Did anyone actually slow down to 55 MPH in 1974?

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It was just a giant political show at the time. OMR is right that it was driven more by the insurance companies than fuel savings.

Pulled this from Wiki that sums it up pretty well...

The National Maximum Speed Law (NMSL) in the United States was a provision of the Federal 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act that prohibited speed limits higher than 55 miles per hour (90 km/h). It was drafted in response to oil price spikes and supply disruptions during the 1973 oil crisis.

While Federal officials hoped gasoline consumption would fall by 2.2%, actual savings were estimated at between 0.5% and 1%. The reason for the low effectiveness was likely because:

A survey by the Associated Press found that as of January 2, 1974:

  • 12 states already had maximum speed limits of 55 mph (90 km/h).
  • 9 states had maximum speed limits of 50 mph (80 km/h).
  • 29 states had lower limits.
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety analysts wrote three papers that argued that increase from 55 to 65 mph (90 to 105 km/h) on rural roads led to a 25% to 30% increase in deaths (1/3 from increased travel, 2/3 from increased speed) while the full repeal in 1995 led to a further 15% increase in fatalities. In contrasting work, researchers at University of California Transportation Science Center argued that the interstates in question are only part of the equation, one also must account for traffic moving off the relatively more dangerous country roads and onto the relatively safer interstates. Accounting for this they found that raising rural speed limits to 65 mph (105 km/h) caused a 3.4% to 5.1% decrease in fatalities.
 
One of the "Cannonball" movies........."The 55 mph speed limit........just slow enough to make you feel safe and just fast enough to kill ya."
 
WTH states had lower maximum speed limits than 50 MPH?

I also remember when the Interstates here in FL went to 65/75.

I went out on that day and did 75 legally in my 73 360 Duster in celebration.
 
FYI here in California, for anything pulling anything, it is still 55 MPH. A lawn trailer behind a 1 ton truck? 55MPH. A 52ft trailer? 55 MPH. A car Dolley? 55MPH. To this day.....
 
Yes, in FL we had to slow down, officers were giving out tickets, we hated it on highway trips because it felt like you were just crawling along, and for us it was the first time the government seemed to impede your life in a major way.
 
All I know is, I commute every day and I do 80 and people are still passing me like Im not going fast enough :)
 
Dartswinger70 said:
All I know is, I commute every day and I do 80 and people are still passing me like Im not going fast enough :)
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Funny
My bronco is the exact opposite
I'll have the needle not a hair passed 65 and I'm passing everyone like they are on pit lane

I'm starting to think the P.O. forgot to change the Speedo gear when he slapped on the 35s
 
diymirage said:
Funny
My bronco is the exact opposite
I'll have the needle not a hair passed 65 and I'm passing everyone like they are on pit lane

I'm starting to think the P.O. forgot to change the Speedo gear when he slapped on the 35s
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The 35s will result in in an actual speed of 72 mph when the speedo is reading 65 mph if it still has the stock speedo gear.
 
I was told here in Michigan for a truck pulling a trailer it is 55 but a car pulling a trailer it is 70.
 
When I attended the California Highway Patrol Academy in 1982-1983, I was giving a 2 ounce bottle of tequila at the end of the course as a "prize" for being voted the cadet who asked the most questions.

My vehicle code instructor (Sgt. Senna) gave me the nickname "Cadet Tidy Bowl" after I asked him a question regarding the 55 MPH speed limit at that time. My question was regarding which vehicle code section to use when a farm labor bus (which was towing a porta-potty behind it for the laborers to use in the fields) exceeded the 55 MPH limit:
Would one site the section prohibiting all vehicles in general from exceeding 55 MPH?
Would one site the particular section prohibiting farm labor transportation vehicles from exceeding 55 MPH?
Would one site the particular section prohibiting vehicles towing trailers (in this case, the outhouse) from exceeding 55 MPH?

As a side note, during one training session, cadet volunteers drank straight shots of liquor, so that us other student cadets could practice administering field sobriety tests on them.

Not only that, an instructor burned some marijuana one day inside the classroom, so new officers could testify in court that they were familiar with the smell of burning marijuana after having been exposed to the odor during academy training (not having ever smoked a joint at a party, of course).

tidy bowl.jpg
 
Mattax said:
Some states went to alternate day fuel purchases based on the tag number.
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Yeah, California did that. Except commerical-plated vehicles were exempt from the rule.
At the time we owned a '74 TransAm and a '69 Ford F250 with dual tanks. All pickups in California have "commercial" plates so I could get gas anytime. I used to keep one tank full and would refuel the TransAm as necessary from the 2nd truck tank if it wasn't the right day according to the cars plate.
 
