he Saudi lead and priced their oil closer to the spot price. This strategy is one reason that some analysts consider OPEC a "loose" cartel.
1d. One of the most significant issues to emerge from the oil price shocks of the 1970s is that of requiring that energy conservation methods be implemented across industry and the consumer base. During the "oil crises" of the 1970s, gas rationing was instituted in several areas. This rationing was not as strict as during World War II, but required that gasoline could only be purchased on certain days, and some states encouraged car pooling by setting aside lanes on highways for cars containing multiple passengers.
Another result of the move toward conservation was the lowering of the nationwide maximum speed limit to 55 miles per hour. This was intended to reduce the amount of gasoline that automobiles consumed, and has been kept in force not so much by advocates of conservation, but by those who observe that traffic accidents at 55 mph result in fewer injuries and deaths than traffic accidents at 70 mph.
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