Stop! You Have Broken The Speed Limit!

Road speed limits. Most countries set a legal minimum or maximum speed that vehicles may travel on a given road. They are usually showed on traffic signs. But one speed limit even has a day named after it, 55 MPH Speed Limit Day, and that day is today, Jan 2nd.

To understand this, here is a piece of history that you need to know. On Jan 2nd, 1974, President Richard Nixon signed the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act into law. It contained the National Speed Limit Law, which lowered the speed limit to 55 mph nationally. That created hopes that there would be less dependence on foreign oil and that roads would be safer. It’s the main reason there’s this 55 MPH Speed Limit Day.

“Now, states have highway speed limits of 70, 75, or 80 mph,” said Tigger earlier today. “But if the National Speed Limit Law were still in place, then I guess drivers would get speeding tickets all the time!”