Once Road & Track were “done” with the Air-bags report (BTW, I’ve updated that post), they set their minds to the Speed Limit Act- six years after its inception, is it still necessary?
Read all about it here, taken from May 1980 issue:
At the end of the report was a questionnaire you could fill up and mail to R&T:
I sure do not miss the Double nickel!!! And not miss watching the speedometer, making sure not to go over 62, OMG!
The proper issue was not statistics, but whether state speed limits are really the business of the fed. gov’t, but I suppose that question is out of scope for a car mag. This article also reminds me that the 55 limit wasn’t Carter’s doing, but Ford’s. A lot of new federal regulation came out the Nixon/Ford era.
The 55-mph speed limit was originally instituted by President Nixon in early 1974.
Those of us in the western states railed against the 55 mph speed limit, because of vast stretches of the Interstate Highway system going through vast stretches of little-populated land, with long distances between major cities and even smaller towns.
I remember driving to San Diego in 1978. I drove on Interstate 8, and there were LONG stretches where the road was nothing but a straight line through either nearly uninhabited desert or the farms of Imperial Valley. The main interruptions were the low mountains east of Yuma and the mountains west of San Diego.
In those double-nickel days, the trip took eight hours from Tucson to San Diego. Today, with more sensible speed limits, it’s a six-hour trip, even though there’s considerably more traffic than in 1978.
At least in my experience, I-8 is still pretty lightly-traveled. The stretch between Yuma & Casa Grande is hard to beat for boredom, except maybe I-10 thru West Texas.
I, too, remember the 55 MPH limit. But in Arizona, you could drive 65, and if stopped, get a ticket for “wasting resources” or some such nonsense. The ticket did not hit your driving record with points for speeding. My 280Z and I got a few.
Back in the day of the 55 mph speed limit I had a 1971 Buick Riviera. Generally before the speed limit change, I could get about 13 MPG cruising at 75 to 80 MPH. On one long trip I made I cruised at 50 MPH, averaging around 16 MPG, so the 55 MPH speed limit would decrease fuel consumption for those on long trips. But most people are driving to and from work at lower speeds than 55, and probably in rush hour traffic, so fuel consumption is not changed.
One thing I have learned is that 55 is very slow, but cruising at 70 MPH will allow me to cover 600 to 700 mile per day, while lowering fuel consumption compared with cruising 75 to 80. I also find that 70 MPH is less tiring than pushing the speed limits. Even if you do cruise at 80 MPH, you won’t average 10 MPH faster than if you cruise at 70, because various things will interfere with staying at a constant speed (work zones for example).
Yes, a lot of cars from the ’70s are sensitive to speed in terms of fuel economy. Even though nowadays the speed limit is 70 here, I still drive my slant six volare at 55 because the fuel economy is around 28-30. It will drop below 20 if I drive at 75mph, it even drops a lot above 65mph. And wind noise contributes to the tiredness a lot at the same time, so 55-75 is the most comfortable cruising speed with consideration of safety ( deers, potholes, or bumpers on the ground ), economy, and comfort for most cars on the street these days.
Vehicles are still sensitive to speed because of classical physics, as friction (including aero drag) increases with the square of speed. OTOH, if you can shave an hour or two of trip time by sticking to the posted limit, it may reduce fatigue etc.
That’s what I’ve noticed. I own a 2001 Audi A6 that I’ve driven down to Cheyenne twice. The stretch between Casper and Cheyenne is about 175 miles of nothing. The first time that I made the trip, the speed limit was 75. I stopped three times on the way down, and was fatigued by the end of the trip.
The last time I went was about a month ago, and the limit was raised to 80MPH for about 98% of the distance. I didn’t need to stop at all, and fuel mileage was only about 0.5MPG less. That was well worth it in my mind.
You had to stop three times in 175 miles and were still tired? That must be one uncomfortable car.
You should try 150 mph. You get places really fast. I did on a 50 mile trip. I do wish I could legally drive that fast as that car now has OD and gets better mileage.
I celebrated when the double nickle was repealed. It was excruciating to drive on many rural interstate highways that were safely designed for speeds of 80 and above. Plus, the one size fits all approach of the Feds, though it may have made sense in certain situations, did not make sense in most.
