The Seventies have returned in all of their glory, with inflation looming, high gas prices, alternative fuels, CAFE standards, and now, you guessed it, an attempt to bring back the 55 mile per hour speed limit. James Baxter, President of the National Motorist Association, is perplexed by this retro attempt at mindless stupidity:
In 1984, in what started out to be a promotional ‘study' of the ‘Benefits of the 55 MPH National Maximum Speed Limit' the Transportation Research Board determined that keeping the 55 MPH speed limit would result in a 0.18 percent (less than two tenths of one percent) fuel savings" (Source: TRB Report, 55: A Decade of Experience; page 176).So, our guardians in Congress want to spill blood for oil, and I doubt that we`ll have much protest from the valiant Democrats who were so enraged at our invasion of Iraq. If, by their reasoning, we should have No Blood for Oil abroad, doesn't it stand to reason we should not impose it at home?
"This is not an amount that will devastate the oil economy of the Middle East. The same study did determine that the 55 MPH national speed limit was wasting approximately one billion man hours a year (page 123). This did not include state trooper man hours being burned up enforcing an arbitrary speed limit on the safest highways in the nation.
"For that matter, it has been shown to take MORE lives than the faster speeds: today the national and the interstate highway fatality rate is far lower than at any time during the ‘55 era.' In fact, the last time the fatality rate increased from year to year was in the mid 1970's when compliance and enforcement were at their highest levels."
[the safety aspect isn't word games, every study done reaches the same conclusion: it's speed disparity that increases accidents. The 'average' US motorists' speed on highways is about 68 mph. - the further you move the posted speed away from that centerline, the greater the risk becomes - for zero.point 18 % fuel savings.]
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