Just curious, but exactly how many of you were actually driving 'back in the '70s'? The same arguments were made then as you are making now. You want to drive 55? Knock your lights out. I happen to live in an area where getting to a town takes anywhere from twenty to forty-five minutes at the current speed limit. The nearest city with a population over 15,000 is an hour away. If you live on the east coast or in the north-east, you can have no concept of what traveling out west is like. Where towns are just a few miles apart back east, it is not uncommon to drive thirty to fifty miles between towns in many places in the west. Lowering the speed limit to 55 sounds nice and warm and fuzzy, but the fact of the matter is that in lost time and productivity it will actually be counter-productive.
I am all for saving fuel. BUT, before somebody starts shoving things down peoples' throats they should know what they are talking about. The argument about driving 55 being safer was blown out of the water in Texas years ago. When the speed limit was raised to 70 traffic deaths ACTUALLY WENT DOWN. When it takes eleven hours to drive across a state at 70 versus nearly fifteen at 55 it is a simple fact of time.
