my commute would only be 6 minutes longer! Not a big deal. Note the sarcasm above.
Don't people pay a premium to fly on airplanes to get to their destination sooner?
Regardless of the maximum posted speed limit, you do not have to drive at that speed. Remember, slower traffic keep right. It sounds like some people have ego problems if they get passed by a faster vehicle.
But for my car driving 30 miles on the freeway, I could save a whopping $1 a day and my commute would only be 6 minutes longer! Not a big deal.
I'm assuming that 30 mile commute is round-trip for work.
So, figuring 200 work days in a year, that's $200 dollars or 20 hours.
For a lot of people (and let's include many that make more then that $10 per hour savings), time is money. If you make $50/hour and could work those 20 hours, you made $1000 instead of saving $200 for the gas.
As for MPG's on a sticker, it's determined over varying speeds. Details at the link. How Vehicles Are Tested
Speed limits should be appropriate to road and traffic conditions.
It makes sense to have a 55mph limit on a heavily travelled urban highway. It also makes sense to have an 75mph limit on far less travelled stretches of I40 or I17 going through the Arizona high desert.
[quote=Malloric;25033753]Who cares. If people are too stupid to realize they can save a lot of gas (and $$) driving 55-60 in the truck lane instead of 80 in the fast lane, it's on them. Most people would rather get there sooner even if it costs more.
quote]
I am confused by this statement. You do realize many states have speed limits higher than 55 on 2-lane roads.
No, a speed limit of 55 or 65 makes sense in developed areas of the country like the northeast. But less developed areas like the western states, 85 or 90 mph seems perfectly logical. A national speed limit would have to be set at the lowest common denominator, most likely 55 mph.
No, this is something much better left to individual states.
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