1970′s nostalgia: double-nickel speed limit coming back?
I love everything about my new state of Virginia so far, except for Gerry Connolly, the mosquitoes, and the absurdly molasses-like speed limits. I swear, well-maintained, limited-access four-lanes that would get a 65-mph sign in California get a 45-mph rating here. Mrs. See-Dub announced her general Virigina driving rubric: if you think you’re driving at a reasonable and prudent speed, you should immediately cut it back by 10 mph.
They make you sweat it, too. I understand that not only are the speed limits insanely low, but the penalties for exceeding them are insanely high. Someone told me a speeding ticket could run you over a thousand bucks. (I don’t know whether to believe that or not).
Meanwhile everyone complains about the traffic. You know, if they actually let people get to where they’re going at a reasonable clip, maybe the roads wouldn’t be quite so jammed up.
Where was I going with this? Oh, right. This retrograde and despised Virginia slow-down policy has picked up an advocate for taking it national once again–Virginia’s Senator John Warner, who for some reason everyone claims is a Republican:
Earlier this month, Mr. Warner suggested a return to the federal 55-mile-per-hour speed limit on America’s highways, as a way to save on national gasoline consumption. “I drive over 55 miles an hour, . . . sometimes 65,” he said on the Senate floor. “But I am willing to give up whatever advantage to me to drive at those speeds with the fervent hope that modest sacrifice on my part will help those people across this land . . . dealing with this financial crisis.”
Why, you pompous old gasbag. Sacrifice yourself, then. Drive–er, tell your driver to drive–55 and stay out of my way. If he doesn’t get you to the Senate floor in time to deliver another self-important gust of condescending green piety, the country will just be that much better off. The rest of us, however, have actual work to do. Leave us alone.
P.S. Any of you VA types know what it would take to knock the speed limits into line with the rest of the country?
_______________
{Post by See-Dubya}
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lol, 55 my golf cart does 30.
And aren’t traffic jams bad for gas mileage?
I’ve been driving 55 for the past 5 months. It saves gas & I fill up less often.
Now, about those seat-belt laws…
CW, this is the difference between a conservative and a liberal, in a nutshell.
The beltway is evil.
Seems like if you wanted to conserve gas, you would drive 55 regardless of whether there was a mandate or not.
Exactly and hear hear.
You’re own words convict you senator. These are choices you have made, you have neither the right nor the authority to impose your choices on the rest of us. (Regardless of what you and your fellow weasles may think.)
My point exactly, taylork
Dub,
I lived in VA for 25 of my 30 years on the planet. Here’s a few things to take to the bank.
The 1000 tickets were, in fact, real. However, its been decided to roll those back and so they should either be gone, or on the way out.
If i’m not mistaken, you’re in northern VA, like Alexandria area? Cops there are…well, very strict
Another REALLY bad place is Henrico/Hanover County, which is Richmond area…ALOT of speed traps and cops looking to score easy hits on the interstates.
I know where i grew up in the northern neck, that its mostly retirees. The speed limits there are basically never going to change i dont think. In other areas, its been the speed limit so long i’m not sure how you’d change it. guess it depends on the location.
And by the way…if you get the chance this summer, get out to the Bay. enjoy a good day of charter fishing and down home country hospitality. and watch the traffic down in the hampton/va beach area (esp during the week), traffic is a nightmare.
anything else, holler
Somewhere, Sammy Hagar is … well, Sammy Hagar.
Say you drive an hour a day at 65 MPH. At 55 MPH, it takes you an extra 10 minutes to get to where you are going.
Now, suppose your gas milage increases 10%, from 20 to 22 mpg because you have been driving slower for that hour.
Your daily drive will consume 3.25 gallons at 65 MPH but only 2.95 gallons at 55 MPH, a savings of 0.3 gallons.
At $4/gal, it has cost you ten minutes to save $1.20. So while you are dawdling along at 55 MPH, you are saving $7.20 an hour, which is a little bit more than the minimum wage, these days.
So if your time is worth the minimum wage, it makes all the sense in the world to drive 55 MPH. However, if you value your time more highly, gas savings alone should not be enough to get you to lift up on the accelerator.
