by Dick Stewart

Created on: March 26, 2009   Last Updated: March 27, 2009

In the USA we know we have to accept some restrictions on our freedom to promote the overall good. Generally these restrictions are limited to actions that impinge on others' freedoms, or on their safety. There is a fuzzy line, however, between genuine public concern and the temptation among some to impose on others a restriction "for the good of us all" that is founded in Puritan morality. Federal Prohibition is the foremost example.

This Puritan impulse to force others to do "what's good for them" is also at the root of proposals to impose a Federal 55 mile per hour speed limit. It is founded in the objection to driving fast as a stimulating, even fun activity. God forbid that we should enjoy driving!

The plain Newtonian fact that under ideal conditions the power required to maintain a higher steady speed requires more fuel per mile also offends the Puritan sensibility, but is an easier reason to defend when arguing for imposition of the proposed limit.

It is no coincidence that the sponsor of this proposal is Senator John Warner of Virginia, a state with beautiful scenery and winding country roads, where a leisurely drive through rolling countryside will not cost you much in elapsed travel time. He needs to make the 500 mile drive from Reno, Nevada to Fillmore, Utah on US Route 50, "The Loneliest Road in America." Then he would understand the folly of such a ridiculous restriction.

This is no conspiracy aimed at the elimination of all speed restrictions. Sensible limits, imposed to promote safety where higher speed would constitute a public danger, are necessary. For instance, children's behavior is unpredictable, and the extra margin allowed for a quick stop makes a low speed limit reasonable in school zones.

Open highways are a different story though. Our interstate highway system was designed to be safe at speeds beyond 55 mph at a time when cars had narrow, bias-ply tires, mushy suspensions, primitive steering and suspensions overtaxed by the slightest undulation or curve in the road, and drum brakes that could barely stop them. When I rode my Honda Super Hawk across the country in 1966 the speed limit in Kansas was 85 mph, and in Nevada it was defined as "reasonable and proper." In today's vehicles, those highways are as safe for our poorly-trained drivers as we can make them, at the speeds they actually drive.

Historically, there have been three criteria for setting highway speed limits: safety, fuel savings, and revenue. The last must only be imposed with

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