Did anyone actually slow down to 55 MPH in 1974?

-
dibbons

dibbons

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2009
Messages
5,743
Reaction score
3,827
Location
La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico
I remember that first day on the freeway after the new federal speed limit was imposed, it was most difficult to slow down that much. Just read that during World War II, the speed limit was lowered to 35 MPH to save on gasoline and tires, never heard that mentioned before. Just found that bit of trivia today, reading that fact on-line.

55.jpg


Pronghorn antelope can run as fast as 60 MPH.
 
Last edited:
dibbons said:
I remember that first day on the freeway after the new federal speed limit was imposed, it was most difficult to slow down that much. Just read that during World War II, the speed limit was lowered to 35 MPH to save on gasoline and tires, never heard that mentioned before. Just found that bit of trivia today, reading that fact on-line.

View attachment 1715163168
Click to expand...
It was only a five dollar ticket. Wasting natural resources. Unless you were doing 104. That cost a hundred.:lol:
 
It wasn't a 5 dollar ticket everywhere. In 74 one afternoon a friend of mine and I drove 40 miles from my home town to see a movie. We got stuck behind an oil thrashing Datsun pickup doing about 35 and got held up for miles, on top of the smell. I finally got around him. A few miles later, was a 55 zone some AH just had to bust me for 61 in a 55. God DAMN I was pissed.
 
I clearly remember cops in OH driving 55 and immediately pulling over anyone that passed them.

It was so bad, you'd see packs of cars on the highway, all doing 54, with a cop in the lead.

Franklin Co (Columbus) was famous for the city and county cops getting out on the slice of interstate that passed through city limits, and pulling people over that naively thought it "wasn't their jurisdiction".

Had the same thing on a smaller scale where I lived. One 4 lane road overpass in the township crossed over a road in a tiny incorporated city (one cop car- the township had six). About 500 ft of the on ramp and road was inside that city limit. Incredibly disproportionate amount of tickets written there vs the rest of the TWP.

This was the norm all the way into the late 1980's.

The only saving grace was apparently OH has a very low proportion of officers to citizens so you didn't see them on the road very often unless they had other business.

By contrast when I moved to FL in 1988, I noticed you couldn't go 5 miles without seeing a half dozen Sheriff cars, but even they were doing at least 5 MPH over and lots of folks were passing them at almost 10 MPH over.
 
Last edited:
YY1 said:
I clearly remember cops in OH driving 55 and immediately pulling over anyone that passed them.

It was so bad, you'd see packs of cars on the highway, all doing 54, with a cop in the lead.

Franklin Co (Columbus) was famous for the city and county cops getting out on the slice of interstate that passed through city limits, and pulling people over that naively thought it "wasn't their jurisdiction".

Had the same thing on a smaller scale where I lived. One 4 lane road overpass in the township crossed over a road in a tiny incorporated city. About 500 ft of the on ramp and road was inside that city limit. Incredibly disproportionate amount of tickets written there vs the rest of the TWP.

This was the norm all the way into the late 1980's.

The only saving grace was apparently OH has a very low proportion of officers to citizens so you didn't see them on the road very often unless they had other business.

By contrast when I moved to FL in 1988, I noticed you couldn't go 5 miles without seeing a half dozen Sheriff cars, but even they were doing at least 5 MPH over and lots of folks were passing them at almost 10 MPH over.
Click to expand...
Conn. was very aggressive enforcing 55mph, just ask anyone who got busted for doing 57!
 
1970. Going up I 75 in central Ga. headed back to school and Athens, 2 A.M. in my '68 Ford I/2 ton, county mountie pulls us over. He says boys I clocked you all at 105. I told him, funny thing is we been running that fast last 100 or so miles and he was the first cop to complain! He said it was 50 miles back to county seat, SLOW Down !!! LOL
 
DustyDuster said:
Conn. was very aggressive enforcing 55mph, just ask anyone who got busted for doing 57!
Click to expand...
I live here (CT) and never really noticed it. Used to still go 70 mph on I-84 & I-91 and never got stopped. That was in a red '70 Road Runner too!
 
I remember this......DAD, “BREAKER BREAKER 19”
Response “GO BREAKER”
Yeah you got the lumberjack here KKI4842 SPOTTED A SMOKEY TAKING SOME PICTURES IN THE WOODS, ON 95 117mark.
Responders 10-4 lumberjack thank ya kindly we got are eyes wide open.....
Bringing it down copy.....
 
YY1 said:
I clearly remember cops in OH driving 55 and immediately pulling over anyone that passed them.
It was so bad, you'd see packs of cars on the highway, all doing 54, with a cop in the lead.
This was the norm all the way into the late 1980's.
Click to expand...

Yes, I remember a buddy driving his 69 Barracuda fastback on I-81 in Virginia. After sitting in the pack of cars trailing behind the state police car for miles, he thought, "Maybe if I just slowly inch past the police car..." He was immediately pulled over, issued a speeding ticket, and the officer told him, "I should give you two tickets. One for speeding, and one for just being stupid." Of course, once he got pulled over, the other cars in the pack took off like the pace car at Daytona had just pulled off the track. Yeah, my buddy was a couple fries short of a Happy Meal.