And the fact that Senator Warner is advocating the double nickel shows what he thinks your time is worth…
Well put.
—
Personally, see-dubya, I can relate to your situation. When I first moved from Chicagoland to Iowa City, I constantly caught myself speeding… I have never seen so many streets with a 25 mph limit in one place in my life.
But he IS willing to drive 55, just as soon as he helps make it mandatory for EVERYONE ELSE.
The $1,000 speeding ticket is not a myth, but I heard it was repealed.
If you drive 55 in California you risk getting shot.
I know in NJ a speeding ticket can wind up costing you $1K because the extra points on your license will cause a surcharge on your insurance bill.
The typical drill is that when you get busted speeding (and everybody is speeding!), you have to spend a day in traffic school to keep the points off your license. So you pay the $250 fine, $150 for the school, and lose a day of work. Depending on how much you make, you are getting into the $1K area even with the traffic school.
The sad thing is that everybody on the road is exceeding the speed limit by 20 MPH much of the time, particularly on the Parkway. It is just random luck who gets caught. Of course, it seems like young folks in flashy cars have considerably worse luck than middle aged guys in brown sedans like mine…
I can’t drive 55 on my commute and remain sane.
but i can
And to refer back to another post…i value my time incredibly. But i dont have to speed, break the law, or act like a turd on the freeway. I budget my time so that i arrive where i need to be, on time or earlier, without having to hit the nitro. Just good time management at that point.
Anyone ever notice that all the proponents of 55 and other driving speed restrictions are always nestled in the Eastern Corridor of big cities where they never drive very far at one time to begin with … an area that is full of subway and bus riders, massive traffic jams on the poorly designed highways they have, and lousy drivers everywhere you turn …
Hell … in New Jersey they don’t even know how to make a proper left turn so they have those stupid “jug handles” all over the place to tie traffic up even more …
Out here in the west we drive hundreds of miles at a time … so that 10 mph difference amounts to many extra hours on the road … my time is worth much more than the cost of a gallon of gas …
As a Missourian living in Virginia I can tell you that I was never accepted–Virginians are just that way. It wasn’t horrible, but because I didn’t have a Vuh-jinyah surname, I was always asked ‘just what’s in Missouri? Corn? Buffalo?’
Anyway, I don’t see the big deal about speeding there, especially on that hellish beltway. Anytime I had to drive on it, I sat still for two hours.
LOL See Dub, I was just on the 90 freeway going 85 and was P!$$3d at the car in front going 70. I lost good time while the freeway wasn’t a parking lot. Damn shame.
btw CW … our interstate speed limit in AZ is 75 mph … I have major city streets that have 50 mph speed limits posted …
Abstract, this is a far better solution than forcing everyone across the board to drive at what could be an incredibly inefficient speed…I like your approach–figure out the best way to resolve the issue for yourself, without the nanny state to tell you what to do.
Welcome to Virginia, See-Dubya.
If you want to feel as if you’re going fast at 55, try some of the smaller state roads to the west–one lane in each direction, and they may wind a bit.
Outside of noVA some of the interstates are posted at 65.
Additionally, New Kent County strictly enforces the speed limits.
I have to drive quite a bit… I don’t want slower traffic I want MORE GASOLINE!
DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL
Yes DL, and that extra time on the road widens that bulls eye on the back for the freeway shooters.
RaisedRight
gotta slow down those speeding tractors you know …
Or getting run over by big rigs. 55 is too slow for the freeways. I’d be happy if people drove that slow on surface streets.
BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD
More refineries.
Thanks
Yeah, there are places where you’re always a “come-here”, which i think is kind of dumb, but…i can see where you’re coming from.
And CW, just wait till you get someone giving you the Virginia Turn Signal when they get mad in traffic
i’m convinced VA has obnoxiously low speed limits for the revenue. it makes no sense one can drive on Rt50 @ 45mph, when there are houses on the road, but only 55mph on 395 where there are none. the GW parkway is even 50mph.
but i’ve found that VA cops only pull you over if they get the big kahuna – over 20mph over the speed limit.
but VA is the reason alone for the several points on my license.
