You can blame/credit Carter or even Bush but Nixon was still president when the national 55 mph speed limit went into effect.
Split Speeds are back in many states.
- Thread starter OntarioVanMan
- Start date
The Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act was a bill passed by Congress, and then signed into law on Jan 2, 1974 by Nixon. The law went into effect 60 days later. Ford became president in August 1974, and Carter in Jan 1977. It was supposed to reduce oil consumption by 2.2%. It did not do that.
Nixon originally proposed a national speed limit of 50 MPH for cars and 55 MPH for trucks. He reasoned (correctly) that passenger cars (at that time) achieved maximum efficiency between 40 and 50 MPH and that trucks and buses were most efficient at 55 MPH.
The general public of course immediately lost their collective minds at the prospect of not being able to drive faster than big trucks, to pass them at will, and be able to cut them off at every opportunity. The nation's largest trucking association (at the time), the California Trucking Association, vehemently (and utterly idiotically) opposed the differential speed limits on safety grounds, even singling out urban and congested areas with many exits and merging traffic specifically as being the most dangerous for differential speed limits.
Which is why today, instead of thru truck traffic being able to stay to the left lane and safely out of the way of exiting and merging traffic, they are restricted from the left lane altogether, thus creating the most dangerous sections of the entire Interstate system.
It's good to know that both California and the ATA have held to this tradition of being just butt stoopid.
Nixon originally proposed a national speed limit of 50 MPH for cars and 55 MPH for trucks. He reasoned (correctly) that passenger cars (at that time) achieved maximum efficiency between 40 and 50 MPH and that trucks and buses were most efficient at 55 MPH.
The general public of course immediately lost their collective minds at the prospect of not being able to drive faster than big trucks, to pass them at will, and be able to cut them off at every opportunity. The nation's largest trucking association (at the time), the California Trucking Association, vehemently (and utterly idiotically) opposed the differential speed limits on safety grounds, even singling out urban and congested areas with many exits and merging traffic specifically as being the most dangerous for differential speed limits.
Which is why today, instead of thru truck traffic being able to stay to the left lane and safely out of the way of exiting and merging traffic, they are restricted from the left lane altogether, thus creating the most dangerous sections of the entire Interstate system.
It's good to know that both California and the ATA have held to this tradition of being just butt stoopid.
A friend of mine from Germany told me that there are actually two different driving classes, one for manual transmission vehicle, and an easier class for automatic transmission vehicle. Those who get the license for automatic, they're not allowed to drive vehicles equipped with manual transmission.
It's not quite so, 50 km/h is on regular roads, streets, but not on freeways. The lowest speed in town on freeway it's 80 km/h (50 mph). It drops usually to 60 km/h in construction areas, but unlike USA and Canada, the reduced speed is only at the construction site, not for miles before the construction starts. Yet, you're warned about the construction site about 5 km before reaching it. And unlike many US and Canadian drivers, they do respect the posted construction speed, even those Lamborghini and Ferrari drivers...
Thanks for the clarification. I probably got some of that information confused. I've been to Germany, but it was a long time ago, in the mid 70s, and I've never driven there.
My main points, mostly, is that the "autobahn" isn't just one highway, and that there are in fact speed limits on a large portion of it.
I saw a bright yellow Lamborghini today in Ft Lauderdale. It pulled up right next to me at stop light. When the light turned green it pulled out right away from me. Based on my own anecdotal evidence, I believe the Lamborghini to have slightly more acceleration power than the Sprinter.
My main points, mostly, is that the "autobahn" isn't just one highway, and that there are in fact speed limits on a large portion of it.
I saw a bright yellow Lamborghini today in Ft Lauderdale. It pulled up right next to me at stop light. When the light turned green it pulled out right away from me. Based on my own anecdotal evidence, I believe the Lamborghini to have slightly more acceleration power than the Sprinter.
Oh, yeah, you're from down here. Kewl. I'm currently at the Walmart in Lauderdale Lakes. at 441 and Oakland Park Blvd. It's just a few blocks from where I lived here as a kid for a couple of years from about 1971-73. I lived in that subdivision next to and just west of Boyd Anderson High School. We had a small canal in our back yard that connected to C-13 (Middle River Canal) across the street, so fishin' came easy. So did learning how to avoid the occasional alligator. I could mimic the sound of a baby alligator, which would attract bigger alligators, which just thrilled my mom to no end.
Way too much traffic here today, but back then it was a 15 minute bike ride to the beach or to the Everglades. A great place and time to spend as a kid.