Back in those days, PA did the odd/even fuel thing too. We had 2 cars with one plate ending even and the other ending odd. We would just swap them if we need to fill up and it wasn’t the right day for that car.
 
All of those controls (odd, even, etc.) did not do a darn thing. I believe most of us went where we wanted, when wanted, always a way around those stupid ideas.
 
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

Pronghorn antelope can run as fast as 60 MPH.
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Where was the limit lowered on during WWII? I mean there was no highway system in the country.
 
quote from website:
Home Front Friday: The "Victory Speed" Limit | The National WWII Museum Blog

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about oil, conserving fuel, and saving the planet in the news. People are beginning to buy more energy efficient cars, not only because they want to save fossil fuels, but also because it is much less expensive to conserve gasoline. Back during WWII, people conserved gasoline, but for different reasons.

Gasoline was necessary for our military to function properly during the War, so in May of 1942, 17 States began rationing gasoline in order to help the war effort. In December of 1942, President Roosevelt ordered that gasoline rationing be set in all 50 states. Gasoline rationing during WWII wasn’t all about gasoline, though. Rubber was perhaps the hottest commodity at the time, and the rationale behind gasoline rationing was to prevent Americans from needing more rubber tires—the less they drove, the less likely they would need new tires!

Beginning in May of 1942 and ending in August of 1945, a nationwide speed limit of 35 miles per hour was instated. The “Victory Speed” limit was instated in order to reduce gasoline and rubber consumption. The slower people drove, the less gas and rubber they would need. This nationwide speed limit was called “Victory Speed” in order to make Americans more accepting of a lower speed limit, as this speed limit was instated everywhere from big city streets to rural highways.
 
dibbons said:
quote from website:
Home Front Friday: The "Victory Speed" Limit | The National WWII Museum Blog

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about oil, conserving fuel, and saving the planet in the news. People are beginning to buy more energy efficient cars, not only because they want to save fossil fuels, but also because it is much less expensive to conserve gasoline. Back during WWII, people conserved gasoline, but for different reasons.

Gasoline was necessary for our military to function properly during the War, so in May of 1942, 17 States began rationing gasoline in order to help the war effort. In December of 1942, President Roosevelt ordered that gasoline rationing be set in all 50 states. Gasoline rationing during WWII wasn’t all about gasoline, though. Rubber was perhaps the hottest commodity at the time, and the rationale behind gasoline rationing was to prevent Americans from needing more rubber tires—the less they drove, the less likely they would need new tires!

Beginning in May of 1942 and ending in August of 1945, a nationwide speed limit of 35 miles per hour was instated. The “Victory Speed” limit was instated in order to reduce gasoline and rubber consumption. The slower people drove, the less gas and rubber they would need. This nationwide speed limit was called “Victory Speed” in order to make Americans more accepting of a lower speed limit, as this speed limit was instated everywhere from big city streets to rural highways.
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Can you imagine if that tried today?
 
YY1 said:
It was so bad, you'd see packs of cars on the highway, all doing 54, with a cop in the lead.
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You still see that here. Matter of fact, if everyone around you is going 65, there is a great chance there is a cop in there with you. God Bless Texas, 85 MPH speed limit. And they usually are going 10 faster than that.....
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I think it would be accepted (lower speed limits), if a nation bombed our homeland like what happened at Pearl Harbor. But with so many vehicles having overdrive now, the lower limits may lower fuel efficiency.
 
dibbons said:
I think it would be accepted (lower speed limits), if a nation bombed our homeland like what happened at Pearl Harbor. But with so many vehicles having overdrive now, the lower limits may lower fuel efficiency.
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Sadly those that are far liberal would not care if others were killed by a bombing from foreigners. Only if they could outlaw guns.
 
And here we go into modern political spin land...and it was a nice thread about history taliking about what we did in those days.

Damn shame it has to always get turned into modern politics by some.
 
Anyone play the party game "telephone"? Whisper something in the ear of someone and they pass it on to someone else, and so on. What comes out at the end can be different and funny.
 
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