BlameAmericaLast said:
All they have to do is suspend the absurd enviro-nut restrictions and let them reopen some of the over 150 that had to shut down since the early 80s because they couldn’t afford to pay for the additional mandated air quality and other restrictions placed on them … reopen some of those while they are building new more modern ones right next to them …
The guys an idiot who should say out of auto related issues. In Ca. we drive together at the speed that seems appropriate. If you get on the freeway before 6 in the morning its not unusual for traffic to be going 80 or more. After 6 the speeds go down as more people are leaving for work this goes on until about 9 am. At the peak we are doing maybe 10 mph but it slows down even more as you encounter interchanges. As long as everyone is doing the same speed the cops cant pull everyone over so they look for the ones who are doing 85 and changing lanes when everyone else is doing 80. 55 starts the bottleneck early and helps it become worse as the morning wears on same thing in the afternoon between 3 and 7. One question, how much carbon does a car expel going from point a to point b at 55, at 65, 75, + ? The slower the speed the longer the trip the more carbon that gets pumped out. It would be interesting to know how much extra carbon is produced as the entire commute is slowed down on a massive scale for everyone at every hour. And ajmontana is right, the faster you go the harder it is to draw a bead on you.
What a martyr. Gee…thanks you soooo very much for your personal sacrifice for all us little folk.
This is the same kind of crap you hear when it comes to the rich that claim they would gladly pay more taxes “For the greater good”, and feel since they can do it then why not everyone else. Sort of like the fools that are saying $10 a gallon gas is more than reasonable.
Once again, personal freedom is beginning to erode. What we need is a national Autobahn type freeway system. On I-5 here in California, they should make the fast lane a real fast lane, allowing anyone to drive as fast as they want as long as it is safe…just like in Germany. This would help free up congestion, allow for better gas consumption as a whole etc.
The money and fuel allegedly conserved by lowering the speed limit to 55 is miniscule. The 65 MPH spped limit is not mandatory anyway. It is a LIMIT, not a mandatory level…this means that if you truly feel that driving 55 MPH will save gas, save lives or whatever knee-jerk hippie feel good slogan you choose to believe, you are more than free to drive that speed…you just cannot go above 65 MPH. There is no one holding a gun to your head to drive faster than that. Just move to the right lane and go.
I, however, prefer to go 65-70 MPH, and rejoiced in the 90′s when the 55 was finally thrown away. In fact, I longed to visit Montana at the time, for there were sections of that state where speed limits did not exist.
So, if you feel the need to slow down, by all means, be my guest. I won’t tell you what to do. However, i would appreciate the same respect and keep your damn hands, words and laws away from my ability to put the top down on my car and enjoy my ride to where ever it is I am going at 65-70 MPH…you pompous, egotistical Naziesque windbag.
Around here I’ve driven slightly over the speed limit, and have been passed by the police.
I know that driving slower might save gas, but I get bored to death feeling as if I could get out and walk beside my truck.
I remember Jimmy Carters national 55 mph speed limit. And I’d rather not go back to it.
A Mind, good for you, but do us all a favor and stay out of the left lane. Thanks.
i’m just saying i’ve decided to follow the law…i dont think it should be mandated the way the senator is suggesting, but it takes some of the shine off when we ask people to follow other laws we like and then blatantly break ones we dont.
I dont drive like i’m 90 years old. i just drive like i have some common sense, and have kids in my car.
as it is, there are far too many morons on the highways, racing and tearing around and driving like the self absorbed pieces of human fecal matter they are…cutting people off, driving 90 in a 65, and generally acting like jack@$$es on the roads.
If you want to be one of those, thats fine. just dont be surprised when people get mad at you for it, thats all.
OT, Hey AJ, no more worries about being shot in California. They solved the problem today!
Boy they sure told them. “You can’t possess drugs.” LOL LOL LOL
I’m just glad that the school zones here are a feasible 25 mph, not the slower-than-idle 15 mph of my native Pennsylvania. Natural selection has to happen some time.
we could have fun with it, maybe set it up so school zones are like Frogger!
ROFLMAO
Raybury, you owe me a refill of my coffee.
