Comments on: All Cars Should Be Limited To 70 Miles Per Hour

By: Jesse

Jesse — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 23:53:12 +0000

I live in Montana. A lot of the highway speed limits are 75 mph here. In fact, the speed limit in Montana used to be “reasonable and prudent” and we didn’t even have numerical speed limits until 1999. Research your topic next time before posting such an inaccurate article.

By: Adam

Adam — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 21:18:20 +0000

I totally agree with David Mitchell, and I don

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 01:21:31 +0000

And then of course there are places like Redmond, where I live, that think it’s funny to randomly change the speed limit by 15mph (e.g from 65 to 50) at a random point on a perfectly straight 4-lane highway, or have radically different (25mph vs. 40mph) speed limits on different sides of a 4-way stop, just so they can nail people who weren’t expecting any such maneuver on the part of the city. The crime rate here is literally so low that most cops don’t have anything better to do than cruise for speeders all day, and situations like this just help them do it. I learned to drive in New England (where the cops don’t even bother warning you if you’re less than 15mph over the limit because they know just as well as everyone else that the limits are all set way too low), and I consider it to be nothing short of a miracle that I haven’t been nailed yet.

This from the same city that has NUMEROUS stoplights with illegally-short amber times (seriously! illegal! the city has been successfully sued several times for it!) in order to catch more people “running” red lights because their car could not comfortably or safely slow from 45 (the speed limit) to 0 in wet conditions in the amount of time the amber was displayed.

Plus, what are we supposed to do in the event of a zombie invasion when the nearest store with shotguns still in stock is 30 miles away?

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:08:57 +0000

This article was clearly written by someone who knows nothing about how cars work. You’re thinking about maximum speed limits like a ruler. A 1-foot ruler is exactly 1 foot long. Speed limits are more like a measuring tape. Have you ever pulled a 10-foot measuring tape all the way out to the end? If you do, you’ll notice that the tape is more than 10 feet long. There’s another foot or two in there just in case to need all 10 feet of tape. That’s how a car engine works (and computers, and power drills, and the human body, and many other things).

If you construct an engine with a maximum limit of 70 MPH, and then drive it at 70 MPH all the time, the thing will wear down and die very, VERY quickly. If you anticipate the average driver will be driving 65 MPH, you want to design the engine like the measuring tape, with a little extra. It’s not there so that you can drive around at 120 MPH all the time, it’s there so that when you drive around at 70 MPH, your engine will still last a long time. We need that extra reserve of power so that we’re not working our engines at maximum capacity every single time we get on the freeway.

I’d also like to point out that many cars on the road are not actually capable of achieving the speed limit that’s printed on their speedometer. Just because it says it can go 120 or 150 doesn’t mean it actually can. I dated a girl in high school whose car would start shaking – yes, actually physically shaking – if she exceeded 90 MPH. The engine may be capable of such a speed, but the car’s chassis wasn’t.

Finally, it should be noted that for many cars there’s a “sweat spot” for gas mileage. It’s incorrect to say that “The slower people travel, the less fuel that they need to use.” My car gets better gas mileage at 75 than it does at any other speed. The last car I owned got the best mileage at 45. There are far too many factors to make a sweeping generalization like that.

By: Ann

Ann — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:20:58 +0000

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Machismo???? Zombies???? David, David, David

First, I’ve noticed in states which allow 75mph that my mpg actually increases, so don’t go making bets on that better gas mileage bit.

Second, have you NEVER been on a straight road without another car in sight and been tempted to see exactly how fast your car can go?

When I’m on truly open roads, the only thing that keeps me within 5mph of the speed limit is the speed control on my car.

Must admit that I might feel a bit differently if I had a teenager… particularly one like me!

By: Gail

Gail — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 03:23:57 +0000

Our car never goes over 65, that is the speed limit in my area. I prefer driving even slower. I also think some of the responders here are the true idiots (something I don’t think I have ever called anyone on these forums).

So you like to drive fast, faster than everyone else on the road. I just hope you aren’t driving anywhere near me. It is dangerous whether you think so or not. Most people seem to think that it is okay to ignore the speed limit. Folks the speed limit is a law. We don’t get to decide which laws we obey and which we don’t. If you don’t obey them and get caught you get in trouble and if you don’t get caught it doesn’t make it any more legal.

Also a point to those folks ONLY that drive with the ‘Honk if you love Jesus’ and ‘God is my co-pilot’ bumper stickers. If you think you are being a witness for Christ with these things, what does your speeding tell people? Christians are Biblically mandated to obey the laws of the land and if you are one of the speeders you are thumbing your nose at the very thing you are ‘witnessing’ about. Thnk about it!

By: cptacek

cptacek — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:05:04 +0000

No. Our nearest hospital is 20 miles away. At 60 mph it will take 20 minutes. At 90 mph it will take 13 minutes. 7 minutes can mean life or death in a true emergency.

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:50:59 +0000

How about we let the various locals decide what the speed limit should be. I’m not quite sure where we got the idea that anyone can come up with the correct speedlimit for every place in the country. It’s far different driving in a place like Montana or Texas than it is in New Jersey or So. California.

As a car guy, I can tell you that if you put in governors as suggested, not only will you increase accidents (it takes the ability to drive fast for certain passing and defensive maneuvers), but you’ll also create a new industry (disconnecting governors).

Isn’t it time that we quit trying to legislate every little thing in this country based on what some group of experts thinks is best for everyone?

By: jIM

jIM — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:30:39 +0000

Michigan would secede from the union if speed limit went under 80 mph

By: John

John — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:43:33 +0000

I don’t see how “Speeders Force Greater Police Presence on Highways”. The cops i know say most police in this area on the highway are there looking for speeders. Since texting is more likely to cause an accident (according to the local no-texting campaign) than speeding i don’t see the correlation. I expect more texting occurs on city streets than the highway. If so then these cops don’t care about stopping accidents as much as stopping speeders.

I’m not saying the governors are a bad idea. Just saying that the efforts could be better spent elsewhere. I actually had a car with a governor in it. Having it in the car got me out of a bogus speeding ticket. Cop “clocked” me going 77 MPH in a car governed at 70 MPH. Needless to say the judge threw the ticket out.

As for the electronic governor that adjusts i’m all for it if the speed limits adjust to better match the road and conditions. Think highway 395 from Denio to Winnemucca in Nevada. Multiple stretches of road 10+ miles long with no turns. These roads should have speed limits closer to 90 MPH. There is nothing for hours and no other cars. I’ve also seen gravel roads that are a smoother ride than some highways. On these roads 55 tops.