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From: werner@ut-ngp.UUCP (Werner Uhrig)
Newsgroups: net.legal,net.auto,net.consumers
Subject: Congressmen propose relaxation of 55mph speed limit in rural
Message-ID: <1545@ut-ngp.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 1-Apr-85 21:34:04 EST
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Posted: Mon Apr  1 21:34:04 1985
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Organization: U.Texas Computation Center, Austin, Texas
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[ I do not encourage a renewal of the discussion, but hope you find this
  bit of news encouraging. ---Werner
]

    LAW IN THE FAST LANE - House bill asks 65mph limits for rural roads

Washington (AP) - If comedian Rodney Dangerfield were a law, he'd be the 55MPH
speed limit -- it doesn't get any respect --  especially in West Texas, where
you can leave Odessa, drive 2.5 hours, and only be in Lubbock.

More than three-fourths of the cars on rural interstate highways exceed the
55MPH speed limit, according to a study by the National Research Council of the
National Acadamy of Sciences.

Twenty-one congressmen have co-sponsored a House bill under which a governor
could ask the Secretary of Transportation to increase speed-limits on certain
four-lane rural roads to 65MPH.

"Out here, that's the general feeling - that it's a nuisance and it's
time-consuming," said Charles Muery, district public affairs officer for the
Texas State Highway Department in Odessa (speaking for himself, not the
Department, however).

"You've got to realize that in the oil fields, which we're in the middle of the
Permian Basin, people commute to jobs 60 to 120 miles, ...  that adds a lot of
hours to their workday, and they're jealous of that time because it is
unproductive."

There have been previous attempts  to get rid of the 55MPH, but .. this one
might have a chance because it would only affect wide, straight rural highways.

It has been 11 years since the 55mph was put into effect in response to the
Arab oil embargo. It was made permanent in  1975.  Transportation groups
estimate that it has saved an estimated 167,000 barrels of petroleum a day.

But with more fuel-efficient cars and more plentiful gas, the law is probably
still on the books for a different reason - the 9,000 to 10,000 lives it is
estimated to save every year.