Released: August 18, 2008

Drive 55 campaign gaining speed

Source: William M. Welch, USA Today

LOS ANGELES — Though it lasted longer than disco and leisure suits, the national 55-miles-per-hour speed limit was another remnant of the 1970s that did not endure.

Yet with high fuel costs reviving memories of the energy crisis of that decade, proposals to bring back the “double nickel” or something like it are emerging, with backers saying federal speed limits could save fuel, money and perhaps lives.

“The faster you go, the more you waste,” says Tim Castleman, a Sacramento man who is promoting a Drive 55 campaign.

Until gasoline approached $4 a gallon, Castleman didn’t find a lot of support for reinstating the 55-mph limit that Congress abolished in 1995 after more than 20 years.

Read Full Article: Drive 55 campaign gaining speed