Now the speed limit on I-81 in Virginia is 70 mph, but 80 mph is automatic reckless driving in Virginia, a class 1 misdemeanor. " In Virginia, a Class 1 misdemeanor is the misdemeanor with the most severe potential punishment. A person convicted of a Class 1 misdemeanor may be sent to jail for not more than twelve months and/or fined not more than $2,500." And of course you could loose your license as well. In some Virginia counties along 81, this means you could get caught for going just 10 mph over the speed limit and have your *** hauled straight to jail. God help you if you are caught going much faster than that.
 
Jim 68cuda said:
Yes, I remember a buddy driving his 69 Barracuda fastback on I-81 in Virginia. After sitting in the pack of cars trailing behind the state police car for miles, he thought, "Maybe if I just slowly inch past the police car..." He was immediately pulled over, issued a speeding ticket, and the officer told him, "I should give you two tickets. One for speeding, and one for just being stupid." Of course, once he got pulled over, the other cars in the pack took off like the pace car at Daytona had just pulled off the track. Yeah, my buddy was a couple fries short of a Happy Meal.

Now the speed limit on I-81 in Virginia is 70 mph, but 80 mph is automatic reckless driving in Virginia, a class 1 misdemeanor. " In Virginia, a Class 1 misdemeanor is the misdemeanor with the most severe potential punishment. A person convicted of a Class 1 misdemeanor may be sent to jail for not more than twelve months and/or fined not more than $2,500." And of course you could loose your license as well. In some Virginia counties along 81, this means you could get caught for going just 10 mph over the speed limit and have your *** hauled straight to jail. God help you if you are caught going much faster than that.
Click to expand...

That entire idea is stupid since in some states there are areas with a 75mph limit. Even Idaho is considering (maybe passed) higher limits for some "open areas" of highway. Come to think of it I believe I90 down near Kellogg/ Wallace is 75
 
How about a couple of miles of 4 lane divided road (2 lanes on each side) with a 25mph speed limit?
It's a common road I have to drive and it SUCKS.
 
Mopar Tim said:
The 55 limit saved a ton of fuel. That was what was intended....
Click to expand...
Although it that one seemed like the most irritating imposed by the gummymint there was plenty of incentive to save fuel. One was price - it was a big hit on the wallet - that and heating oil; Another was the lines at the stations during the worst crisises. Some states went to alternate day fuel purchases based on the tag number.


The cop cars at 55 mph - that was still being done in places still at 55 until maybe 10 years ago. NJ would sometimes go 3 wide that way. In fact teams of 3 state cars is still pretty common m.o. in general when doing traffic in and around NJ - NY highways, and its seems PA too.
 
Mattax said:
Although it that one seemed like the most irritating imposed by the gummymint there was plenty of incentive to save fuel. One was price - it was a big hit on the wallet - that and heating oil; Another was the lines at the stations during the worst crisises. Some states went to alternate day fuel purchases based on the tag number.
Click to expand...
I remember that. Odd/ even days...
 
When I was still at NAS Miramar in the seventies I got stuck on shore patrol in downtown San Diego........and that is a whole other story, but this was in the midst of the "gas crunch." I still had the part time auto hobby shop job at Miramar so I had to drive back and forth every couple of days. The damned service stations would LEAVE THEIR SIGNS LIT AND ROTATING even though they were "empty" and often CLOSED!!! I go up the ramp only to find nothing but a sign goin' round!!!!

For awhile I had an Evinrude/ Johnson outboard tank in the trunk (well strapped down and externally vented) with an electric pump to dump it into the main tank. There was more than once that I rolled into a (finally) station WITH BOTH PUMPS RATTLING!!!
 
67Dart273 said:
When I was still at NAS Miramar in the seventies I got stuck on shore patrol in downtown San Diego........and that is a whole other story, but this was in the midst of the "gas crunch." I still had the part time auto hobby shop job at Miramar so I had to drive back and forth every couple of days. The damned service stations would LEAVE THEIR SIGNS LIT AND ROTATING even though they were "empty" and often CLOSED!!! I go up the ramp only to find nothing but a sign goin' round!!!!

For awhile I had an Evinrude/ Johnson outboard tank in the trunk (well strapped down and externally vented) with an electric pump to dump it into the main tank. There was more than once that I rolled into a (finally) station WITH BOTH PUMPS RATTLING!!!
Click to expand...
The same time frame, I drove to Tijuana to fill my Pinto! Was cheap back then.
 
Not very long AFTER the 55 went away, "we" had a POS highway up here known as the "goat trail." Between my home town and another local town, were several passing lanes. Typically, "good" stretches of the road would be 65, including passing lanes sections, and 55 on the "worse" sections of the so called highway

I came up on a passing area, and was running about 68 in a 65, with cruise. I could see that I had been "catching" this group of cars, and could see that there was a van in the lead setting the slow pace. So I pulled out and drove around, about 4 cars, maybe 5, an ISP in the midst. Hell 68 in a 65???

Anyway the guy stopped me and I lit right into him. I told him "I don't appreciate being stopped when I think I'm helping to move traffic along."

He went back to his car, and then sent me on my way, did not say much

I AM CONVINCED HE HAD FORGOTTEN WHAT THE LIMIT WAS ON THAT STRETCH!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top