speed limit 55 in california. what it's costing you

What's there problem over there? Even Ohio is up to 70 now.

 

An owner operator would gain a mile per gallon over a 65 mph state.

 

at 55, it's not costing anything. Just set the cruise and glide. I'll run Cali all day long at 55, it's kinda relaxing.

 

Because it isn't safe to drive a truck faster than 55 (in their minds) ... I guess the laws of physics change when you cross that line in the sand into NV or AZ .... Wonder what the ROI is of various aerodynamic devices if you were always restricted to 55 ........

 

That's just ONE of the many ways that California negatively impacts the rest of America.

But this is how we cope with taking a load to California...
Their 4-wheelers are very considerate of us big-rigs, they hold back on their merging, they don't cut in front of us, they know where our blind spots are and stay out of them, etc.

Plus with the winter we've been having, we have been happy to take a load to LA and get a break from the ice and the bitterness, and the weather shut-downs.

And last but not least, while produce loading can eat up a couple days, we have yet to have any receiver take more than a few hours to get us in and out.

Besides, between their bullet train and their draining Lake Folsom to save a fish that hasn't been there in 100 yrs, I figure it's just a matter of time before California will have to meet us all at the state line and haul their own stuff in because Central Valley as commerce will be dead. The produce companies have already moved some operations to Yuma, and cattle ranchers are getting out of the business because there are no feed lots or hay farmers in the valley, and they can't afford to send their cattle to Kansas.

California will continue to cut off it's nose to spite its face and it will cease to be relevant.
In the meantime, we enjoy the weather.

Just sayin'.

 

If I remember correctly: The speed limit was dropped back to 55 after a series of ugly fatal crashes involving trucks immediately after the feds allowed the speed limits to be raised above 55. It was codified via the state legislature as a knee jerk reaction to the media sensationalizing the accidents caused by poorly maintained trucks. The legislature chose to lower the speed limit rather than force safety inspection and force the owners to fix their trucks.

So to get it raised would require the current state legislature to write and pass a law that changes the previous one. I doubt you could get that kinda support in the media, nor in the state legislature. There is no motivation to change it.

If you want to change it your better bet would be to get the feds (DOT or NHTSC) to codify that differential speed limits with a differential of more than 5 MPH are unsafe. Then highway funds would be denied if the differential is higher. Then Cali would have to react or forfeit federal funding. The Cali law makers do not care unless the media is screaming or their pet projects will not be funded.

 

Guessing you haven't been through the Banning scales recently then...

 

Oregon is also 55.

 

If you travel the entire length of OR or CA you can count on 1 hand the number of trucks doing 55. And other then truck pulling trls in CA? Forget about it, 10 to 15 over all day long.
It is all about revenue. Bottom of grades and lane violations are CA bread and butter.