Gadgetory

forty years ago President Nixon enacted the National maximum speed law it began federal control of top highway speed and rested that away from the states he ride it in song and hated by millions 55 miles per hour was supposed to save two percent of auto fuel consumption an amount that is trivial today compared to the saving as if technology has a come by 1995 the law was repealed when we got back to an interesting patchwork of speedla Texas currently has the highest road speed in the u.s. 85 miles an hour on highway 130 between Austin and San Antonio Alaska and DC they post the lowest at 55 maximum but more relevant to a state's fastness is the average of all posted speed limits on its interstates and highways cars calm painted a picture of that using day they're from the governor's Highway Safety Association Texas is tops as you might imagine at 78 miles per hour average Idaho's postings are right up there averaging 77 then it's a tie between Wyoming and Maine at 75 on the bottom and DC in Alaska it was post 55 and average 55 now since 55 was repealed US road fatalities have gone from a little under 42,000 a year to under 34,000 in 2012 about a 25 percent decline but that's all fatalities on all roads if you just look at the high-speed roads the IIHS says a 2009 study in the American Journal of Public Health found a 9% increase in road fatalities on rural interstates since 1995 those are the roads where top speed limits are most often seen they suggest an impact at 80 miles an hour versus 55 puts a lot more force on the stuff bouncing around inside your car namely you and your passengers it pays to double check the speed limit but also your speed relative to other traffic as well as the conditions of your car the road and you