Yes the Speed Limit in South Dakota Used to be 55 MPH

It's been quite a summer at our house so far. We put new carpet in our basement and since school has been out, my wife, who is a teacher has been busy going through boxes and tubs and deciding what to keep, what to put on a rummage sale. As we continue to sort through the 'stuff' we've found that a lot of the things get you started talking.

I'm not sure how we got to it, I think we were looking at old photos and our middle son who will be 29 this fall asked, the speed limit was 55 MPH. My wife and chucked a bit and said YES! But, I had to look it up and get more information. 1974 was a long time ago!

In 1974, the federal government passed the National Maximum Speed Law, which restricted the maximum permissible vehicle speed limit to 55 miles per hour (mph) on all interstate roads in the United States. The law was a response to the 1973 oil embargo, and its intent was to reduce fuel consumption.

If my memory serves me correct, in 1987 they raised it to 65 MPH then in 2015 they upped it to 80 MPH.  Of course you don't have to drive that fast but it does save you time!

It was an interesting conversation. Sometime if you're out on the road and there's not much traffic, back it down to 55 MPH. Especially on the interstate it does seem slow! If you have younger people in the car they might ask and you can tell them, we used to have to drive this speed all the time!