55 MPH

Hi All,

I am not in favor of the 55 MPH speed limit. I believe it will waste gas and increase polution in urban areas - well if it was enforced as there are no roads I know of here in Chicagland that are over 55 MPH. And that increased polution will result in deaths (from asthma and other lung disease) just as surely as somebody driving too fast and sliding a car into a telephone pole.

The reason is traffic dynamics. If the people who leave at 3:30 pm from work are not out of the way of the people who leave at 4:00 pm, then traffic will build. And so on all the way to 6:30 pm. All these daily traffic jams would waste allot of gas, as most cars are not hybrids. Standard cars are not efficient below 30 mph. And they certainly are not efficient if they are slowing using brakes (as is neccassary in a traffic jam).

The fact of mathematics is that fewer cars per second on a highway requires more highway per car. Distance travelled = rate of travel times time. If the distance is fixed (as in the daily commute) then time is reduced with a larger rate. If time is reduced per vehicle then the number of vehicles that can be serviced by a lane of highway is increased.

The only way to achieve the goal of a law that would reduce the speed limit, is for enforcement to ignore it and apply it only as a kicker for truely dangerous driving shenanigans. Which is the VERY situation we have in most metropolitan areas right now.

I think a speed limit for high drag vehicles with low payloads and commercial trucks could help. Say maximum value of payload pounds per drag+rolling resistance pounds, and a flat speed limit for commercial trucks. If you exceed that your it would be illegal. In the "good ole days" before the 55 mph limit trucks were never allowed over 55 mph , at least east of the Mississippi that I know of. Even though cars had limits as high as 80 mph, with most highways at 65 or 70 mph. The present situation which we reached by going through the "55 mph prohibition era" has resulted in trucks widely driving as fast as cars. This is truely dangerous! And really wasteful, polluting and poor citizenship when the truck (large SUV's count here) has only one passenger as the payload. The high drag/low payload provision would control useless gas wasting by large SUV single passenger (including the driver) vehicles.

Indeed, an Escalade in the HOV lanes with three passengers is still using more gas than the single passenger Prius in the HOV lane. This is because of Hummer poor aerodynamics and high friction tires.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA @ May 4 2005, 04:16 PM) [snapback]86949[/snapback]</div>

55mph for all freeways? No, there are some where 55mph would be too restrictive. However, where a freeway is in city limits and is affected by intra-city traffic, it would not be a bad idea. Like many others, I would be adversely impacted as I use the freeways to get to clients...and I have to be there within 2 hours. Usually, traffic is not that bad, and fortunately, our clients understand a slower response time when there is traffic.

 

ok, ok!
some places , like here in NJ , which are congested, 55 makes a lot of sense. of course it would help if we had some enforcement.....

go west to montana or wyoming and , ok- 70 makes more sense..... but it is true that over 55, mileage decreases! take your pick-