Should a 55 MPH Speed Limit Become Law?
Lower speeds conserve fuel and make highways safer, say proponents of a mandatory national limit. Others say that its cited benefits are false and that impeding traffic is far worse for drivers and the environment. Should a 55 mph maximum speed limit be imposed?
Edited by Steve St. Angelo
Yes
It's easy to understand why Americans don't like to be told how to drive. Private motor vehicles
By Tim Castleman
Founder of the Drive 55 Conservation Project, which promotes energy independence
represent freedom, in a figurative sense as well as a practical one.
Our vehicles are more than just tools of autonomy, though. They are an extension of the self, intimately intertwined with personal identity. To a large degree, our cars are us, and restricting how we drive is tantamount to threatening our independence. Coming from a culture that values liberty, we balk at such infringements. In the bigger picture, however...
No
In the fall of 1973, in response to the OPEC oil embargo, President Nixon issued an executive
By James Baxter
President of the National Motorists Association, which lobbies to preserve the rights of drivers
order mandating a 55 mph national maximum speed limit. The following January, Congress made it official and passed a "temporary" one-year continuation of the limit. And so began a 22-year odyssey where reality and rational public policy never crossed paths.
Initially, this law was passed to conserve motor fuels, but it soon became lauded as a safety measure. It was for safety purposes that the law was made permanent in 1975. (It was eventually...
What do you think?
Reader Comments
me on 55
u r a big fat meanie
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
u suck BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO u r waisting our life
55 NO
Accidents are not caused by speed, they are caused by inattention to the driving task. The more boring the driving task, the more likely drivers are to divert their attention to other things like conversations with others in the car or on the phone, the CD player, putting on makeup, reading the newspaper, and texting.
On highways designed to be driven at 80+ mph, I believe most people cannot continue to concentrate on the driving task when being forced to drive 55 mph - kind of like staring at a blank wall. They will either find other things to occupy their mind, or they will fall asleep at the wheel.
Traffic fatalities had been falling due to other safety improvements in automobiles and on the highways before the speed limit was raised back up to pre-1974 speed limits. They continued to decline during the 55 mph era, and after the speed limits were increased. I don't believe that lowering speeds today would benefit anyone, and it could well result in an increase in the distracted driving, which has a much larger influence on accidents than those who exceed the speed limits.
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