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Thread: We Can't drive 55 ?

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    Default We Can't drive 55 ?

    EYES ON THE ROAD
    By JOSEPH B. WHITE

    Relearning How to Drive 55
    Cutting Highway Speeds Can Help Save Fuel,
    But Are Americans Willing to Slow Down?
    July 14, 2008

    Even with gas prices cresting above $4 a gallon, large SUVs, pickup trucks and even Toyota Priuses barrel down freeways here in suburban Detroit at more than 75 miles per hour -- well beyond the 55 mph that was the national speed limit during the '70s and '80s.

    If the U.S. Energy Department's ( http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/driveHabits.shtml )calculations are right, all these lead foots could save the equivalent of 29 cents to 94 cents a gallon if they slowed down just to 60 mph -- and reduce the fuel they burn by about 7% to 23%.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1215...d=hpp_us_autos

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    I can't.

    Sorry.
    "Fuck you niggers" July 11, 2009 Tinfoil explaining how conservatives are unfairly labeled as racists.

    "You deserve to be beheaded and for your head to placed on a pike, in the middle of the park, where children can see what happens to those that act the way you do." August 5, 2009 USFreedom911's response to a left leaning opinion.

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    I can't on the interstate either, taint safe.
    even for an old fart.

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    I don't want you too!!!

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    people already are driving slower on highways
    Q: Senator Obama, would you take the same pledge? No tax increases on people under $250,000?

    OBAMA: I not only have pledged not to raise their taxes, I've been the first candidate in this race to specifically say I would cut their taxes.

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    Whenever the driving speeds on national highways were increased from 55 to 65 gas consumption went up 1%.
    "Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34

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    Quote Originally Posted by Watermark View Post
    Whenever the driving speeds on national highways were increased from 55 to 65 gas consumption went up 1%.

    Several factors are different now. More cars for one.
    Also all driving is not done on 65-70 MPH interstates.
    Check out the link I provided in the middle of the post.

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    Quote Originally Posted by uscitizen View Post
    Several factors are different now. More cars for one.
    Irrelevant.

    Quote Originally Posted by uscitizen View Post
    Also all driving is not done on 65-70 MPH interstates.
    Which should effect the 55 MPH speed limit how?

    America isn't going to go back down to 55. Sorry.
    "Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34

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    You are giving me a severe headache. For whatever reason, maybe you are too young to remember it, maybe you don't have the mental capacity to understand it, I am not sure, but for whatever reason, you don't understand that we tried this once before. It does save fuel on paper, in theory, but it simply does not work in practicality. If you will take just five minutes to step away from the koolaid vat and listen, you may understand why.

    First off, people never drive the posted speed limits. On average, they drive 5-10 mph over the posted speed limits. When the limit is reduced to 55, they tend to drive 10-15 mph over the speed limits. So the average fuel savings is never going to be the "Utopian" ideal of what your studies indicate, because people will not drive the speed limit.

    The fuel savings studies never factor in the individual drivers rate of acceleration. How fast you go from 0 to 55, or 70... this has much more impact on fuel economy, and if we educated people about this, or made our cars with governors on the engine that kept them from accelerating too fast, it would save considerably more fuel than driving 55. We aren't going to do this either, because Americans want cars which accelerate quickly, so they can get to where they are going faster.

    Finally, the effects of a 55 mph speed limit on the economy, has to be considered. There is a huge difference in the time it takes to transport goods across the country at 55 mph vs. 70 mph. This means the trucker has to be paid more, and fewer loads can be hauled in the same amount of time, which in essence means, the price of everything transported goes up. Not to mention, the increased number of speeding fines which are paid by the company, and subsequently reimbursed by the consumer in the form of increased prices.

    The 55 mph speed limit is successful at helping small towns finance law enforcement, it's very good at making transported goods cost the consumer more, and it probably helps the pharmaceutical industry sell more medications to people with high blood pressure during summer vacation season. But it really doesn't save that much gasoline. Not to mention the cost to re-implement the failed policy, re-making all the signs along the highways, and having to put those up all across the country, this would probably cost the government more than the savings they would realize.

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    simple to do put speed regulator moduole in the EEC. nad they won't run overe 55 mph.

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    Yep
    "Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34

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    Quote Originally Posted by uscitizen View Post
    simple to do put speed regulator moduole in the EEC. nad they won't run overe 55 mph.

    As I said, we aren't going to do that because Americans want to get to where they are going faster, not slower. There would be an influx of 'workarounds' and methods to 'beat the system' if you tried to implement such a thing, and retrofitting every car in America with this, would cost trillions, if it could even be done. I imagine there are a number of vehicles still on the road which do not have an EEC to put a module in. So what are you going to do, have some cars driving 55 max and others driving 70? That's really safe, dumbass!

    Face it, your idea is not popular, even among your pinhead brethren, yet here you are, insisting that this be forced down our throats against our will, like the little fascist bastard you are. People didn't like the 55 mph speed limit, and we voted people into office to get rid of it, and they did! We ain't going back, no matter how much your bird-brain thinks we should. Besides, I have shown you why it won't work, even if we all, by some miracle, believed in your idea!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dixie View Post
    As I said, we aren't going to do that because Americans want to get to where they are going faster, not slower. There would be an influx of 'workarounds' and methods to 'beat the system' if you tried to implement such a thing, and retrofitting every car in America with this, would cost trillions, if it could even be done. I imagine there are a number of vehicles still on the road which do not have an EEC to put a module in. So what are you going to do, have some cars driving 55 max and others driving 70? That's really safe, dumbass!

    Face it, your idea is not popular, even among your pinhead brethren, yet here you are, insisting that this be forced down our throats against our will, like the little fascist bastard you are. People didn't like the 55 mph speed limit, and we voted people into office to get rid of it, and they did! We ain't going back, no matter how much your bird-brain thinks we should. Besides, I have shown you why it won't work, even if we all, by some miracle, believed in your idea!
    It wouldn't cost trillions. That's absurd.
    "Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34

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    If people are willing to spend the extra cash, why should we attempt to force them not to?
    Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
    - -- Aristotle

    Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto.
    - -- The Buddha

    It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
    - -- Aristotle

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