In Response to Objections on 55mph

while it may not be the answer, it is a 15% increase in fuel efficiency without any major technological breakthroughs. i can see your argument against 55mph as a national law, but i think the press should be selling 55mph as an individual's tool to increase fuel efficiency, decrease expenses, and promote responsible choices for individual efforts on curbing fossil fuel use.

while i can see an argument against a national law, i can't see an argument against my personal choice to go 55mph to save on costs. if you ever drive a prius, watch the fuel consumption rates drop at ~71. anything over 71 mph gets something like 26mpg, and if you cruise at 55, you're probably getting close to 52mpg. it's just too obvious that after a critical speed, fuel efficiency drastically decreases because the coefficient for air friction is a cubed relation to speed.

so, i think we should look to ways for people to benefit from driving slower or to encourage driving slower. simple ways, like possibly mandating an additional gauge on cars for mpg so that you can see how poorly your car performs at high speeds (i believe i have seen these in BMW's to date, and of course the high-tech versions in the on-board computers in any number of cars).

Take this hypothetical example (I find putting dollar $igns generally helps): if you're feeling the pinch of gas costs, and you're driving 300 miles/week (15,600/year - a little on the high side), increasing your fuel efficiency in your car 15% from (take hypotheticals) 20mpg to 23mpg, assuming $4.50/gallon, your annual savings in fuel costs alone (not counting added savings from less wear-and-tear on your car) is $457.83 - a 13% savings in real dollars spent on gasoline.

15,600mi/yr / 20mpg = 780 gallons/year *$4.50 =$3,510/yr
15,600mi/yr / 23mpg = 678.26 gal/yr *$4.50 =$3,052.17/yr

You want a savior from the gas prices? I just gave you a 13% savings in fuel costs overnight. it's also more costly in dollars/mile and in accidents/mile to drive at higher speeds. so there must be a balance sought.

original article: But We Can Drive 55
Letter to Editor: 55mph Limit Isn't the Answer