I recall it being widely flaunted back then, with active evaders of law enforcement making use of CB radios and later radar detectors.
I remember that people would follow tractor trailers, because they generally had CB radios. (They also were not fitted with speed governors in those days.) Thus you’d often see a tractor trailer cruising along at 70+ mph with a line of cars behind it.
Today a great many tractor trailers have been fitted with speed governors, while the police (in Pennsylvania, at least) turn a blind eye to any speed under 75 mph, as long as you aren’t tailgating or weaving in and out of traffic, and the weather isn’t bad. The trucks are therefore now the slow drivers.
Swift – Sure Wish I had a Faster Truck.
Their rigs were governed at 55 for years after the law was repealed and even today they’re only set at 62.
Out here in the wild west Semi’s do more than 70 (although not all). Our speed limit is 80.
At first, DC wanted a 50 MPH limit, imagine that!
I remembar all the preaching about how it ‘saves lives’, but it was IMHO, a tool to discourage driving long trips. The car haters wanted everyone to stay home and only drive to work/school.
But, as we have seen, limits are up, and lives are really saved by other means. Driving 70-80 on a wide open highway will not “suddenly blow up a car” as some made it out to be.
Driving 55 would cause more accidents out here IMHO. I’d be suffering from driver fatigue at speeds that slow. We went from 75 MPH Interstates to 80 MPH. For me, that 5MPH difference really reduces driver fatigue.
It depends. Usually for a newer car ( aerodynamic car ) not obviously old, it’s dangerous to drive at 55 because people won’t realize how slow the car is until too close, especially when people were driving around 80-100.
But if driving an obviously older car ( with chrome hubcaps, vinyl roof, white wall tires, hood ornament and chrome bumpers ) at 55, it completely eliminated road rage, tailgaters, and traffic build ups. People will move to another lane as soon as they see.
Completely. I doubt that it would do it, but there is no way that I’d even try to drive my 1986 Dodge D250 at 80MPH. That would be stupid.
My Audi is a 2001. It’s older, but pretty well maintained. 80MPH for it is a leisurely run in the park.
I drove down to Denver a couple of years ago in my 1995 LeSabre with 200k on the clock back then. 75 was all I wanted to do with it- why push something older and worn out? But, going from 75 to 80 in the second trip to Cheyenne with the Audi really made a noticeable difference in fatigue.
Remember, this is Wyoming. What traffic? 😉
For years here in Michigan, the only penalty for doing less than the prior limit on freeways was a fairly nominal fine (i.e., no points). Even after the law was changed to add points for any violation, the Michigan State Police seemed to turn a blind eye to speeds less than 70, and traffic on I-75 visibly picked up the pace at the Michigan-Ohio border. When i got my Mustang SVO in 1984, though, I found myself wanting to cruise at 75+, and I decided a radar detector was a worthwhile investment. At the time, the MSP seemed to leave their radar units turned on full-time at full power, so I would get an alert a couple of miles in advance of actually seeing the patrol car and have plenty of time to slow down. A couple of times I got alerts from cars sitting at diners while the officers got supper.
Now, with the suburban and rural Interstates posted at 70, I relax at 75 and don’t worry. I stick within 5 of posted speeds on local streets and it’s good. With a little knowledge of heavy-enforcement areas (ahem, Allen Park), I’ve had no tickets since 1995 without using the radar detector!
I never figure out why it’s heavily enforced in Allen Park neither.
And Royal Oak too.
Usually south of Saginaw, traffic is faster. North of Bay City it’s pretty relaxing and it’s not uncommon to see people driving around 55 even today. One time around Graying, I was cruising at 75 and I realized three local police cars were slower than me with siren and lights on in front of me, so I slowed down a bit.
I suspect Royal Oak PD’s aggressiveness is a legacy of the glory days of Woodward Ave. They always had the reputation of being the hardest on street racers. Royal Oak is hardly a place like Ferguson or St. Ann or the other fiefdoms of North St. Louis County, MO where the tax base dried up and they turned to their municipal courts to make up for it.
