The roads have become safer too.
Used to be that guardrails were almost a joke. Light poles stood tough like a tree while your car wrapped around it. Even signposts could slice a car in half.
Now freeways are wider, straighter, and equipped with breakaway poles and signposts. Exit frogs are equipped with crash mitigation barriers (either water barrels or crushible metal barriers). Even construction equipment has scorpion trucks that protect work crews with collapsible barriers to mitigate collisions. Ends if guardrails are not buried so they won't skewer the car if it hits it. Opposing lanes are now often protected by Jersey barriers that are designed to throw the car back into a lane that is at least moving the same direction.
The cars also are safer. They are lighter and more maneuverable. They use FADEC technology for reliable engine operation. They have driver assist systems available that reduce driver fatigue including follower cruise control and even steering assist. Sensor all around the car now warn of low tire pressure, the presence of a car in an adjacent lane, proximity sensors, backup cameras, loose doors, etc.
A lot has changed since the days of the double nickel nonsense.
Below 55, cars tend to have greater rolling drag than air drag. Above 55, cars tend to have a definite air drag greater than rolling drag.
AT 55 is the transition point where most cars are momentarily caught in that unstable between point. That speed wastes fuel. Above or below is more efficient and the car behaves better on the road.
Of all the speeds the idiot government could've chosen for the idiotic national speed limit...That's Democrats for ya.
Glad it's gone. It was unconstitutional anyway.