bigdsz

There is more and more talk of Congress passing a 55 mph speed limit bill. I think we need to tell our congressmen and senators that they will lose our votes. I'm weary of the government micro managing my daily life, where will it end.

SnowyATX

Oh no......not that again. 55mph speed limits and 85mph speedos.

Gordon Shumway

Well, this won't be the first time for 55MPH. Deja vu all over again.

MagRedC6

The liberal congress needs to focus on more important things, like passing the bill to DRILL FOR OIL!

johnodrake

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. An O'reilly Factor Poll showed 70% of Americans against a return to 55. Let your representatives know.

FortMorganAl

I just did what I would consider a thorough search and I can't find any bills in the House or Senate that would address this. The closest I find is H.R. 2594 which would authorize $20M/yr to teach us such things as "There are several personal conservation steps that individual motorists can take to improve the fuel efficiency of their vehicles, such as following the speed limit..."

http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/...mp/~c110xix1Oe

Do you have a bill number for this proposal or is this just another of those "Hey, I just got an email and it said..."

ILayLow

Now thats real talk right there. This 55Mpg crap is plan stupid!!!

nhisfan

Oh Goodie!

I guess they really are looking forward to Jimmy Carter's 2nd term...

God help us - geo

Mike's LS3

Let's see at 70 mph, in sixth gear, I am taching 1750 rpm. At 55 mph, in sixth gear, I will be idling and bogging rendering 6 th gear useless. Today's production cars having at least one or two overdriven gears, unlike 10 years ago, the mpg differences will be minimal. It's one step forward and a proposed two steps back.

not08crmanymore

hello 1970's!!

Walt White Coupe

From CNN website: Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia, asked Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to look into what speed limit would provide optimum gasoline efficiency given current technology. He said he wants to know if the administration might support efforts in Congress to require a lower speed limit.
Warner cited studies that showed the 55 mph speed limit saved 167,000 barrels of oil a day, or 2 percent of the country's highway fuel consumption, while avoiding up to 4,000 traffic deaths a year.

"Given the significant increase in the number of vehicles on America's highway system from 1974 to 2008, one could assume that the amount of fuel that could be conserved today is far greater," Warner wrote Bodman.

This is not from Democrats but from a darling Republican. Put the blame where it belongs.

Vette_DD

Maybe the next upgrade of the forum will include a section for PR&C.

God-speed

They did not learn much the first time they tried this and I dought they will learn much this go around!!!!

maxp

it looks like it's the idea of those greenie,treehugging,warloving republicans

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An influential Republican senator suggested Thursday that Congress might want to consider reimposing a national speed limit to save gasoline and possibly ease fuel prices.


Sen. John Warner has asked the Energy Department at what speeds vehicles would be most fuel efficient.

Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia, asked Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to look into what speed limit would provide optimum gasoline efficiency given current technology. He said he wants to know if the administration might support efforts in Congress to require a lower speed limit.
Congress in 1974 set a national 55 mph speed limit because of energy shortages caused by the Arab oil embargo. The speed limit was repealed in 1995 when crude oil dipped to $17 a barrel and gasoline cost $1.10 a gallon.

As motorists headed on trips for this Fourth of July weekend, gasoline averaged $4.10 a gallon nationwide, with oil hovering around $145 a barrel.

Warner cited studies that showed the 55 mph speed limit saved 167,000 barrels of oil a day, or 2 percent of the country's highway fuel consumption, while avoiding up to 4,000 traffic deaths a year.

"Given the significant increase in the number of vehicles on America's highway system from 1974 to 2008, one could assume that the amount of fuel that could be conserved today is far greater," Warner wrote Bodman.

Warner asked the department to determine at what speeds vehicles would be most fuel efficient, how much fuel savings would be achieved, and whether it would be reasonable to assume there would be a reduction in prices at the pump if the speed limit were lowered.

maxp

link:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/....ap/index.html

Walt White Coupe

Those freedom loving, tree hugging Republicans are at it again!

bigdsz

A formal bill isn't out there yet. It is a proposal that is being studied. Bad thing is that I think the writing is on the wall. We had the 55 mph limit for 21 years mid 70's to mid 90's. I believe the 1985 C4 had a 185 hp engine and a 85 mph speedo. The thought of going through another period like that is unthinkable.

What these morons don't understand is that yes there will be fuel savings, however it is more than offset by lost productivity. Let people be responsible for their own actions, if they want to save fuel let them ease up on the gas pedal, it doesn't need to be a government mandate.

WHT

Ahhhh, 1974 and Jimmy Carter. That was a very bad year. But, it only lasted 21 years last time.

Discussion on Obama website: "With the high cost of gas and our desire to decrease our use of oil, is it time to return to a national maximum speed limit of 55 mph?

When it became law in the 70’s we saved on gas. A side benefit we had not counted on though was that auto fatalities dropped by 15%. This was due in part to the new seatbelt laws that went into effect a month or so before the new maximum speed limit kicked in. Even if we could cut our auto fatalities by 10% by lowering our driving speed, close to 4000 lives could be saved annually. In addition driving slower reduces harmful emissions."



"Senator Hillary Clinton Endorses 55 MPH Speed Limit
2008 Presidential contender Hillary Clinton endorses a return to the 55 MPH speed limit.

US Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) on Tuesday endorsed a return to the 55 MPH maximum speed limit for "most" of the country during a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Senator Clinton, who is leading in the polls for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, responded to a question about whether she supported the Carter administration's national maximum speed limit.

"The 55 mile speed limit really does lower gas usage, and wherever it can be required and that people will accept it, we ought to do it," Clinton said.

The senator admitted that the move would be too unpopular to implement nationwide. "Well, there are just some parts of the country where that's just not going to happen," she said. "You know, where you've got miles of open, flat road."

"I mean, there are things that can be done. So maybe the trade off is, you know, most of the country where 55 miles an hour doesn't seem like a burden, we have that. In the rest of the country, inflate your tires before you head off into the sunset," Clinton concluded.

A newly elected Republican majority Congress repealed the national 55 MPH speed limit in 1995 over the objection of then-President Bill Clinton after groups like the National Motorists Association demonstrated the law's shortcomings as a "life-saving measure."

FortMorganAl

Ok, so we have CNN saying that one Senator who can't do squat because his party is out of power has asked for a study. Yet if you go to this Senator's web site it isn't mentioned at all. Maybe it isn't that important even to the Senator? It certainly seems at this point to be a far cry from "There is more and more talk of Congress passing a 55 mph speed limit bill."

Let me know when it gets to the point that someone actually puts something down on paper so I can speak intellegently to either my Congressman or Senators depending on who might eventually be voting on such a measure.

not08crmanymore

I thought it was NIXON's doing that got us the 55mph limit.