Why 55? (1979)

[Music] 55 mph. Five simple words with a simple purpose to save lives and energy. Never in the history of our nation has one simple law done so much for the safety and welfare of our people. Since 1974, when Congress passed the National Speed Limit Act, more than 45,000 lives have been saved. We've saved over 25 billion gallons of gasoline during a time when our nation's security and economy are endangered by overdependence on foreign oil. Yet few laws in our history have spawned so much controversy. Well, actually, I think it's a joke. Uh myself, I'm in sales and I do a lot of traveling and I spend more time on the road uh than making sales themselves. And uh as long as time is money, there's no way I'm going to do 55 mph. He gives you more time to react when you're driving. Uh saves gas, makes a lot of sense. No, I really don't think it's a very good lot. uh for the simple reason uh because it's not uh say enforced. I think it's a very good thing. It should be observed completely. It's a great gas saver as far as I'm concerned. Saves a lot of wear and tear on automobiles. It's difficult when I make a long trip here in Texas to stay at 55. Uh basically, I think it's very good. I think there's been a lot fewer accidents with it. And uh if everybody obeyed the 55 uh speed limit, we'd probably get a lot better gas mileage. I think it's too slow. It's one of the best things that the government could have done to slow everybody down a little bit. Everybody goes too fast anyways. I think it's a sin, actually. It's a free country. I pay my taxes. I think I'd be able to go about as fast as I want to go. Well, I just finished driver's education class in school, and I really don't understand why everyone doesn't drive 55. It's just too slow. Too slow. I think it's real healthy. Yeah. I think it could go up to 60. They want us to go slower, so they will say, "Oh, well, if we go slower, we save gas." But we're not saving that much gas. I think it's good. I think it probably helps to save lives and save gasoline and fossil fuels. I think it's good. Uh, it's reduced accidents. I think it stinks. There are times I have to admit when I would like to go faster than 55. And I've got three tickets. Why 55? Because it works. Hi, I'm Jim MacArthur and I'd like you to spend a few minutes with me to learn some facts about the 55 mph speed limit. Why the law was passed, how it saves energy and [Music] lives. The first fact you should know about traveling in a car is that driving faster doesn't always get you there sooner. Watch. A car that travels 10 miles in a straight line at 65 mph will cover the distance in 8 minutes. At 55 mph, that same car will cover the distance in 11 minutes. That's a difference of only 3 minutes. But in reality, on our crowded freeways and highways, you will only save a moment or two. Is the safety of your family and friends worthy minutes to you? Hi, Daddy. Of course it is. But if you want to gamble with lives, let's look at the odds. At 55, your chances of surviving a crash are 33 to1. Not bad odds. Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets. Black 33 odd. We have a winner. But push it to 70. just 15 miles per hour faster and your chances are less than 5050. And those are pretty lousy odds. [Music] Red 34 even you lose. Oh, I think the 55 speed limit is just too slow. It It isn't realistic. Everyone goes at least 65. And at 65, you can still be a careful, cautious driver. Uh, I don't know there's any speed limit that's really safe. I guess the faster you go, the more uh accidents there are, but I think if you're a careful driver, it doesn't really make that much difference. You know, just keep your eye open no matter what speed you go. Wrong. Increased speed changes your ability to function and it changes your car's ability to respond. In the case of the driver, it's called reaction time. The faster you go, the less time you have to [Music] react. At a slower speed, you have more time to react to [Music] emergencies. And often just one extra second can avoid disaster. The performance factor of your car that is most dramatically altered is stopping distance. A car traveling at 70 mph takes at least 270 ft to stop. At 50 mph, the same car needs only 140 ft to stop. About half the distance. Someday you might need that margin of safety. Driving is a complex process which many of us take for granted. But there are many elements of driving we have no control over like the weather, other drivers, freak occurrences. It doesn't make sense to add another element of potential disaster to your life like driving at high speeds. And speaking of high speeds, here's a man who wins trophies for driving fast. Rick Mir, a racing champion with something to say about driving 55. I make my living driving fast, but out there in the real world, it's 55 all the way. One of the best things you and I can do to save lives and gas is to drive 55. If you want to drive fast, come on out to the tracks and get it on with the professionals. But on our streets and highways, play it safe. Drive 55. I've given you some hard facts about driving over 55 m an hour. All of them involving risk of injury and death. Now, here are some more facts that may hit some of you where it really hurts in the pocketbook. I'm talking about the demand for gasoline and what it does to our economy. I think it's a ripoff. It's just hard to tell. It's it's there's so many stories, it's hard to know what's going on, for sure. I think it's a bunch of baloney. Well, obviously it's