I just got back from a 4000 mile trip last week. I couldn’t (and wouldn’t) have even made it with a 55 mph speed limit. On the other hand, going much over 65 is pretty much out of the question anyway, because that’s the limit for trucks in most states and they (and the construction) pretty much dictate how fast the traffic moves. Now out in West Texas, where the speed limit on IH10 is 85, you can make some time…..
Preach it, brother.
See-Dubya, Connolly’s opponent is Keith Fimian who has been soliciting me for contributions to his campaign. He’s not the hawk I hoped he would be on illegal immigration, but he does support the border fence, SAVE, E-verify and eliminating the harboring of criminal illegal immigrants. As his opponent is Connolly, I have sent the check.
I live and work in Virginia, but the average speed on my commute is more like 70mph. This morning, nobody even bothered to slow down for a state trooper in the median.
Sorry, but 55 is just unreasonably slow on a wide-open highway. But if you feel it’s important to maintain that speed, please, please, please, stay in the right lane!
“I drive over 55 miles an hour, . . . sometimes 65,” he said on the Senate floor. “But I am willing to give up whatever advantage to me to drive at those speeds with the fervent hope that modest sacrifice on my part will help those people across this land . . . dealing with this financial crisis.”
Spoken like a true liberal. What a bunch of rhetorical, political posturing tripe! Did it dawn on this idiot that people dealing with a financial crisis can slow down if they want to and that his driving slower won’t save them a nickel?
I’m still waiting for the people of any state to vote out an idiot like this. Just one would do for now. I pledge to vote against Martinez and Nelson in Florida.
Are we serious about energy independence or not? Controlling our urge to out-race everyone is a good place to start. It will also save lives; when two cars collide at 65, the damage is worse than at 55. Let’s all grow up, people!
I drive 100 miles a day, and most is on the freeway with the speed limit being 65.
I have started to drive 55 MPH, and my gas milage has gone up 20% plus. Also, I get to work within 5 to 10 minutes of my normal time when I was driving 65 MPH.
I am not a hippie earth freak, I am doing this just to save the money, not that I can’t afford it.
I always stay in the slow lane, and I almost get run over everyday. So just as you have the right to drive 65 MPH plus, I should have the right to drive 55 MPH without getting run over, people tailgating me or people giving me the finger.
Going slower does save gas, and it is not just a little bit. You don’t have to lie to try to make you point, unless you are ALGORE.
Dunno, see_dubya. The state lowered a lot of ours here in TN on the interstates from 70mph to 65mph because we are in what they call a “non-attainment” area. I guess it has to do with that global
warmingcoolingclimate change stuff.We have perfectly good four lane divided highways here that are posted at 45mph that would could easily be 55mph, if now 65mph too.
If they make me drive 55, can I at least lose the seat belt then?
We tried the 55 limit last month on our 7 hour trip to see the grandparents. Once I found out that driving 55mph was going to keep me in the van ‘enjoying’ my four children an extra 45 minutes, our speed increased drastically.
Like the song says, “Everything old is new again”. Boy, 55 MPH speed limit, every other day gas rationing, 21% prime rate, 10% unemployment, 14% home mortgages, and the best 12-14% inflation… Yeah, the 70s, those were the GOOD OL’ DAYS…
JohnAnsell; see my post #3
We agree.
Move to Dallas. The roads are apparently lawless. I think the police are too busy with the murders and car accidents to catch speeders. I regularly hit a hundred mph without any consequence.
I’m a Virginia resident and can empathize with see-dubya’s musings. Unfortunately I am not optimistic that anyone can do anything about the ridiculous limits imposed here…
Why do I have Sammy Hagar running through my head, pre-Van Halen, by the way?
Once again, people who govern in the East should stay the hell out of issues that affect the West.
Let this windbag pompous spank blanket drive from LA to Phoenix at 55 in July and see how he likes it. He is probably using our tax dollars for gas, and probably in a large SUV with a driver that is funded by us.
So help me with the math, is driving at 65 in a camry going to cost the same as a Escalade?
How about these useless windbags dealing with the gas prices and drill like they should have done 20 years ago. How about our nuclear plants they should have built 30 years ago? How about staying the hell out of everything and let the business people of this country get some things done instead of bending over for every hemp wearing, dope smoking, smelly, two bit, granola chewing, windmill loving, prius battery polluting, gore worshipping, smelly, green spouting, liberal, anti-american hippy????????????
