Are you in favor of reducing the speed limit to lower greenhouse gas emissions? / LJWorld.com

Asked at Massachusetts Street on October 6, 2008

“I would be in favor of that. I think it’s a small thing to do to make a big difference. What’s the hurry, anyway?”

— Mary Gorski, therapist, Prairie Village

“I’m definitely in favor of lowering emissions to help the environment, but I think there are more practical solutions than lowering the speed limit. I would have to see the facts and know that it was greatly reducing them before I would be in favor of it.”

— An Cao, Kansas University senior, Garden City

“I think they should lower it. It would probably make driving a lot more safe as well.”

— Joey Gipson, kitchen staff, Lawrence

“No. I think that the speed limits are already too slow. I have a hard time staying under 70 as it is.”

— Ashley Serrano, KU senior, Atlanta

Public opinion largely against lower speed limits

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looza 4 years, 7 months ago

when I eat alot of vegtables at home my house is full of greenhouse gases. I'm all for eliminating veggies!

sgtwolverine 4 years, 7 months ago

Yes, if it were 1975.

71_Hawk 4 years, 7 months ago

I'm more in favor of reducing greenhouses, they keep too much oxygen in a confined area instead of letting it out in the atmosphere. Makes about as much sense as lowering the speed limit.

snap_pop_no_crackle 4 years, 7 months ago

I'd drive slower while I was enjoying a Klondike bar.

Easy_Does_It 4 years, 7 months ago

Lowering the speed limit will even the playing field for those who can't afford to buy gas. Do we really want an America where only those who exploit the labor of poor people can drive their cars at high rates of speed? Power to the people!

SettingTheRecordStraight 4 years, 7 months ago

No.

sunflower_sue 4 years, 7 months ago

countrygirl 4 years, 7 months ago

Nobody drives the speed limit now.

tonythetiger 4 years, 7 months ago

I haven't heard too much about my horse and buggy. The horse poop isn't anything I have heard any complaints about by other people and it doesn't cost me anything in gasoline so I don't know how fuel efficient it is. Grass doesn't cost anything.My Bethany Alvarez special doesn't use any gasoline either. In fact I don't have to drive the buggy very far to find out.

BuffyloGal 4 years, 7 months ago

Gotta go with more fuel-efficient cars as being part of the answer. If 36 mpg is the best we can do, we have a long way to go!

Solomon 4 years, 7 months ago

I'm soon to embark on a vacation that will include about 2500 highway miles. The difference between 70 and 55 is about 10 hours of driving time--more than one full day! If the speed limit must be changed, change it in the over-populated east and west coasts, where most of the driving is done, and where most of the benefit will be. Leave the great open spaces of the midwest, the plains and the southwest alone.

average 4 years, 7 months ago

I'm going to have to agree with the no contingent.And, that's not because I drive fast or am opposed to lowering greenhouse gas emissions. I prefer 55-mph 2-lane roads and drive the most efficient car made in the US. But, I accept that I am a rare bird.Ultimately, what I'd like to see is a set of high-speed highways at a Darwinistic free-for-all. Then, I'd like to see a fully-connected grid of the secondary routes, friendly for cyclists, underpowered electric vehicles, farm equipment, animal teams, and hypermiling dawdlers restricted to, say, 45mph and STRICTLY enforced. Speed cameras, etc. I'd pick the latter much of the time.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 4 years, 7 months ago

As long as I can pay speeding fines in carbon offsets, like not mowing my lawn, cutting down less trees, and giving cows Beano so they fart less.

nobody1793 4 years, 7 months ago

No, I'm in favor of lower speed limits because life already moves too fast, and people need to generally chill out.Ahonui. Aloha.

SMe 4 years, 7 months ago

Ahhhhhhhh. For the good ol' days when the Turnpike speed limit was 80.

janeyb 4 years, 7 months ago

I like the way Illinois does it's I-70 speed limit using a slower speed for Semi-trucks. Leave the speed limit in Kansas 70 mph, but drop the trucks to 60 and enforce it. It would do wonders for I-70 and I-44 in Missouri. I just drove to Indianapolis and back--at 68 mph--because Dad was with me and is on the save energy kick. His car perfoms best at 68 mph.

Mixolydian 4 years, 7 months ago

How does driving slower reduce emissions? I can see that it would save gas, but not reduce emissions.Didn't they already ask this question a month ago?

