National Maximum Speed Law

"Double nickel" redirects here. For the Interstate Highway in the central United States nicknamed "double nickel", see Interstate 55.

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 most Americans recognized a patriotic duty to reduce petroleum-based energy consumption during the embargo, the speed limit was disregarded by some motorists, and at least four states opposed the law. Actions ranged from proposing deals for an exemption to de-emphasizing speed limit enforcement. The NMSL was modified in 1987 and 1988 to allow up to 65 mph (105 km/h) limits on certain limited-access rural roads. Congress introduced legislation to repeal the NMSL which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 8, 1995.

The power to set speed limits historically belonged to the states. Before the NMSL, the sole exception to this occurred during World War II, when the U.S. Office of Defense Transportation established a national maximum "Victory Speed Limit" of 35 miles per hour (56 km/h), in addition to gasoline and tire rationing, to help conserve fuel and rubber for the American war effort. Although it was disregarded by some motorists, the Victory Speed Limit lasted from May 1942, to August 14, 1945, when the war ended. Immediately before the NMSL became effective, speed limits were as high as 75 mph (121 km/h). (Kansas had lowered its turnpike speed limit from 80 mph (130 km/h) before 1974.) Montana and Nevada generally posted no speed limits on highways, limiting drivers to only whatever was safe for conditions.

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