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No reason to drive over 55 mph - discussion


DC_Hokie

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MI drivers are the worst...(in the US)

One word: Boston. Nobody in the US is worse. Nobody.

As for energy efficiency, cars are definitely more fuel efficient at 55 mph than at 70. It takes you forever to get there, but you save gas.

And car wrecks at 70 mph have the potential to do much more damage than at 55. A car wreck is basically just a big kinetic energy transfer device. You'd like to minimize the rate at which your momentum changes, or at least distribute the forces across key parts of your body that are better at withstanding such events. It's nice to have a smaller amount of energy to get rid of in the first place.

The amount of kinetic energy you carry around with you increases with the square of your speed, so you're dragging about 60% more of it with you at 70 than at 55. And so at 70 mph you have to find a way to dissipate that greater amount of energy in a fraction of a second, without killing yourself in the process.

I've seen conflicting studies about the effects of raising speed limits, though. It didn't have the disastrous results many claimed it would; in fact, some studies claim the fatality rate actually went down. My guess is that now everyone is doing 65-80 mph, instead of some folks doing 55 and others doing 80.

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I agree... Around the DC Metro area it seems like sometimes the slow lane has faster drivers...

Yeah, that's a direct results of assheads in the left lane driving very slow. The same thing happens in FL as well. Someone is slowing up the far left lane, so all the speed-demons move into the other lanes. Sometimes its like people do it on purpose just to prove a point...very retarded. :doh:

I don't really know how HI is, because I don't have a car out here. I think its generally more mellow; I did have a rental for 2 weeks, and everyone seemed a lot more relaxed on the highway.

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