National Maximum Speed Law

Common card · No. 312208

As an emergency response to the 1973 oil crisis, on November 26, 1973, President Richard Nixon proposed a national 50 mph (80 km/h) speed limit for passenger vehicles and a 55 mph (89 km/h) speed limit for trucks and buses. In response to Nixon's proposal, the National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL) was enacted in the 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act that withheld Federal Highway funds from states that refused to comply with provisions of the law, including a maximum speed limit of 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) for passenger vehicles, an increase Nixon approved in signing the final legislation. By 1987, fuel price increases had slowed after the OPEC Oil Embargo ended, and the limit was increased to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h), but the law would remain in place until 1995 as proponents cited reduced traffic fatalities and pollution. While some Americans recognized a patriotic duty to reduce petroleum-based energy consumption during the embargo, the speed limit was disregarded by...

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