John Warner, Republican Senator from Virginia, proves that sometimes even the other side is occasionally right. He has come out in favor a national speed limit to conserve gas. He joins Jackie Speier, a Democratic congresswoman from California in calling for a revised speed limit. This has also been talked up by progressive radio talker, Ed Shultz, as a sensible way to reduce consumption.
From this week's Time magazine:
Would you drive 55?
Warner told TIME his concern is for "the many millions and millions [of Americans] of limited means, sitting around their kitchen table trying to figure out how to make ends meet." Unlike long-term alternative energy sources, Warner says, a speed limit would work to bring down gas prices immediately. "Maybe some guy's got a better idea," he says. "But I haven't seen it."
Warner makes a good point. Of course we need to develop alternate sources of energy. But unlike off-shore drilling -- which even Bush & McCain agree would not have an immediate effect, lowering the speed limit would immediately impact consumption and pricing. (Not to mention reduce auto accidents!)
The National Maximum Speed Limit of 55 mph was created in 1974, when Richard Nixon signed the Emergency Energy Highway Conservation Act. Prior to that, states had been free to set their own speed limits, but the new law threatened to strip Federal highway funding from any state straying above the national standard. The ostensible purpose of this limit was to keep down gas prices, which had been driven through the roof by an OPEC embargo touched off by the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. And with gas-prices once again sky-high, Warner isn't alone in talking up a cap on speeding.
Jackie Speier, a first-term Democratic congresswoman from California, is already on the case. Earlier this month, she introduced a bill that would cap highway speed limits at 60 mph — 65 in rural areas. It's currently awaiting a hearing before the House Committee on Transportation. Warner says he hasn't contacted Speier, but adds that he'd be willing to "stroll out on the floor" in favor of a speed-limit bill. He has yet to propose a similar bill in the Senate.
This seems like a common sense short-term solution. Gas prices are through the roof. The environment is in trouble and the economy is shaky. Isn't it time we conserved energy? We need to change our behavior and we need to stop buying into the GOP shpiel that conservation is an individual choice. We have driving rules and regulations galore -- from stopping on red to yielding for pedestrians and so on. And we have those rules because they make sense. A national speed limit is a sensible way to deal with our current crisis at the pump.