Max speed limit dropped to 110 kph to save fuel

[zebby]

http://www.thereader.es/en/spain-new...save-fuel.html

Heaps of speed cameras on Spanish motorways these days. Could it be a novel way of disguising revenue raising ???

Hope our state goverments don't hear about this.

[Kryton]

They are paying an equivalent of $1.73 a litre for petrol.
I can sort of see where they are trying to come from, but at the same time, saving fuel should be a personal decision and not something that should be mandated by the government.

[2011G6E]

Seeing as how most people in Europe drive four cylinder cars (some "family cars" are actually quite small), and most of them are extremely fuel efficient diesels, they don't really need to try hard to save fuel. Sounds like an excuse to me.

As for reducing fuel consumption through speed limits, it isn't a new idea. Isn't that why they brought in the 55mph limit in the USA back during the fuel crisis of the 1970's?

[BigBlue]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Seeing as how most people in Europe drive four cylinder cars (some "family cars" are actually quite small), and most of them are extremely fuel efficient diesels, they don't really need to try hard to save fuel. Sounds like an excuse to me.

As for reducing fuel consumption through speed limits, it isn't a new idea. Isn't that why they brought in the 55mph limit in the USA back during the fuel crisis of the 1970's?

it was and it was also the justification for the 70 MPH limit on England's motorway system around 1973 I think.

Funny how they were never lifted isn't it?

Peter.

[2011G6E]

Yes, odd that.

I've got a victim of the fuel crisis in my shed...a 1974 Kawasaki 750cc three cylinder two-stroke H2-750 Mach IV. It goes like stink, and stinks as it goes...
There's no way in hell this thing could meet increasing emissions and fuel economy targets...if you just cruise along on the highway, it might get 40mpg (which is abysmal for a bike), if you give it some stick, it'll drop to 20mpg...and if you really get up it, it'll drop into nearly single figures...

[flappist]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Yes, odd that.

I've got a victim of the fuel crisis in my shed...a 1974 Kawasaki 750cc three cylinder two-stroke H2-750 Mach IV. It goes like stink, and stinks as it goes...
There's no way in hell this thing could meet increasing emissions and fuel economy targets...if you just cruise along on the highway, it might get 40mpg (which is abysmal for a bike), if you give it some stick, it'll drop to 20mpg...and if you really get up it, it'll drop into nearly single figures...

Yeh but the front tyre lasts forever......

I used to ride a Mach III, bloody nasty machine.

[aussie muscle]

of course, they are saving fuel at the expense of loosing time.

are they also going to save fuel by limiting commercial aviation? guess not

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Yes, odd that.

I've got a victim of the fuel crisis in my shed...a 1974 Kawasaki 750cc three cylinder two-stroke H2-750 Mach IV. It goes like stink, and stinks as it goes...
There's no way in hell this thing could meet increasing emissions and fuel economy targets...if you just cruise along on the highway, it might get 40mpg (which is abysmal for a bike), if you give it some stick, it'll drop to 20mpg...and if you really get up it, it'll drop into nearly single figures...

i dunno if your saying it as a joke or not, but you do realise any new emissions laws are for new vehicles built after the date of the new law? There is no retrospective law in terms of emissions.... or ADRs for that matter...

[Ohio XB]

Originally Posted by BigBlue

it was and it was also the justification for the 70 MPH limit on England's motorway system around 1973 I think.

Funny how they were never lifted isn't it?

Peter.

The 55 MPH national speed limit was lifted in the US in the 1990's, but each State still had to lift it, and Ohio, where I live, was one of the last. The State limit here is 65 MPH. Just across the border, in a couple other States, it's 70 MPH


Steve

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

i dunno if your saying it as a joke or not, but you do realise any new emissions laws are for new vehicles built after the date of the new law? There is no retrospective law in terms of emissions.... or ADRs for that matter...

Sorry, I should have explained it better for people who didn't know a bit of motorbike history. The Kawasaki 750 triple was a legendary performance bike of the time, but being a very large two stroke, it used a massive amount of fuel. The Japanese makers started to detune it, and lower production of it in the mid seventies because in the biggest export market for the bike, the USA, they were bringing in harsher restrictions on fuel economy and so-on. There was no way this bike could meet requirements and didn't look good for the company, so they eventually stopped making it and concentrated on smaller bikes and large economical four stroke bikes.

Jumpt to today, and here on Oz The Greens are already getting a hard-on over the idea of petrol taxes and "corporate fuel economy averages" to "reduce the use of the motor vehicle", which means, of course, that if they had thier way, a company like Ford or Holden would have to build thier cars in production numbers that would allow thier "average fuel economy" to meet a certain target.
That means making more small cars and less large thirsty cars.

That means if the restrictions were tight enough, it would eventually become uneconomic to build those large thirsty cars, so the makers would wonder if they really needed them. Look at Ford when they dropped the V8's for the old EFI six...they said no one "needed" a V8 as the EFI six was perfectly good for anything you needed.
it wouldn't take much for that sort of reasoning to return again...we've already got a government pandering to whatever the minor parties want...would fuel economy averages be that far out of the question?

It's happened before, it'll happen again...

[JG66ME]

Originally Posted by BigBlue

it was and it was also the justification for the 70 MPH limit on England's motorway system around 1973 I think.

