F.W. Birdman said:
lizabeth, you are free to have your opinion on this one, but the fact is the rules are in place and pilots are required to follow the rules. OK, the gummint put the rules there, and maybe they are crappy, but until pilots demonstrate the ability to follow the rules, we should not expect them to loosen up.
By your logic the national speed limit would still be 55 mph. After all, people were unable to perfectly abide by that law, right?
The ADIZ is a BS law, enacted by a BS administration. Hold the BS administration accountable. Period. Until pilots take a lesson from Jessie Jackson and start voting as a 500k vote block we can expect to be stomped on at will.
Ed, OK, my logic is flawed. So tell me, what DID get the speed limit raised from 55? Are you implying that by disobeying the law (and a very lucrative revenue stream), we the people overcame the state and *viola* the speed limit was raised? I think not.
From Wikipedia: On
interstate highways in the
United States speed limits range from urban limits as low as 40 mph (65 km/h) to rural limits as high as 75 mph (120 km/h). Before the
1973 energy crisis, some states posted no speed limit on the interstate highways. At one time Kansas had an 80 MPH (130 km/h) speed limit on its turnpike system. In
1974, Congress imposed a nationwide 55 MPH (90 km/h) speed limit by threatening to withhold highway funds from states that did not adopt this limit. It was estimated a speed of 55 mph used 17% less fuel per mile than a speed of 75 MPH (120 km/h). It was also believed, based on a noticeable drop the first year the limit was imposed, that it cut down on highway deaths, but later studies were more mixed on this point. This limit was unpopular, especially in Western states. In
1987 states were permitted to raise speed limits to 65 MPH (105 km/h) on rural interstate highways.
All federal speed limit controls were lifted on
November 28,
1995, leaving the task of setting maximum speeds to the states. Immediately, all states except
Montana imposed numerical speed limits on their interstate highway segments, many higher than 65 mph (105 km/h). However, no Interstate highway,
freeway, or
expressway is currently signed for over 75 mph (120 km/h), and within major city limits, few freeways have speed limits over 65 mph (105 km/h).
For four years, Montana had a "reasonable and prudent" speed limit during the daytime, a limit it already had on state highways. As a result, drivers of high-performance automobiles began to regularly visit Montana for the specific purpose of driving at high speeds on its freeways (as if they were German
autobahns). In June 1999, Montana joined the rest of the nation and imposed a maximum speed limit of 75 mph (120 km/h) on its Interstate highways.
and from the CATO Institute:
Speed Doesn’t Kill
The Repeal of the 55-MPH Speed Limit
by Stephen Moore
Stephen Moore is director of fiscal policy studies at the Cato Institute.
Executive Summary
In 1995 the Republican Congress repealed the 55-mile-per-hour federal speed limit law. At the time, the highway safety lobby and consumer advocacy groups made apocalyptic predictions about 6,400 increased deaths and a million additional injuries if posted speed limits were raised. Ralph Nader even said that "history will never forgive Congress for this assault on the sanctity of human life."
But almost all measures of highway safety show improvement, not more deaths and injuries since 1995. Despite the fact that 33 states raised their speed limits immediately after the repeal of the mandatory federal speed limit, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported last October that "the traffic death rate dropped to a record low level in 1997." Moreover, the average fatality rate even fell in the states that raised their speed limits.
Higher speed limits have not caused one million more auto injuries. In fact, in 1997 there were 66,000 fewer road injuries than in 1995, the year before the speed limits were raised. The injury rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled fell to its lowest level ever recorded in 1997. If the injury rate on the roads had been as high in 1997 as it had been in 1995, approximately 17,000 more Americans would have been injured on the roads.
All of the evidence thus far indicates that Americans have not responded to higher speed limits by converting the highways into stretches of the Indianapolis 500. Any loss of life has been very minimal—and at most a tiny fraction of what had been predicted by the safety lobby. Meanwhile, Americans have saved some 200 million manhours in terms of less time spent on the road. The net economic benefit of raising the speed limit has been between $2 and $3 billion a year.
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I don't see anything about a popular uprising; on the contrary, I drove in that period, and I will admit that I drove as I chose to and took the risk of prosecution for speeding on more than one occasion. I even once received a citation in NV for speeding in an "R&P" (Reasonable and Prudent) area. I guess over 130 is neither in some parts of Northeastern NV.
.
True, as a block of pilots, we COULD do something, but with 500,000 pilot voters spread over 50 states the solution is ineffective due to dilution of our strength. Come up with a way to seriously concentrate the strength andthen maybe we could be effective.
Serious thoughtful letters used to be the way....when we had snail mail. Now with email, every crackpot (or crack head) has the ability to swamp an opinion poll or skew a survey if they choose to. We have been relegated to a bit player role because of technology. And that's another thing I just don't know how to fix.
But your thoughts are welcome.