Slow Down, Save Money?

Republican Senator John Warner has asked Congress to consider reimposing a national speed limit to help Americans save fuel and, hopefully, reduce oil prices by extension. He also asked Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to investigate what speed limit would provide the optimum gasoline efficiency given the current technology. The hope, of course, is that the government—and you!—will have more money when you aren't spending so much on oil.

This isn’t the first time the government has imposed a national speed limit. The first time was in 1974, where the speed was set to 55 mph in the wake of the Arab oil embargo. It remained in effect until 1995. While reducing the speed limit may help with oil consumption a little—not to mention cut the number of traffic accidents—the Energy Department doesn’t think this route will be the end all to our problems (sadly, they're probably correct.)

A spokeswoman has said they will give the Senator’s letter every consideration; however, “if Congress is serious about addressing the gasoline problem, they must take action on expanding domestic oil and natural gas production.”

Do you think lowering the national speed limit would help with gas prices? How can we really address this problem on a governmental and personal level? Please share your thoughts!