Things are very different here now. For one, it's like 80% black, and it appears that most of them are from Jamaica, or someplace in the West Indies. Certainly plenty of Caribbean restaurants around here, that's for sure. Good eats. I got a couple of recommendations from some locals and both suggested Island Palace, a Haitian restaurant, where I ate last night. It's an unassuming place in a strip-mall. The recommendation was ridiculously spot-on. OMG. Authentic, home cooked Caribbean food that's to die for.
I had what is probably the signature dish of Haiti (and of many of the islands) is griot (gree-oh), which is a fried pork dish. I've eaten it before. It's pork shoulder cut into large cubes and then marinated in a citrus with Jamaican or Habanero (or even a Scotch Bonnet) pepper for 24 hours, simmered 30 minutes in liquid until tender, then deep fried to get the exterior a golden brown and crispy. In the past I've had it marinated in orange juice, lime and lemon juice, which is very good, but this place uses the real deal authentic sour oranges (or bitter orange, Seville orange). You can find wild sour oranges growing along streams in secluded wooded areas of Florida, and they're all over the place in The Bahamas. It's the most used orange for marmalade. The wood of the tree is what they make baseball bats out of in Cuba and the Dominican, but I digress.
The sour orange gives the griot a flavor you can't quite get with sweet orange juice and lemon and lime. You marinate the pork in the sour orange juice, along with the Jamaican pepper, salt, garlic cloves, chopped onion, and after 24 hours you add more orange juice and maybe a little water and simmer it for half an hour. Remove the pork and deep fry it for a couple of minutes, then use the liquid to pour over the rice and beans (or plantain) side dish. I don't really like hot peppers, even jalapenos are too much for me (these people who put jalapenos on a Subway or a Whataurger give me the heebee jeebees), but griot has a spicy kick, but it's not really hot. It's a dish I highly recommend. As I do this restaurant. They open a 9 for breakfast and stay open until 10 (11 on the weekends). The restaurant is spotlessly clean and the staff and service is top notch. It's like mom's cooking, if mom was from Haiti.
Way too much traffic here today, but back then it was a 15 minute bike ride to the beach or to the Everglades. A great place and time to spend as a kid.
Things are very different here now. For one, it's like 80% black, and it appears that most of them are from Jamaica, or someplace in the West Indies. Certainly plenty of Caribbean restaurants around here, that's for sure. Good eats. I got a couple of recommendations from some locals and both suggested Island Palace, a Haitian restaurant, where I ate last night. It's an unassuming place in a strip-mall. The recommendation was ridiculously spot-on. OMG. Authentic, home cooked Caribbean food that's to die for.
I had what is probably the signature dish of Haiti (and of many of the islands) is griot (gree-oh), which is a fried pork dish. I've eaten it before. It's pork shoulder cut into large cubes and then marinated in a citrus with Jamaican or Habanero (or even a Scotch Bonnet) pepper for 24 hours, simmered 30 minutes in liquid until tender, then deep fried to get the exterior a golden brown and crispy. In the past I've had it marinated in orange juice, lime and lemon juice, which is very good, but this place uses the real deal authentic sour oranges (or bitter orange, Seville orange). You can find wild sour oranges growing along streams in secluded wooded areas of Florida, and they're all over the place in The Bahamas. It's the most used orange for marmalade. The wood of the tree is what they make baseball bats out of in Cuba and the Dominican, but I digress.
The sour orange gives the griot a flavor you can't quite get with sweet orange juice and lemon and lime. You marinate the pork in the sour orange juice, along with the Jamaican pepper, salt, garlic cloves, chopped onion, and after 24 hours you add more orange juice and maybe a little water and simmer it for half an hour. Remove the pork and deep fry it for a couple of minutes, then use the liquid to pour over the rice and beans (or plantain) side dish. I don't really like hot peppers, even jalapenos are too much for me (these people who put jalapenos on a Subway or a Whataurger give me the heebee jeebees), but griot has a spicy kick, but it's not really hot. It's a dish I highly recommend. As I do this restaurant. They open a 9 for breakfast and stay open until 10 (11 on the weekends). The restaurant is spotlessly clean and the staff and service is top notch. It's like mom's cooking, if mom was from Haiti.
quadflyer1
Active Expediter
It's not the speed it's situational awareness
u don't think that peopll cant read a sighn because they can take a driving test in there native launguge really doesn't matter no one actually knows what speed limit signs are for as well as the left hand lever on the side of the colume called a turn signsl this goes for trucks as well local delivery drivers are some are some of the worst offenders some women believe knees are to drive with,\.
100% agree with that. it drives me crazy when some so called professional truck driver makes me drop my speed become they can not read and understand signs.