It’s not difficult to see why public opinion today is shifting towards curtailing higher highway speed limits. From safety to fuel economy and environmental concerns, logical reasons mount against higher speeds on highways. A study by the US Department of Energy found that a highway speed limit reduction from 75 mph to 60 mph would increase fuel economy by 25 percent due to the lower wind resistance. Despite this information, I wouldn’t complain if the highway speed limit was increased.
However, Californians in the early 1960s would tell me there’s far more to speed limits than the number on the sign. In 1959, California passed a law establishing a maximum speed limit on the state’s highways at 65 mph. The state legally didn’t have a speed limit directly before this law, but the de facto recommended highway speed was 55 mph. The law was largely unpopular among California’s drivers and his influential opponents including the Automobile Club of Southern California.
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