Could we see a nationwide drop in higway speed limits?

Man I hope not cause my foot just isn't comfortable holding the pedal in the posistion it needs to go that speed on the highway.

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/05/with-gas-prices.html

Slugginfx' post has it right.

I hope they use 55 mph. I have use that mph for 2 years. It really help save lot of gas. Ohio do have some 55 mph highway on 75 interstate but people still speeding and piss off at me when I'm driving on speed limit in right lane no reason.

I got razzed (a little bit) about this on another topic... And I agree with you Herc...but it would help save some cash for most drivers (at least a little bit). Hey, every penny counts.

My wife said she heard on the Today show that "experts" are predicting $8-10 per gallon by next year.

in a way it would suck because speed is an addiction, but in another way its realy good for saving gas and money.

Most of the highways in my area are 55 already. The farther you get away from the city though, the higher it gets. I go about 60-65 and never have a problem with cops or people piling up behind me.

The thing that gets me is how everybody is whining about the price of gas but won't slow down or change their habits so they don't waste as much gas. If and when this does go through it will just be one more thing for people to complain about and I have a feeling no one will care that they're getting better gas mileage, all they care about is it takes an extra 5 minutes to get to wherever they're going.

Personally I don't think the limits will change. As for the today show we'll see I hate when people speculate like that all they are trying todo is get peoples goat. What needs to happen is the dollar needs to get stronger. The price of oil is directly related how strong or weak the dollar is and right now it's at an all time low.

i read somewhere that since bush has been in office the price of oil has skyrocketed over 100%. i personally think once we get a new person in office the gas will dramatically drop. bush doesnt care about the gas because he is making a killing off of it because he owns the oil fields in texas so the gas prices dont mean S*** to him

Just for you 01 GT......

Remember the election in 2006?
Thought you might like to read the following:
A little over one year ago:

1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;
3) The unemployment rate was 4.5%.

Since voting in a Democratically controlled Congress in 2006 we have seen:

1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) The cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3.50 a gallon;
3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate
(stock and mutual fund losses);
5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $ 1.2 trillion dollars;
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure .

America voted for 'change' in 2006, and we got it!

Remember it's Congress that makes the law, not the President. He has to work
with what's handed to him.
Quote of the Day........
'My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it.'
-- Barack Obama

Hwy 35 here in southern MN is 70 mph, till you get more north into the twin cities where it splits to 35e and 35w goes down to 65 then 60 then 55 and when you go through downtown st.paul drops to 45 then back to 65 then about 15 miles north of st paul back to 70 and unless someone sees a cop along side the road its about 65 the whole way, people dont care what the limit is they go as fast as they want to, to me id rather not get a ticket for doing 20 over the limit but it seams if you dont go with the flow of traffic thats when accidents happen

there is nothing preventing people from driving 55 mph in the right hand lane right now.....although it would be annoying
why do we need a law change? i think it would make driving more unsafe cause people would still drive 80 but now you have the slow laners doing 55 instead of 65

01GT I texted you the other day that it is up 400% since Bush took office!

My concern is that if gas goes back down in the $2.XX range, what about the prices for eveything else, I think goods won't go back down with the price of gas, so we'll be paying $6.00 gallon for milk and etc... for other stuff. That is my concern.

There they go again, trying to force the consumers to change and not the Oil companies!!
I just read on Yahoo the other day that they were trying to pass a bill to sue OPEC, I laughed my arse off!!

Well look at it this way if the dairy industry pulled the same stuff OPEC is congress would be charging the industry with anti-trust law infractions. What good it would do I don't know they'll just laugh cause they know we need their oil because a few wackos haven't and won't let us tap into our own supplies. And even if they do open up ANWR, the gulf and such it'll be years before we see any gain from that along with new refineries to process it. Our current refineries are maxed out as it is. It's a long slow battle the only thing we can hope for is the stabilization and strenghthening of the once mighty dollar. If we can get this democratic controlled congress out I believe things will be different.

it doesn't matter because in the northern viginia area, its very dangerous out here and people are going to speed because there are alot of car gatherings here from mustangs to vw's golfs. I always see some type of car gathering driving on the highway and dropping the speed limit is not going to change anything. But I would love to see that happen but i would have to get my foot readjusted to that speed limit since here speed limits are 65-70 on most highways except 395 going to DC.

I love how people blame the price of gas soley on Bush. Had Gore won in 2000 or Kerry in 2004, gas would still be more than you would like to pay. Gas prices suck, they're not going down anytime soon. Buy less, prices will go down.

My own opinion and observation.

I hate the oil companies for what they are doing..... I believe they are padding their pockets because of the hybrids, and much worse to them the hydrogen powered cars that are hitting the streets. They know that 10 years from now the demand for petroleum is going to decline dramatically.... There are too many people in that industry who are far from a 10 year retirement.
The worst part about this is that low to middle income families will have to rely on petroleum powered cars because they won't be able to afford a car that is affordable to drive. Yes, hybrids are somewhat affordable, but the MPG difference vs. a non hybrid as of now isn't all that much different. As time goes on that will change, hopefully the cost of such cars will remain reasonable.

I'm sorry but Exxon, Shell, Mobil, Arco do not control the cost per barrell. That's the big thing. You have to remember they are in business to make money not to ensure johnny has access to cheap fuel. They are a profit business not a non-profit charity organization.

You wanna blame some one blame congress for letting the economy got to pot and let the value of the dollar fall so dramatically. You can blame the president all you wish but you can't ignore the "PEOPLE" behind the curtain any longer.

The oil companies are selling oil for as much as they can get, and trying to keep the feds from coming down on them at the same time..... They are reporting record profits while people are adjusting their monthly budget to accomodate higher gas prices. I haven't looked into this, so I may be wrong, but I believe less fuel is being used, yet the oil companies are prospering. Nobody said the oil companies can't claim a profit, but while the value of a dollar goes into the toilet, the price of fuel to get the product from the factory to the shelf going higher doesn't help AT ALL. As a matter of fact it makes the product cost higher, which in turn means the value of the dollar drops again.
Of course the oil companies control the price of a barrel. When they raise the price it's because of a shortage, or a war, or the lack of demand, or the high demand.... It's always someone elses fault, but the bottom line is THEY are the producer/distributor. Nobody is telling them what price to sell their product for.

I can't argue with that satement, but I will say that there are some people that aren't being affected by the bad economy...cough cough oil companies cough ahem.

Sorry but Exxon doesn't come out and say today Oil will be $130 a barrell. Speculators and OPEC set the price per barrell.

Plus people forget about India and China as they rapidly adopt western views and uses of the automobile. The US's demand has stayed at a level/slight increase not enough to drive the price per barrell through the roof but with the influx in China and India oil has seen a huge increase in demand. And some of that is reflected in the "supply and demand" portion of higher oil prices.

OK Herc,

I did a little reading(yes I shoulda done so to start with).
You are right about what's setting the price of oil. I'm still not happy with the oil companies for leaning back in their chairs smiling about it.
It seems that a rule made to help keep the oil companies from dictating oil prices may be helping them as investors keep buying into the industry. It's like Google stock. People see the prices going up, so they invest more, and are willing to buy for more.
About 6-7 years ago I kept hearing a guy on the radio telling me to buy into crude oil. I guess if I would have listened to him, I wouldn't be so upset....
Sorry for my rant.
Thanks for setting me straight.