And yes, I said smelly twice. Once for the hippies and once for the politicians.
LOL wighttrasch, I missed that one. Here in Cali they just passed a law that you can’t use your cell phone (by the way, I never use my cell while driving and don’t understand why people do) and even in some areas ban smoking in your car. Nanny states are getting out of control.
You forgot the Birkenstock-wearing.
This is NONSENSE!! Highway fatalities have fallen over the last fifty years, no matter what the “legal” speed limit.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008621
Second, we cannot achieve “energy independence” by driving slower — if we could, we would have seen a trend in that direction the last time we tried it, from 1974 to 1995, when the hated 55 mph limit was repealed.
We didn’t. Our dependence has instead stedily increased.
“Growring up” calls for a hard look at the facts, not invocation of pieties.
QED
What about communal living?
Fie on the 55 mph. My new car gets about 35 mpg at 75 mph, sometimes better. Slowing down to VW microbus speed will accomplish nothing tangible. And, for anyone who’s ever driven in Wyoming, Montana or the high plains states, 55 mph on the freeways is a nefarious form of torture.
On July 24th, 2008 at 12:30 pm, mkarnes2007 said:
Move to Dallas. The roads are apparently lawless. I think the police are too busy with the murders and car accidents to catch speeders. I regularly hit a hundred mph without any consequence.
Reminds me of a joke I once heard: Once, someone set his cruise control on 55 mph while driving outside of Dallas. He was passed on the right side by the county worker mowing the grass along side the highway.
I imagine that the scenery passing that slowly at 55 in those wide open areas could get pretty monotonous, huh?
Nancy Pelosi claims Bush has never had a new idea. How’s having some old, senile coot in congress recycling old ideas work for ya, Nan?
The High Cost of the 55 MPH Speed Limit. These politicians have nothing to offer but decades old policies or already failed solutions. Does anyone think it’s a coincidence that they are rolling out these policies of the past now in hopes that in the 20 or so years that it has been a new generation of lemmings have grown up? I think they are counting on fooling the newbees its up to us beenarounds to get these people up to speed on the issues especially the ones that have been tried and failed before. I’m going to start referring to DC as that 70’s show.
The real reason why I left Virginia…I can’t drive 55
!
Seriously, the traffic in San Diego is far less worse than it is in Northern VA. There are trouble spots at various times of course, but the D.C. metro area rivals L.A. and the tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT) for the most hellacious traffic in America.
See-Dubya,
You’ve cited one of several reasons why this Viginian (born and raised) is happy he now lives in North Carolina.
Mind your own damn business and don’t even THINK about imposing YOUR beliefs on me or anyone else. Your arrogance is far more immature than what speed I drive my car at.
It is just that arrogant, sanctimonious attitude that I teach AGAINST with my children.
When are these Liberals going to realize that in THIS country…so far…we still have a thing called FREEDOM OF CHOICE!!!!
If they want to live somewhere that their every movement, every thought, every purchase etc. is controlled by someone or something else other than what they themselves deem important and worthwhile for their own family, there are hundreds of planes leaving every day and there is no one keeping them from leaving. In fact, i am positive that there are countless people who would hold the door for them to make sure it doesn’t hit ‘em where the Good Lord split ‘em on the way out.
Thank God, THANK GOD! I don’t have to hop on the interstate anymore to get to the office. Luckily I’m a short 10 minute drive. It’s pretty well 35 MPH from home to office daily. I used to have to drive the interstate 2 hours a day back and forth to work and I will tell you that having a 65mph speedlimit kept me out of trouble and with a job many-a-day. (overslept) You can make up alot of time doing 75-80 MPH and not having to worry about a ticket for Reckless driving adding to your trouble, but just an ordinary speeding ticket.
Yes, lets. When 2 cars crash at 55, the damage is worse than at 45. Screw 55, make the speed limit 45. Just think of all the lives and gas we’ll save. Even better, let’s switch back to the horse and buggy. We’d save big time on gas AND lives. Plus, all the buggy makers would finally be back in business. Just think of all the buggy maker jobs that would be created too.