LooPerkinsucks 4 years, 7 months ago

I wanna GO FAST!!!

oldvet 4 years, 7 months ago

Yes, definitely lower the speed limit... lower it to 80mph on interstates/turnpike and to 70mph on other rural highways...

snap_pop_no_crackle 4 years, 7 months ago

TOB, if you have ammo, you can get booze.

badger 4 years, 7 months ago

So, if I drive 65 instead of 70, I gain perhaps an extra mile per gallon.If I have properly inflated tires, a tuned-up engine, a current oil change, a clean air filter, steady non-aggressive driving habits, cruise control on the long stretches, windows closed at speeds higher than 50 with the AC on 'recirculate', and proper alignment, I can gain four or five miles to the gallon.Instead of mandating tiny, incremental change with speed limits that doesn't do anything to address vehicle maintenance or aggressive/wasteful driving habits, why not mandate regular maintenance (easy to enforce as speed limits, frankly) and teach more efficient driving habits in Driver's Ed?Better yet, let's mount an aggressive campaign to tell people about more environmentally friendly driving habits, and let the cost of gas sort it out Darwin-style? I save probably a couple hundred bucks a year in gas with a three-dollar tire gauge.

ms_canada 4 years, 7 months ago

Nowhere in Alberta is the speed limit above 110KPH (65MPH) and we seem to be able to get to our destination quite nicely, thank you. On secondary highways it is only 60MPH. And since there are not too many freeways (where the speed is 110), we are mostly driving at 100KPH. I would wonder if our rate of highway deaths is less than south of the border. I don't think lowering the speed rate would lower emissions that much, so why bother, except for lower death rate, that is.

Trobs 4 years, 7 months ago

I love driving K-10 everyday and having those driving 80 pass me. It's even better when I pull up next to them at the Harper stoplight in Lawrence. Good thing you rushed!

RedwoodCoast 4 years, 7 months ago

I think reducing the speed limit is the wrong way to go about it. What we need are mandated fuel efficient vehicles that can still go 65. I think I would go insane if I had to drive 55 everywhere.

TheYetiSpeaks 4 years, 7 months ago

Why stop there? Let's go after the two biggest dumpers of carbon into our atmosphere. That's why I am spearheading the charge to lower the incidents of volcanoes and earthquakes. If we work together, maybe we can eliminate these mega polluters. Oh....and cows. Cows passing gas pumps a lot of carbon into the atmosphere too. Sincerely, the Chairman of the Stop Volcanoes and Earthquakes....oh, and cows Society.

TheYetiSpeaks 4 years, 7 months ago

The Stop the Volcanoes and Earthquakes...oh, and cows, Society has claimed their first victory. Even though I knew he was not the single biggest producer of carbon, I was well aware of my Uncle Frank's evil deeds (usually done in a 12 year old Lazy Boy in his living room). That's why I hid in his house until he got home from work and then whaled on his fat ass. I then removed all beer, cauliflower, and bratwurst from his lair. Victory! from the Stop Volcanoes and Earthquakes and Cows...and my Uncle Frank Society.

Puff_Dragon 4 years, 7 months ago

I agree. B*utt plugs for all cows in captivity.

nobody1793 4 years, 7 months ago

"Hey, Nobody 1793, I'm a former kamaaina Hawaii resident, but I forget what Ahonui means. Could you please re-inform me? Much Mahalos!!"Means patience.

none2 4 years, 7 months ago

There is a better way to get people to slow down if that is some kind of magical thing to encourage...Provide every driver with a cell phone with unlimited minutes. People talking on the cell phone tend to slow down. That is why it always seemed strange to me, that the same people who want to control all your actions such as by laws to slow you down, also hate cell phone talkers because they slow down traffic. My guess is because they are jealous of people who have friends to talk with all the time.

peachesncream 4 years, 7 months ago

as long as im still allowed to QUAILFY im good.

tennesseerader 4 years, 7 months ago

Maybe we should lower the speed limit to 40; or how about 20? Hell, let's just abandon our cars and walk;

LiberalDude 4 years, 7 months ago

Godot 4 years, 7 months ago

No. We tried it in the 70's and it turned out it was a total crock.NO.

Godot 4 years, 7 months ago

I am so mad at my generation who are/were the teachers of this generation for turning out two generations of lemmings.If you went to college in the 60's and 70's, and you are a teacher or, worse, a college professor, I hold you, you, all you you NEA members and tenured professors, personally, really, really, personally, responsible for the mess we are in.Your mantra in the 60's was "fck the estalbishment." Congratulations. You have just fcked yourselves and your children and their children.

notajayhawk 4 years, 7 months ago

ms_canada (Anonymous) says: "I would wonder if our rate of highway deaths is less than south of the border."I wonder if your highways are as congested as ours. (Congestion which would be made worse by lowering the speed limits, and congestion which leads to more accidents.)

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