Funny how they were never lifted isn't it?

Peter.

Very true Pete but no one obeys it and the Police only get interested if you are doing over 90 mph.

Looks like it may get lifted soon.

Cannot get the link to work, here is the source,

http://uk.autoblog.com

and the text


The government is considering plans to increase the speed limit on the nation's motorways to 80mph in order to 'increase productivity', Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has said.

He also indicated that action would be taken by the government on record fuel prices in the Chancellor's budget next month.

Changes in speed limit considerations would represent a significant u-turn in government policy, with Hammond saying that safety would no longer be the sole consideration when setting speed limits on UK roads.

The Transport Secretary, who drives a Jaguar XJ, said gains in productivity from faster motorway speeds could help with the economic recovery: "We need to do this on a pretty rigorous cost-benefit basis. At the moment there are a clear set of criteria for making these decisions. Perhaps we ought to ask if we are using the right set of criteria."

With fuel economy generally dropping by 15% between 70mph and 80mph, however, perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the government's plans will be the tax coffers themselves.

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Sorry, I should have explained it better for people who didn't know a bit of motorbike history. The Kawasaki 750 triple was a legendary performance bike of the time, but being a very large two stroke, it used a massive amount of fuel. The Japanese makers started to detune it, and lower production of it in the mid seventies because in the biggest export market for the bike, the USA, they were bringing in harsher restrictions on fuel economy and so-on. There was no way this bike could meet requirements and didn't look good for the company, so they eventually stopped making it and concentrated on smaller bikes and large economical four stroke bikes.

Jumpt to today, and here on Oz The Greens are already getting a hard-on over the idea of petrol taxes and "corporate fuel economy averages" to "reduce the use of the motor vehicle", which means, of course, that if they had thier way, a company like Ford or Holden would have to build thier cars in production numbers that would allow thier "average fuel economy" to meet a certain target.
That means making more small cars and less large thirsty cars.

That means if the restrictions were tight enough, it would eventually become uneconomic to build those large thirsty cars, so the makers would wonder if they really needed them. Look at Ford when they dropped the V8's for the old EFI six...they said no one "needed" a V8 as the EFI six was perfectly good for anything you needed.
it wouldn't take much for that sort of reasoning to return again...we've already got a government pandering to whatever the minor parties want...would fuel economy averages be that far out of the question?

It's happened before, it'll happen again...

yes I understand that, but those days are long gone.....
fuel isn'tcheap anymore and cars need to be fuel efficient.
not to mention that peoples take home pay these days (im mean after paying bills etc) is much less.

who can afford to run a V8 which returns 13MPG? every day of the week?
I own an XB and I rarely drive it around town because the cost of fuel is so prohibitive...

Lower emissions and better fuel economy is simply the natural thing to do...
And yes I remember when fuel was just 45cents a litre.

It also means that companies use the latest technology and improve their cars.. again, cant argue with that?

(and no im not a believer in climate change or carbon taxes)

[Saraco]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Yes, odd that.

I've got a victim of the fuel crisis in my shed...a 1974 Kawasaki 750cc three cylinder two-stroke H2-750 Mach IV. It goes like stink, and stinks as it goes...
There's no way in hell this thing could meet increasing emissions and fuel economy targets...if you just cruise along on the highway, it might get 40mpg (which is abysmal for a bike), if you give it some stick, it'll drop to 20mpg...and if you really get up it, it'll drop into nearly single figures...

My mate has a kwaka H2, sounds beautiful, goes like ****** off a shiny shovel, when you gun it , it makes a smoke screen to rival a James Bond movie prop, and an exhaust, that makes your eyes water, literally, from all the raw hydrocarbons spewing out! Everything the greens are against, in one machine....gotta love it!

[JG66ME]

Originally Posted by Saraco

My mate has a kwaka H2, sounds beautiful, goes like ****** off a shiny shovel, when you gun it , it makes a smoke screen to rival a James Bond movie prop, and an exhaust, that makes your eyes water, literally, from all the raw hydrocarbons spewing out! Everything the greens are against, in one machine....gotta love it!

I have a 1976 Kawasaki Z900A4 with 4 into 4 pipes. It is green, lol.

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by JG66ME

With fuel economy generally dropping by 15% between 70mph and 80mph, however, perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the government's plans will be the tax coffers themselves.

Sounds like a Win-Win for motorists and the govt. of course, the greens will never let something like that fly here.

[EDManual]

That price is not expensive petrol for Europe, it has always been about this or more for the last 10 years!!

Our price should be way less as we have less taxes and our dollar is valued so high at the moment.

[SB076]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Yes, odd that.

I've got a victim of the fuel crisis in my shed...a 1974 Kawasaki 750cc three cylinder two-stroke H2-750 Mach IV. It goes like stink, and stinks as it goes...
There's no way in hell this thing could meet increasing emissions and fuel economy targets...if you just cruise along on the highway, it might get 40mpg (which is abysmal for a bike), if you give it some stick, it'll drop to 20mpg...and if you really get up it, it'll drop into nearly single figures...

My father has an old Kawasaki triple, he also has a Honda CBX (Straight 6) which was I have been informed was very fast bike back in its day. Years ago he used to race a Kawasaki triple.