I just drove close to 400 miles this last week at 55-60 and have in the past done it at 60-65 mph. My mileage was lower, not higher. My truck tows my trailer better at 62 or 63 mph.
Mike
2003 Dodge 2500 CTD, 4X4,
1994 Alpenlite 26'fifth wheel
See picture in profile.
Anyone that wishes to can lower their fuel consumption by restricting their own speed to 55. Even better, stay home, that's the most obvious way to reduce the money spent on fuel. Mandating that everyone drive 55, however, is an extremely poor idea, the productivity lost by workers spending more time commuting will cost the nation more than any gas savings. It's been proven that traffic accidents went down when the national speed limit was abolished. Accidents will increase with the slower speed limits thus costing lives and more money in medical care. There are a lot of unintended consequences that happened last time this stupid idea was tried that I don't want to see repeated.
When I am towing, I drive slower for safety and economy, but when I am not towing, I enjoy the higher speed limits. We do not need an elected official to tell us to slow down.
This oil "crisis" has nothing to do with supply or demand. There's plenty of oil for sale. As a poster mentioned, there's a worldwide demand for oil, so we can save all we want and the price isn't going down.
A poster mentioned the speculators and the weak dollar. This is the real issue as to why the cost of a gallon of gas has spiked so high. That, and the gas companies charge $4.399 for diesel because they can and I'll pay it to get to work and back every day.
No way should the federal government be telling citizens how fast they should drive. If you want to drive 55 then by all means do, but don't tell others they should as well.
2006 Keystone Outback Sydney Edition 30 FRKS
pulled by 1997 Ford F350 Crew Cab Dually, 7.3 PSD, Auto Trans, 4.10 gears, AFE Intake, MBRP 4" Exhaust, Triple Gauge set on the A-Pillar, Super Chips Tuner, Beans Fuel System and 106,000 miles.
Tiger02 wrote: No way should the federal government be telling citizens how fast they should drive. If you want to drive 55 then by all means do, but don't tell others they should as well.
The problem with some driving 55 and others driving 75+ is the speed
difference causes accidents!!!! Law enforcement and highway design engineers will tell you this. The attitude of "don't tell me how to drive my vehicle" is pure stupidity. The flow level or amount of traffic a section of highway can handle is not increased by increasing the speed!! It is enhanced by everyone cooperating, getting in line and "flowing together". If some want to run faster than everyone else you now have a chain reaction, slinky or accordian effect. Everyone is hitting the brakes and then speeding up. This is why we observe massive chain reaction rear end collisions.
The EPA highway mileage estimate posted on vehicles is calculated at 50 miles per hour. They don't tell you this on the window sticker.
The amount of energy required to push the envelope of air in front of your vehicle increases at an exponential rate. In other words it takes considerably more fuel to go 75 than 65.
The attitude of "don't tell me how to drive my vehicle" is not rational. We are all in this world together.
When the old 55 was introduced cars were all V8s and getting 8 to 12 mph. Pickups and MHs were getting 4 or 5 mph. We get better mileage now so they raise the price. If we all slowed down to supposedly save fuel..they'd raise the price to compensate.
2005 Newmar 34' Kountry Star, 8.1L W22, Blue Ox 10K, Honda Pilot, Bijon Shitzu (Sassy) dash dog, Two teenage boys..we get around !
I too think we should lower speeds - at least on urban interstates. But 55 may not be the answer for everywhere, or those wide open places in the west, sure, keep the speed higher. Not only would lower speed in urban areas reduce fuel consumption, but it would also be safer.
The biggest problem I see is that currently the speed on both interstates that pass thru Charlotte, NC, is 60-65 and people are going 70-90 most times. Point being, it will do no good to lower the speed limit without proper enforcement - and that is nearly impossible.
Of course, we don't to wait on the government to tell to slow down - we can just choose to do it. Maybe, just maybe, if enough of us do it, others wil catch on.
Mark & Tammy
'01 Excursion Limited, 4x4, V10, RoadMaster Active Suspension
'01 Prowler 31G
Equal-i-zer Hitch - Prodigy Brake Controller
It is amazing to me how clueless some people can be. Some people blame "Oil Speculators", that is just a coverup your goverment is trying to get you to believe. That by the way is the same goverment buying $200.00 toilet seats. You believe the Oil Speculator theory, maybe you should invest in a toilet seat factory.
I’m a oil speculator, more generally referred to as a commodity trader. However, I don’t set the price of anything. The market does. If I think the price of a commodity, say Oil for example, is going to go up, I buy at the current market price. When the price goes up, I sell, at the current market price. If I think the price is going to go down in the future, I sell, and buy back when the price goes down. If I am wrong, and the price doesn’t go up or down as I was predicting, I lose my money. Nowhere in that scenario do I get to set the price I am buying or selling at. I simply make an offer to buy or sell. If there is no willing buyer or willing seller, then there is no deal. Willing buyers and sellers set the market price not me. You have a willing buyer when someone wants a gallon of gas and is willing to pay $4.00 for it. No willing buyer, no sale. Anyone can be a commodity trader. You just have to be willing to invest your money on your prediction of what will happen in the future. There is nothing like holding 100,000 bushels of wheat and reading in the paper there is a bumper crop of wheat coming to market in Russia.
If you want to influence the cost of gas, stop buying it, or buy less by whatever means possible. And quit trying to blame someone else. It's you, the willing buyer, that sets the price of Oil.
* This post was
edited 05/09/08 06:27am by wing_zealot *
dgreen1069 wrote: Nothing will affect the demand for more fuel efficient cars than fuel price! Anyone remember the last fuel crisis? Lowing the speed limit will do nothing but lead to more tickets. Look at Europe....they drive smaller cars because of the cost of fuel. The worst thing we can do is go along with a summer fuel tax relief plan. Don't get me wrong, it would save me money.....but at what cost. It is artificially lowering the price of fuel temporarily. It won't last forever and it will prolong peoples love for big cars (including my own) If $4.00 a gallon is what we need to get used to, lets get on with it. The natural demand for more fuel efficient cars will get us on track for better fuel economy....nothing else will!
and government taxes artificially raises the price of fuel permanently.
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2006 Forest River Cherokee Wolfpack 295WP
2001 HD Softail Classic
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