Van Halen rocker Sammy Hagar took to Instagram to share a post about his song ‘I Can’t Drive 55.’
In the post, the rocker briefly talks about how he wrote the song after the incident he had. He wrote in the caption of the post:
“Before I wrote the song ‘I Can’t Drive 55,’ I had 34 speeding tickets and my license taken away three times and was paying $135,000 a year for insurance – and that was in 1984! Since I wrote that song and made that video I have gotten only two speeding tickets! It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”
The song became one of the most popular songs of the rocker. And apparently, it caused actual changes in the speed limit as well. A fan commented about the effect of the song under the post:
“I’ve always said this, but that was arguably the ‘protest’ song that caused the most change!”
Hagar explained how it changed the limit and what he had to go through after releasing the song:
“That’s interesting my friend because it did get the speed limit changed and I was asked by the government to do a public service message because people were spray painting the 55 mph signs with a circle and a red line through it. I finally did a photo op in California taking down the 55 sign and putting up a 65 sign with the city workers.”
What Inspired Hagar To Write The Song?
Hagar wrote the song in response to getting a speeding ticket in New York State for driving 62 miles per hour on a road. The speed limit was 55 miles per hour. This limit was the highest allowed in the United States at that time under the National Maximum Speed Law, which was put into effect in 1974.
In a 1994 interview on the show ‘In The Studio,’ Hagar discussed how he came to write ‘I Can’t Drive 55.’ He explained:
“I was in a rent-a-car that wouldn’t go much faster than 55 miles an hour. I was on my way back from Africa. I did a safari for three months throughout Africa. A really great vacation after [1982’s] ‘Three Lock Box’. I was traveling for 24 hours, I got to New York City, changed planes, Albany, New York. Got in a rent-a-car. Had a place in Lake Placid at the time, a little log cabin. I used to go there and write with my little boy. Aaron, at that time, went to North Country school when I was on tour. I would go there and see him. It was a really cool getaway. But it took two and a half hours to drive there from Albany. And I was driving from Albany, New York at 2:00 in the morning, burnt from all the travel.”
He also mentioned the incident that inspired him to write the song right on the spot:
“Cop stopped me for doing 62 on a four-lane road when there was no one else in sight. Then the guy gave me a ticket. I was doing 62. And he said, ‘We give tickets around here for over 60.’ And I said, ‘I can’t drive 55.’ I grabbed a paper and a pen, and I swear the guy was writing the ticket and I was writing the lyrics. I got to Lake Placid, I had a guitar set-up there. And I wrote that song there on the spot.”
You can see the Instagram post here and listen to the song down below.