Would You Drive 55?

Liberals say Iraq is another Vietnam; conservatives say Barack Obama is Jimmy Carter redux. ABBA’s a mega-hit and Elton John’s going to be performing at Madison Square Garden. Had enough of these ’70s flashbacks? Brace yourself for another: the return of the national speed limit, courtesy of one of the country’s most venerable politicians.

Senator John Warner (R-VA)


Warner told TIME his concern is for “the many millions and millions [of Americans] of limited means, sitting around their kitchen table trying to figure out how to make ends meet.” Unlike long-term alternative energy sources, Warner says, a speed limit would work to bring down gas prices immediately. “Maybe some guy’s got a better idea,” he says. “But I haven’t seen it.”

The National Maximum Speed Limit of 55 mph was created in 1974, when Richard Nixon signed the Emergency Energy Highway Conservation Act. Prior to that, states had been free to set their own speed limits, but the new law threatened to strip Federal highway funding from any state straying above the national standard. The ostensible purpose of this limit was to keep down gas prices, which had been driven through the roof by an OPEC embargo touched off by the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. And with gas-prices once again sky-high, Warner isn’t alone in talking up a cap on speeding.

Time