It’s a no-brainer…
Having lived in Northern Virginia, I don’t miss the traffic, especially the Beltway. I do miss the rural roads though. IMO, 55 mph isn’t going to happen at the national level.
RetFireman said: #69, Thank you. You saved me some time as that’s exactly what I was going to write.
I used to drive 70mph on 70mph highways, but not anymore. At $4+/gallon gas, I drive 60mph. I would drive 55mph, except that it is already plenty dangerous at 60.
Several times, people have nearly rammed into me, even though the highway I drive has light traffic and has 2-3 lanes.
All of those people that are telling him to start driving 55 now are missing the fact that, if he is the only one who does, he will die in a car wreck.
I dropped my speed and I save on gas. I would like to drop it a little more, but that would be too dangerous. Please remember this the next time you flame someone for wanting to have the speed limits lowered.
It seems odd that the citizenry can vote whether or not physicians can use marijuana in their practice of medical care, and yet we can’t vote on speed limits.
In California, a vote on whether or not to allow the citizens of Los Angeles a vote on hosting the ’84 Olympics was dismissed by then Mayor Bradley. He said the issue was too complicated to vote on and also threw in that it would cost too much.
I vote to keep the speed limit at 65 and 70. Build the engines to perform better instead of penalizing the travelers and trucking companies. What a bunch of idiots we have in office. It just keeps getting worse.
I dunno what you’re driving… When I go from 70 to 55 I see about a 10% difference.
However, even with a 20% difference, slowing down is still not a paying proposition at $4/gal. Your time is simply worth more than that.
Yeah, they’ll tag you for speeding in a second. I think the thousand dollar thing is only for over 80 mph or something. . . it’s a new rule.
You can’t have radar detectors either. If they stop you and find one, they’ll confiscate it.
NC and GA and TN have fast roads. GA people drive like maniacs and never under 80. But don’t speed in SC or VA.
Here, here, Xblade!
If it saves just one child, it will all be worth it!
I’ve always argued that speed limits of any sort are unconstitutional anyway. They don’t have speed limits in Europe. People know how fast they can go. . . if they wreck and kill themselves, well they can only do it once.
I never understood why we have speed limits anyway other than to generate revenue for the local communities.
ThackerAgency said:
Hey, and if some speeding, out of control driver crashes into you and kills you, they can only do that to you once!
Any one else remember the National speed limit of 35 MPH? No I did not have a drivers license then but do recall that limit. Hint the White House was occupied by a Democrat at that time.
To the old farts and other slow drivers who don’t mind driving 55…stay in the right lane, don’t ever drive in the left lane and none of us crazies will ever have to tail-gate you or drive around you. You’re saving gas…great! I don’t mind the extra few bucks to drive 70.
orlandocajun said:
I don’t even think about driving in the left lane. That doesn’t do anything to stop people from tailgating me and/or nearly ramming into me from behind. Thank you for the courteous advice, though.
I was raised in North Carolina, right next door to the Virgina state line. Even back in the day, the Commonwealth of Virginia wasn’t known for it’s ringing endorsement of individual liberty or individual choice.
As far as any one-size-fits-all legislation from either federal or state governments goes?….I would rather be left alone to cope with the situation on my own. Locally, I’ve seen a lot more of those old, two-stroke mopeds resurrected out of the corners of local garages….two scooter showrooms have opened within ten miles of me…most locals are refilling their tanks when they get down to three-fourths full to keep the amount they have to purchase dowwn…..More people are planniing the trips they have to make. They string together the errands they have to accomplish and try to get them done in one outing… There seems to be an increase in morotcycle ownership and usage….And I’m seeing more people riding bikes and walking.
My point is that people will cope and find solutions that work for them and that fit the local conditions. We don’t need more “help” in the form of restrictive legislation from either Washingtom or our state lawmakers. We the People can deal with life based on common sense and creativity.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of that in Washington D.C, these days….
My car is not designed to be gas efficient at 55 MPH. Doing tests on it, my car tests out at being the most efficient at 62 MPH.
So whoever told me that I can save money by driving 55? No thank you. It’s inefficient.
I haven’t been over there for a while, so maybe things have changed – but when I was there, there was a national speed limit in Germany of 100 kph (62 mph) except for non-urban stretches of the Autobahn.
