The main beneficiaries of a 55mph speed limit will be insurance companies, because tickets given for exceeding 55 will allow them to raise rates on drivers who don’t pose a greater risk of claims.

Clayton Cramer has a good post about the harms of low speed limits.

Steve Ehrbar is wrong when he says limits the zone of impracticality for 55 to the Sierra Nevada. Obviously, he’s either never driven on I-5, or has forgotten that it’s west of the Sierra Nevada. But “95th meridian to the Diablo Range” doesn’t sound as good. But even that’s too limiting. I-280 in San Mateo County should have a limit of about 85, because it’s a nice wide road, with good visibility, and some damn big hills that are hard to climb if one starts at 55mph at the bottom. And part of I-280 is *west* of downtown San Francisco.

Clinton is just another Collectivist who knows how to live the good life while creating equalized poverty for everyone else.

I’ll offer a trade. I’ll accept 55 mile per hour speed limit if Hollywood would stop wasting so much energy creating worthless junk.

Andrew, with due respect, can I ask where you got that from? It seems to contradict what I’ve read here. That link says that 2/3rds of all US oil use goes to transportation, and of that 2/3rds, 2/3rds of that is directly refined into gasoline (as opposed to diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil for large things like oceangoing ships). It’s all said under “U.S. Consumption by Sector”.

Again, this is said in all due respect; I’m not trying to troll you. If you have other sources, I’m happy to look at them.

Not only that, but only about 1/4 of USA energy usage comes from transportation, and only a fraction of *that* is from automobiles (I don’t have the number handy). So even a big reduction in automotive usage will have only a small effect on USA oil consumption, which in turn will have only a tiny effect on world consumption.

Moreover, the 55-mile speed limit doesn’t work–at least not where I’ve been looking. There’s a stretch of highway around here where the speed limit goes from 65 to 55, and drivers’ behavior doesn’t change — they still drive between 65 and 70 regardless of the posted limit.

In my experience, far too many people believe that changing laws will automatically change people’s behavior. In practice, people resist changing their behavior unless they have a reason to do so that makes sense to them. Absent such a reason, changing laws merely encourages disrepect for all law.

you said – “…we ain’t squeezing any Sheikh by lowering the limit to 55mph”.

You are right, but I’m pretty much fed up with our lack of seriousness about oil supply/demand. To reduce the Sheikhs pocket change won’t solve our little muslim issue. But, an outright Manhattan Project-scale effort at alternative fuel (anything that is NOT Oil) will either escalate Jihad or drain it of funding. I think either is preferrable to the slow “death” we are experiencing now.

Yes, I know there are issues associated with alternative fuels, but to fight over a resource that is dwindling and used as a club in a war against us is foolish. Especially in a country that has some of the best engineering minds in the world.

The oil companies? If it is bio-fuel, Who has the cracking plants and distribution? They will probably reduce in size, but will be more profitable (in the long run) due to stability of supply. But, then again who in this capatilistic country cares about them? Well, me for one.. You can’t have a government directive kill an industry and expect anyone else to pony up money for another. I wonder how much foreign investment capital is moving into Venezuela right now? The oil companies need to be included in this. They probably are the single best source for plant engineering in the world.

If it’s “other”, let it be “other”. Let nuclear plants sprout up everywhere. Possibly power for hydrogen seperation? The old lefty idea of Nuc plants being ticking time bombs has been thoroughly debunked. The waste product? Seems like we have an issue there, but there have been good people working on that for decades. Without the paranoid delusions of “environmentalist” thought, we might be surprised at what they come up with. Hell, there’s lots of space in space…

Yep, we’ll have energy discrepancies with alternative fuels (maybe/probably), but Detroit, Tokyo, Bonn, etc. will deal with that.

Companies spring up every day with ways to deal with seemingly insurmountable problems that others think are..well, insurmountable. Remember when Dick Tracy watches were thought to be insurmountable, only available in a comic book? The idea that it is too hard just chaps my.., you know.

India and China? What, everyone thinks they wouldn’t like to get rid of the “Oil needle” early in their capititalistic development? Sell them the technology. (They’ll probably steal it anyway, but..)

We need to get off our dead a**es, take a small(?) hit now to end this war – finally and surely. People will scream, kick and probably sue (Mexico). Let them eat technology.

Anyone have the state revenue figures from speeding tickets when the speed limit was 55 mph? I wouldn’t bet the farm, but I’d imagine they were an excellent source of revenue…

Dan we ain’t squeezing any Sheikh by lowering the limit to 55mph. Have you ever heard of China and India? and their growth rate? We’yre long past the largest consumer of oil.

They raised the speed limit to 65mph in many places in NY and guess what the Trooper’s Union is concerned about the new hiring of Troopers, who usually pay their own salary in tickets and then plenty more.

I drive 30-40,000 miles per year and now that it’s 65 I NEVER get tickets on the highways any longer. I drive about 75mph and that’s fine. Driving 68 and below is torturous.

The tax $$$$ to the state and local municpalities is astounding, I don’t need to see any figures.

Mike

Who prevented drilling in ANWR and off the Florida coast? Who voted for the botique blends? Ethanol? Who allows the frivolous lawsuits preventing new refineries being built in the US?

Hillary the fascist can stuff it, along with the rest of the imperialists in DC.

If the limit were *not* applied to trucking, then obvious safety issue due to different speeds in the same traffic stream.

There are more nuances in heaven and on earth, Hillary, than are dreamed of in your philosophy.

1. It shifts the focus away from federal supply restrictions.

2. It asks those in wide open (red) counties to do the actual sacrifice while urban blues can feel good that the 55mph applies to everyone.