{"id":3376,"date":"2008-08-25T11:06:46","date_gmt":"2008-08-25T17:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=3376"},"modified":"2008-08-25T11:06:46","modified_gmt":"2008-08-25T17:06:46","slug":"st-louis-to-chicago-putting-a-55-mph-drive-to-the-weekend-road-trip-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/st-louis-to-chicago-putting-a-55-mph-drive-to-the-weekend-road-trip-test\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Louis to Chicago: Putting A 55 M.P.H. Drive to the Weekend Road Trip Test"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>In light of a recent post of mine here about a campaign to lower the speed limit to 55 miles per hour, I saw a weekend getaway<\/a> as a chance to test the impact of speed-limit driving on fuel economy.<\/p>\n Going from St. Louis to Chicago, then up past Milwaukee before backtracking that route home, my wife and I drove our 2008 Honda Civic, a 5-speed which is rated to get 36 miles per gallon on the highway and 25 mpg in the city (29 mpg combined).<\/p>\n On three gas stops, our mileage figured to 40.25, 39.29 and 39.48 mpg.<\/p>\n That included city driving, traffic stoppages, and miles and miles of construction slow-downs and more stoppages.<\/p>\n Could it be that driving the speed limits, usually 55- and 65-mph on the highways and interstates we used, gave us that boost to get from 36 to 40 miles per gallon?<\/p>\n As I wrote about in that earlier “Driving 55<\/a>” post, Internet-based responses to the media’s announcement of, and the drive55.org campaign<\/a> push for, a federally-mandated decrease in speed limit has been rather heated, outright vicious, hateful, profanity-filled and, at times, violent in nature.<\/p>\n Why?<\/p>\n Value of a Relaxing Drive<\/strong><\/p>\n I enjoyed the drive this weekend. For years I’ve been one of those people who figured driving should be done as fast as I can get away with. If the limit is 55, go 68. If it’s 70, go 80. Or whatever.<\/p>\n But driving that way is such a tension-filled experience.<\/p>\n Every car you come up behind is going too slow, you think. Every car coming up behind you seems to be begging for a race and\/or is getting in the way of lane changes and passing.<\/p>\n Everyone is an enemy, you figure, because all that matters is that ever-pressing instant of NOW…go go go go go go. For what? What’s gained?<\/p>\n And, being a speed-racer, you’ve got to keep eyes out for law enforcement at all times.<\/p>\n It’s all tension and aggravation. And it’s unnecessary.<\/p>\n Driving this weekend’s trip at the speed limit was relaxing and in-control. Easy reaction times. No one in my way. Cops weren’t worth a second glimpse. My time was still well-spent, listening to music, talking with my wife, eating at restaurants, seeing some countryside and cityside.<\/p>\n Oh, and did I mention, we got 40 miles per gallon? Short of a hybrid, there’s nothing mass-produced that is better on the road right now.<\/p>\n Doing What is In Our Best Interests<\/strong><\/p>\n As we saw motorcyclist after motorcyclist in Illinois riding sans helmet (in Missouri, helmets are required), I got to thinking about a particular comment I read at another media site online last week.<\/p>\n This person questioned why he, she, or anyone should have to have a law pushing all drivers down to 55 mph. Couldn’t anyone who wanted to drive 55 mph just go ahead and do it now — and get out of his, her and everyone’s way who wants to go 70, 80 or whatever miles per hour?<\/p>\n And it seems that, technically, the answer is “Yes, people can make sensible choices of their own volition without government mandate.”<\/p>\n After all, my wife and I just showed, as I’ve been discussing in this blog post, that people can in fact set cruise control on 55 mph and still get to their destination.<\/p>\n But how many people do hold back, even though it’s safer and, seemingly, more economical?<\/p>\n If motorcyclists know that death is almost certain in the event of a wreck on the highway, then why don’t they take that safety measure of wearing a helmet? It’s in their control, 100 percent. They don’t bother to do it, that simple thing that is decidedly in their own best interests.<\/p>\n We all have vices and do things we know are not in our interests. Smokers smoke. Drinkers get drunk — and some of them drive. We eat unhealthy foods in unhealthy quantities and clog our arteries and hearts.<\/p>\n It’s what we do. That’s our comfortable, convenient life in America.<\/p>\n So, maybe, since healthy choices seem often to be an ill-fitted, if not oxymoronic, idea in the typical American’s lifestyle, just maybe it is reasonable to think a law could be useful in this Drive 55 campaign.<\/p>\n Maybe every now and then we all need some governance<\/a>. If I don’t need that law for myself, since I am capable and willing to chill out in the driver’s seat, then what I could use is that law to make the many angry, self-absorbed, speeding drivers around me slow down and cool out.<\/p>\n If I drive more responsibly and carefully, it affects you positively. Therefore, if a law makes me drive 55 mph, it’s in your interest.<\/p>\n Maybe more even-tempered driving is not for fuel economy, gas savings, or oil wars. At least not just those reasons.<\/p>\n There’s more to it than that. Maybe it’s about mental and emotional health, community interaction and general attitudes. Maybe if I act in a way that is mindful of you, and you drive in a way that is mindful of me, then we all win, we all score one for the team’s interests?<\/p>\n Ah, yes. Kumbaya.<\/p>\n But if you’re not into that, I would like to mention, in case you hadn’t heard: While driving the speed limit this weekend, my wife and I got 40 miles per gallon.<\/p>\n It created more than a 10 percent savings on fuel and gas money. Cool, huh?<\/p>\n Related posts:<\/strong><\/p>\n Gas Hole, a Documentary of the History of Oil Prices and Alternative Energy<\/a><\/p>\n High Gas Prices: Empty Tanks Are the New Black in California<\/a><\/p>\n World Naked Bike Ride: Is Anything Gained by Protesting Oil Dependency in the Buff?<\/a><\/p>\n