Wow, Is This Clueless (Hillary Wants the Return of the 55 MPH Speed Limit)
A nice sop to the enviros, but she hedges (HT Vodkapundit):
In a surprise move yesterday, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called for “most of the country” to return to a speed limit of 55 mph in an effort to slash fuel consumption.
“The 55-mile speed limit really does lower gas usage. And wherever it can be required, and the people will accept it, we ought to do it,” Clinton said at the National Press Club.
Nice fudge, babe, because no one, at least no majority anywhere, will accept it.
Any “savings” from supposedly lower gas usage (which I dispute) are more than offset, and probably by a large multiple, by the extra costs involved in the 18%-36% longer drive times that will occur (do the math on 65 v. 55, and 75 v. 55).
In fact, I think I just saw a couple of blue states on my US map turn red at the very mention of the idea.
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Some background from Best of the Web earlier this week:
The 55 mph speed limit is such an unpopular policy that people attribute it to Jimmy Carter (it actually originated in the Nixon administration). It was relaxed in 1987, then abolished in 1995 as part of a transportation bill the senator’s husband signed. The National Motorists Association notes that 49 of the 50 states now have top speed limits of at least 65.
