After reading chapter four in William R. Black's Sustainable Transportation, I think that is is practically impossible to say that driving fast is good for the environment. It seems to me that they were doing the right thing in 1973 when the government passed the National Maximum Speed Law. The law prohibited speeds greater than 55 miles per hour on any road. This was done in response to the oil crises, but also could still help with emissions and urban air quality today. Please reference the below graphs courtesy of William R. Black's Sustainable Transportation, chapter 4.
As one can see from the above graphs, as average trip speed increases the amount of pollutants being released into the air decreases, then bottoms out and increases again. The point at which cars begin to become more hazardous again ranges depending on what is being released and what criteria you are looking at. But it is clear that driving above 60 mph is never good for both fuel economy and toxic gas release.
My question to you is this. Do you think that a standardized speed limit that keeps cars running at a more efficient level is worth it? Could a system be put in place that monitors cars speeds and rewards those who stay below the requested efficient speed levels?
As one can see from the above graphs, as average trip speed increases the amount of pollutants being released into the air decreases, then bottoms out and increases again. The point at which cars begin to become more hazardous again ranges depending on what is being released and what criteria you are looking at. But it is clear that driving above 60 mph is never good for both fuel economy and toxic gas release.
My question to you is this. Do you think that a standardized speed limit that keeps cars running at a more efficient level is worth it? Could a system be put in place that monitors cars speeds and rewards those who stay below the requested efficient speed levels?
I think that making a standardized speed limit can help but I feel like it is something that might be impossible to pull off. Mostly because you cannot control how people are going to react and also the culture in place that is associated with driving. People drive to get from place to place and for recreation in the USA. Recreational drivers may not be in support for maintaining their speed. We try to control things now with fining tickets and the threat of your driving rights being taken away if you have too many speeding tickets on record. Not even the amount of deaths that occur from unsafe drivers make people drive slower. I think maintaining the speed limit might be impossible to do but is something that should be done.
ReplyDeleteI think that the transportation community should advertise these facts more to the public. If people know that they could save a lot of money by simply slowing down on long trips, I think that they would. I was not aware of how large the reduction in mpg was, but now I will definitely drive slower on the way home.
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