Interstate Highway Speeds

I drove over to Orlando to visit my mother for Thanksgiving, but I took I-4 and did not drive my Falcon. The speed limit is 70 mph. I was in the middle lane driving 78 mph. A Toyota Corolla was passing me on my right while the cars to my left were blowing past at probably 90.

There is nothing wrong with my Falcon. It will buzz along comfortably at 60 - 65 mph all day long, and to me that seems perfectly acceptable. But, driving that speed on the Interstate now will get you killed.

Check out this accident that happened here last week. The guy was driving his Impala on I-75 at 60 mph in daylight, but even at that speed he felt that he was driving so slow that he had his emergency flashers on. Despite all that, a woman still rear-ended him so hard that it knocked him off the road and caused the car to flip over. :WHATTHE:
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I started driving my first car, a 1963 six-cylinder Falcon wagon, in 1977, and drove another six cylinder Falcon in the mid 1980's. I drove those cars on the Interstate all the time and do not remember a problem. But, the National 55 mph speed limit was in effect then (1974 - 1986). Everyone pushed it, but it still kept most of the traffic to about 60 - 65 mph.

With the way things are now, I will keep my little Falcon on State Highways and out of the path of the 90 mph lunatics on the Interstate.
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I am also a VW Vanagon owner. These are large heavy vehicles with grossly underpowered engines for the size. They have 95HP at the crank when new and are close to 5000lbs. I bring this up because of a recent indecent to another Vanagon driver.

A Vanagon driver in California was cruising in a center lane at 60. He was hit from the rear by a car going at least 20 MPH faster. This caused the van to go out of control and roll several times at speed. The van took out several poles on the roadside before coming to a stop. The driver wasn't seriously injured which was surprising for a no-airbag vehicle like this.

I added a five speed manual to my 62 Falcon so that I could keep up with the other traffic on the freeways without my engine running at better than 3500RPM.

One thing for sure about the old Falcons that we drive. They are not safe in the case of an accident even if it's at a slower speed. But, I remember back in the 60's when there weren't speed limits on some of the roads in Kansas and the Kansas Turnpike speed limit was 80 and most went a lot faster than that.
I remember driving my 57 Chevy to work every night at 100 mph. The problem isn't the speed limits. It is the idiots that want to go 80 mph even if traffic is going 60. The people that cause most of the accidents are the ones changing lanes back and forth. I can handle a guy going 80 in the left lane, just don't switch back and forth.
Then you have the jerks that drive 50 in the left lane, who create even more problems.
I also have the 5 speed in my Falcon and drive right about 60-65 most of the time. Except when my right foot thinks it's still 18 and goes bonkers on me. Larry