Is it time to drive 55 again?

B

Boult

Active Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2003
Messages
4,424
Reaction score
0
With Gas Prices Rising and the Planet Warming, Is It Time To Drive 55 Again? | Autopia from Wired.com


Advocacy groups like drive55.org say rolling the speed limit back to 55 will save fuel, reduce pollution and save lives. It seems logical, but not everyone is convinced slower speeds bring any real benefit, and the debate is heating up.


I am like... oh boy... another debate going on... first, driving age(as well as drinking age) then this...

check the link above to read the Wired article, what do you think?

I do not want us to drive slower again... It should be other way around, let us drive faster to get to where we want to be and give us higher MPG or go green like hybird or such.

Discuss!
 
Another Here.. "Oh boy" :roll:

I hope there different way make auto running maybe with grease oil or corn oil etc.. :dunno2:
 
Been there, done that, not interested in going back.
 
no way, driving at 55 is darn too slow. i would rather have them improve cars that can save fuel at higher speeds but gear ratios and stuff like that. i like going 75 mph.

many people still go fast even with high fuel prices.
 
No way about speed limit to 55. :nono:

Proud to be speeder!!
 
Common sense says yes...people spoiled on gas and speed. limits of 75 and 70 have people going 80 and 85 regularly..really sucks up gas at those speeds even 70 a big difference...when limit was 55 people would go 60 and 65 which I think is plenty fast a guzzling enough..we should play our part globally and not be pigs.
60 miles an hour sounds good to me.
 
I read in the Newspaper

A man wrote in the Newspaper said he drive in a 65 instead of 70, he noticed the differences that when he was going 70 and his gas went down fast and he tried going 65 and his gas didn't go down fast and he said it save his gas by going 65.

I went between 60 to 65, that guy was right it did save my gas, I realized the differences.
 
Trailing behind a semi truck with a trailer helps saves gas by few percent, too. It helps with less air resistance against your car. Inflating your tires a bit over the recommended tire pressure of 32 psi also helps with gas mileage, too.
 
ugh going back to 55?! hope not! i rather to keep 70! it good speed but i know it sucks the gas.. what if it is hyrid, then i think it would be better to stay on 70 or 75! who knows! ha!
 
simple, keep your vehicle lightweight by remove useless items away. Make better effect on gas.

I would like to see more transportation train on most metro city. More route and better schedule, I ask for.
 
sequoias said:
no way, driving at 55 is darn too slow. i would rather have them improve cars that can save fuel at higher speeds but gear ratios and stuff like that. i like going 75 mph.

many people still go fast even with high fuel prices.
Click to expand...

It matters more over longer distances.

1 mile at 55 will take about 1 minute (and 5.4 seconds)
1 mile at 75 will take 48 seconds

25 miles at 55 will require at least 27 minutes and 30 seconds
25 miles at 75 takes at least 20 minutes

75 miles at 55 miles an hour will require 82 minutes, 22 minutes longer than if you traveled at 75 mph.
 
Driving at 55 on autobahn ??? It would make me feel stress and :zzz: to end severe accidents...
 
if the law go back to 55 MPH, it would most def keep the police busy busting the speeders. The cops should be busy busting the much more crimes than the speeders.
 
jenni-m said:
It matters more over longer distances.

1 mile at 55 will take about 1 minute (and 5.4 seconds)
1 mile at 75 will take 48 seconds

25 miles at 55 will require at least 27 minutes and 30 seconds
25 miles at 75 takes at least 20 minutes

75 miles at 55 miles an hour will require 82 minutes, 22 minutes longer than if you traveled at 75 mph.
Click to expand...

Interesting comparsion on 55 vs 75 with distance traveled.
 
sequoias said:
Interesting comparsion on 55 vs 75 with distance traveled.
Click to expand...

Yup, it is interesting how much time is -actually- saved by going faster.
I messed up though, the first one is actually 1 minute and 5.9 seconds, so may as well say 6 seconds... I forgot some rounding on the decimals. (not that it matters) :)
 
Let's do another comparison.

(I'll show how to do the formula in case others want to check their mileage vs. time)
You can do distance / speed * 60
Or distance / (speed / 60)
I'm not sure which one is better, but they are close. Whatever is easier.

I'll do this the quicker way.
Let's say someone drives to work 25 miles at 55 mph, 5 days a week, every week for a year.

25 / 55 * 60 = 27.27 minutes. We multiply this by 2 because he has to get home also. 27.27 * 2 = 54.55 minutes

54.55 * 5 * 52 = 14183
14183 / 60 / 24 = 10 days travel time going to and from work, per year.

Now we will look at what happens if he travels at 75 mph

25 / 75 * 60 * 2 * 5 * 52 / 60 / 24 = 7.22 days spent going to and from work per year.

Edit, its probably more accurate without partial days? So just 52 weeks will do (I changed it just now). But the answers are still close enough either way you do it.
 
Last edited:
You can also shorten 25 / 75 * 60 * 2 * 5 * 52 / 60 / 24 = 7.22
to 25 / 75 * 2 * 5 * 52 / 24 = 7.22
and still get the same answer. I just used the 60's to keep track of the conversion to minutes and back, when creating the formula. But once you have it down, they are redundant.

And why is there a 30 minute editing limit? :rl:
I like to refine my posts... and some times it takes longer than that (due to trouble in my thought process vs communication process...)
 
Back
Top