NJ.com blogger Paul Mulshine recently posted an interesting review of dubious claims that a 55-mph speed limit improves overall fuel efficiency. Mulshine provides a link to a variety of official sources, both domestic and international, that debase the myth of a single fuel efficient speed limit, especially one set at 55-mph. “Every car I own gets better mileage at 70 mph than the typical SUV gets at 55,” remarked Mulshine. And while that may be true, it’s also worth noting that most modern passenger cars (and even SUVs) have evolved beyond the old carburated engines of yesteryear, and can achieve their highest fuel efficiencies at speeds above 55-mph anyway.
“Age-old question” about the speed limit
A reader to the Kitsap Sun newspaper writes, “This is probably an age-old question, but I haven’t seen it addressed. I try to follow the speed limit, but my husband tells me that I need to speed up with the flow of traffic for safety. So, how strictly should I obey the speed limit?” she asks.
Ask Chicagoist: What’s the Speed Limit?
This letter to Chicagoist draws attention to a major human factors problem in urban traffic law enforcement: posting of speed limits at the borders of city limits.
“Dear Chicagoist, I’ve been driving around Chicago for a couple years and I can’t recall seeing a single speed limit sign on any city streets. Is there a standard speed limit within the city or are we all allowed to drive like cabbies out there?”
Bogus Speed Limit Signs Generate Real Tickets
A Northampton County, Virginia resident decided to lower the speed limit outside his home by 20 MPH, and for more than six months police went along with it. Because Granville Hogg was upset at the legal 55 MPH pace on Townville Drive near Cherrystone campground, the elderly farmer decided to post his own authentic-looking 35 MPH speed limit signs nearly one year ago.
Texas: Federal Gas Tax Money Enforces Illegal Speed Limit
Galveston police will use new speed guns to issue speeding tickets to motorists in locations where the limits are posted so low that, in at least one case, 96 percent of motorists drive in perfect safety by ignoring it. In effect, the guns give local officers a license to write an expensive citation and hand it to any motorist of their choosing.
Merkel insists Germany’s autobahn remain free of speed limit
German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted Sunday that her government would not try to introduce a speed limit on the nation’s freeways, despite a proposal from her coalition’s junior party.
Merkel insists Germany’s autobahn remain free of speed limit
German Party Backs Highway Speed Limit
Members of one of Germany’s governing parties on Saturday backed a proposal to introduce a speed limit on highways, a measure that would revoke a cherished freedom in this rule-bound country and was likely to be met with resistance.
German motorways may soon limit speed
Germany’s speed limit-free Autobahn may fall victim to fears of global warming after the Social Democrats unexpectedly voted on Saturday in favour of introducing a top speed of 130 kph (80 mph).