Fifty five alive! Carter mania, liberals so yearn for those glory days of double digit inflation, dumping on the military and sucking the life and moral fiber out of Americans.
No wonder they’re so excited about Barack.
Can’t say that I do, Bear. I may have to ask my father about that one. He was born in 1929 into a family that still used the horse and buggy mode of transportation.
I wasn’t too terribly old back in the 70′s but I don’t remember anything from that period that I want to see or go through again today. Well, there was some good music, I guess, but that’s about it.
Libs are good at picking out arbitrary limits and declaring them optimum. They do the same thing with “global warming”. They don’t seem to notice that cars are most inefficient when they’re sitting still in a traffic jam due to construction or congestion (or accidents caused by idiots driving 55 mph in a 70mph zone). I say, let’s ban traffic jams, and fine the city of Austin into oblivion.
Please remember this when you and John Warner want to tell the other 299,999,998 Americans to drive 55. NO!
C-W (…always wondered…Country Western?),
Welcome to the Stompin’ Thus Always To Tyrants state! I’m in Arlington (20 years strong, hometown: DC, across the river), not too far away from said domicile somewhere around Fairfax (can be idyllic, can be suburban congestion inferno…”Dante’s danke schön…”).
This is generaly a Red-Lite(NO pun intended) State…do tell: what have other states done to bring back the speed limit up to par? I figured everyone was up to at least 65 for the past few years. Other than mass-petitioning, I don’t know what to do. To me it seems they are occasionally easily swayed, that’s why I think that might suffice.
As far as the über-penalties (to pay for highways…ha!) go, I thought they were rescinded in Richmond a short while back. Hmm….
What do I know…been back a year after 6 in Berlin/Berchtesgaden. You’re welcome to reach me for orientation, beer (what’s the difference) or anything else you need to know; feel free to contact me per registration info.
Here in Hawaii 55 would be considered a gift. From 7 – 9 and 3 – 6 traffic averages about 5 on the freeways…
Obama’s coming here on vacation after the FlipFlopapalooza tour – I can hardly wait. I wonder if he’ll wear his lapel pin upside down in support of radical native Hawaiians…
If 5 million commuters in the NYC metropolitan area spent an additional 5 minutes in their cars in the morning, and everyone’s time was worth $7 an hour, that works out to $2.9MM every morning sucked out of the GDP, no? That would pay for an entire street of forclosure “victims” to be bailed out!
A ban on smoking in your car? GIVE ME A BREAK HERE.
That goes beyond the nanny state. STOP THE MADNESS !!
I have tested this myth myself and I get better millage at 75 mph than 55 mph in my BMW 325. I asked my mechanic and he says it depends on where your gearing is, so this saving of fuel business is not a slam dunk prospect.
I cant drive 55.
Simple – cede Georgetown and all the damned yankee liberal carpetbaggers around it in the DC suburbs to DC. They’ll be happier there with gun control and ultra-liberal politics, and the rest of VA (the REAL VA) will not miss them one bit.
I’m a Roanoke boy originally. There’s still red state left in VA, but not much of it N of Richmond.
My car, bought and paid for by me, my cigarettes, bought and paid for by me, exorbitant taxes included, my hightway, bought and paid for by me, I’ll smoke in it if I please !!!!!
txvet2, If you’ve driven in Virginia you’ll know that MOST of Virginia is far more remote than anything you’ll find in Germany. . . and the roads are much better too.
I fully expect to be killed by some lady going the speed limit changing the radio or talking on the phone or fixing her makeup long before I’ll be killed by someone exceeding the speed limit.
Speeding isn’t the problem (especially on the highway). If you want to go slow to save gas, that’s your right. But if I want to go fast, that should be my right.
Why do they make cars that go that fast if they REALLY wanted to keep speeds low? They could restrict the engines to 70 mph if it was important. Instead they give you cars that go twice the speed limit and give a policeman a job that will earn revenue for the local government.
Speed limits aren’t meant to keep people safe, they are meant to generate revenue for the government. If they wanted to keep people safe, they’d mandate restrictions on the speed that the cars CAN go before issuing an inspection sticker.