I suspect Royal Oak PD’s aggressiveness is a legacy of the glory days of Woodward Ave. They always had the reputation of being the hardest on street racers. Royal Oak (one of Detroit’s wealthier suburbs) is hardly a place like Ferguson or St. Ann or the other fiefdoms of North St. Louis County, MO where the tax base dried up and they turned to their municipal courts to make up for it.
Royal Oak PD, I can’t figure out why. Even for parking ticket, they will arrive as soon as possible ( usually in 5 mins ) and in Woodward and 13 Mi, I had a burn out in the parking lot, then it attracted a lot of attention from police so I drove back to Oak Park and drove LeSabre for rest of the day.
Even Bloomfield Hills police isn’t that picky. But they like to remind me my lights were burnt out.
Unfortunately the legacy of NMSL is very much with us. States like Ohio and Virginia still patrol vast stretches of rural Interstate with the same fanatical zeal they had during the 55 mph days. Federal transportation funding is dependent upon states passing .08% BAC and “primary offense” seat belt laws. State and local LE agencies take in millions in STEP (Selective Traffic Enforcement Program) grants where (as in the NMSL era) success (and future funding) is based not on how many drivers are obeying the law, but on how many drivers are cited for violating it.
Even the individual officers profit as much of the grant money specifically pays for overtime. In many departments officers in their final years of service use that overtime to pad their already generous pensions.
Of course, this being Thanksgiving week here in the US, LE agencies are boasting of “stepping up patrols” and “zero tolerance” during the holiday week. Federal grant money pays for not only the enforcement activity, but also the police PR campaigns we’re subjected to every holiday.
We seem to have gone to the opposite extreme around here. When I was in high school you’d get stopped for any infraction, from stuff hanging in your mirror to license plate frames. Now I rarely see speed traps, and when I do they aren’t pulling many people over. Tailgating is something 90% of drivers do. It’s almost a free-for-all, and that’s not good either. I’d welcome a step up in enforcement.
You’re cordially invited to fly to St. Louis, pick up your rental from one of the lots around Lambert and head west on I-70. Chances are good several of these in a pack will be the first thing you’ll see upon merging onto the highway…..
55 pure decadence our limit came down from 55 open road 60 mph motorway to 80kmh 50 mph everywhere as a fuel saving measure trucks were allowed 70 kmh 45 mph, did it save any fuel? who knows its unlikely hiking the price of fuel stopped people buying so much I guess, Limits have now increased to 100KMH/62 MPH for light vehicles cars and such and heavy vehicle those with a gross of over 3500Kg are allowed 90 KMH/56 MPH same as Europe so the speed limiters are easy to set ticketing starts at 94 so limiters are usually set to 93 cars get a 10kmh tolerance dropped to 4kmh on holiday periods to save lives alledgedly raise revenue more likely.
I got my license in Jan 1972. So I had 2 years to experience normal speed limits, and then got to experience getting speeding tickets for going 63 mph, which was still slower than I was driving before the national limit. The 55 limit, as time went on, was ignored by many drivers and even enforcement seemed to taper off in later years, except out in the boonies in a few areas. It was a stupid law that held on for way too long. I drive I-5 and I-205 in the PDX area, and the limits in on the Oregon side are 55 MPH to this day. Although almost no one drives less than 65 these days on these roads. No shortage of left lane drivers refusing to pull to the right to allow faster cars to pass, however. The best way to get them to pull to the right is to signal, and as you change lanes to the right, the will then “remember” to pull to the right in front of you, and you can pass on the left.
If I`m not mistaken, didn`t the double nickel come in in the Malaise era?
Geeber above pointed out that Nixon did it in response to the 1973 Oil Crisis, which he brought on by supplying arms to Israel in Operation Nickel Grass. Irony: he didn’t even like Jews.
NMSL is as synonymous with the malaise era as any Brougham.
Good riddance to the 55 mph National Maximum Velociphobic Speed Trap. I don’t miss it and our roads and highways are safer than ever WITHOUT 55! Millions of motorists are alive and well driving over the “double nickels.” When will the highway safety lobbyists get over their decades of velociphobia and recognize this reality?