something that I don't like, but I think it's a very real situation. It's all just a hoax. The whole thing is a hoax. No question about it. We won't have gas forever. We won't even have it, you know, for more years than 50 maybe. There ain't no crisis. These people just trying to get two and $3 a gallon. It's real. It's only going to get worse. I really couldn't have any idea. I don't think anybody else knows. No, I think they're just pulling our legs, you know. Whatever your point of view on the oil shortage, two facts are painfully clear. Fossil fuels are a limited resource, and their cost will rise as they get scarcer. The faster you burn fuel, the quicker the price goes up. Excess fuel consumption is one of the prime contributors to the inflation cycle. It helps drive the price of everything up. The main culprit in the demand for energy is you and me, the American driver. Cars and trucks burn up 40% of all the petroleum consumed in the United States. A record-breaking 8 million barrels a day. Demand still going up. As the demand rises, so does the price and the cycle continues. [Music] There are two things we can do to break the cycle. Reduce unnecessary driving and drive 55. 55 isn't a number just pulled out of a hat. Research has proven that 55 mph is the most fuelefficient top speed for cars and trucks. The energy demand at 65 mph is 40% greater than at 55. That 40% is a luxury we can't afford any longer. Ask a businessman. Our company operates a fleet of 175 tractors and trailers delivering food into Southern California and the Las Vegas area. We will drive this equipment approximately 8 12 million miles every year and we will use 2 1/2 million gallons worth of fuel. We specify our equipment to be the most efficient when we order them from our manufacturers and we insist that they meet these specifications so we can follow the motto on the back of our truck which says save lives, drive 55 and save energy. If everybody obeyed the 55 mph speed limit, we could save about 5 12 billion gallons of fuel each year. Let's look at what the 55 mph speed limit has already done for America. Do you remember the fuel crisis of 1973 and 74? Politics abroad caused a fuel shortage here. In an effort to save fuel and reduce traffic deaths, Congress passed a nationwide 55 mph speed limit. No one goes 55 anymore, you know. Well, I think it's something that uh really makes no difference one way or the other. I think that people are making too much of it. Well, the uh the 55 speed limits does what it's supposed to do. People would just obey it. The way to drive is 55. It's hard to tell. If you don't think the 55 mph speed limit works, think again. There are two collisions in an accident. The car strikes the barrier and then a split second later, the passenger strikes the interior of the car. At 55 mph, your chances of surviving that second collision are much better. Let's look at the bottom line. Before 1974 and the 55 law, vehicle deaths exceeded 54,000 per year. Now, in spite of the tremendous increase of licensed drivers, deaths are still 4,000 a year below what they had been. It's the single most effective highway safety measure ever taken. Thanks, Jim. My pleasure. Driving 55 doesn't mean you'll never have an accident, but if you do have an accident, your chances of escaping without injury are much, much better. Using your seat belt will help you survive, too. [Music] The 55 mph speed limit worked. It saved lives and energy. But something started to happen in 1977. People got complacent. Average highway speeds are going up all over the country. People seem to forget the reasons behind the speed limit. But the reasons are still here and more pressing than ever. Foreign oil costs many times more than it did in 1972, and the price is rising. And who can put a dollar value on human life and well-being? That remains as precious as it was in 1974 when most people were obeying the 55 mph speed limit. But the cost of medical services is skyrocketing, and so is the cost of insurance to pay for it. If more people would drive 55 today, the overall cost of insurance would not be as high. And your insurance premium is likely to be raised if you get a speeding ticket. And if you speed, there's a good chance you'll get caught. Law enforcement officials across the country are better prepared than ever to enforce the speed limit. They have an arsenal of sophisticated tools to catch the lawb breakaker. Philadelphia 6. Philadelphia 11, you have one in the right lane. 73 mph over white Mercury. Beating is breaking the law and it kills more people, especially young people, than any other crime in the country. More people have died on our highways than in all of the wars we have fought. More than 2,200,000 lives. You know, I learned a lot about the reasons for the 55 mph speed limit by doing this film. I learned that we kill more Americans on our highways each year than were lost during the entire Vietnam War. If more people drove 55, fewer people would die or spend their lives maimed or crippled. I also learned that we Americans spend more than $50 billion a year on foreign oil. More people would drive 55. A lot of that money would stay home to create jobs for Americans and keep our dollar strong. Well, I've given you the facts, and now it's time for you to make your choice. Whether to waste lives and fuel or to make a commitment to 55. You have a chance to do something for yourself and for your country. Please drive 55. We can live with it. Thank you. Heat. Heat. [Music] Oh, good. [Music]