Texas House Approves Plan To Raise Speed Limits

[William Maley]

Texas House Approves Plan To Raise Speed Limits

William Maley - Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

April 8, 2011

Texas is becoming the Fastest State in America. On Wednesday, the Texas House approved a bill that will raise the speed limit on interstates to 85 MPH. Right now, Texas has a speed limit of 80 MPH on 520 miles of interstate. The bill also states the speed limit can be raised by the Texas Department of Transportation once engineering and traffic studies are done on the interstates.

"They have high-speed roadways in Europe, and there could be some merit in having some of those highways in Texas. Given the right engineering, we should consider it," said Rep. Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham, who introduced the bill.

However, safety advocates and insurance companies loathe the idea of a raised speed limit.

"Obviously, the two things that kill most people on our highways are speed and alcohol. Increasing it to 85, or even 75, will have a dramatic impact on the death and injury rate on those highways where it's implemented," said Jerry Johns, a spokesman for the Southwestern Insurance Information Service.

The Texas Senate is considering a similar bill.

Source: Houston Chronicle

[Croc]

Please, safety "advocates." Anyone who has ever driven I-10 through western Texas knows that it is nothing but miles upon miles of straight, flat roadway. Everyone goes 85+ because there's nothing there--minimal exits, minimal traffic. If "slower traffic keeps right" then there's no safety problem.

[Satty]

Worst case scenario: fewer Texans

[William Maley]

If "slower traffic keeps right" then there's no safety problem.

But you're thinking rationally. Any lane on a interstate is go as fast or slow as you like

[PurdueGuy]

What a crazy idea - letting engineers decide what speeds are safe for particular sections of road, rather than having a committee listen to the interest groups they get the most support from, and decide what is safe based on that.

[deftonesfan867]

Worst case scenario: fewer Texans

Yeah because we're awful people.

[Robert Hall]

Please, safety "advocates." Anyone who has ever driven I-10 through western Texas knows that it is nothing but miles upon miles of straight, flat roadway. Everyone goes 85+ because there's nothing there--minimal exits, minimal traffic. If "slower traffic keeps right" then there's no safety problem.

I've been on the drive from Dallas to El Paso and vice versa...11 hours of nothing.. Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Iowa also need a higher limit for I-80..miles of empty..

Edited April 9, 2011 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[SAmadei]

Please, safety "advocates." Anyone who has ever driven I-10 through western Texas knows that it is nothing but miles upon miles of straight, flat roadway. Everyone goes 85+ because there's nothing there--minimal exits, minimal traffic. If "slower traffic keeps right" then there's no safety problem.

I've been on the drive from Dallas to El Paso and vice versa...11 hours of nothing.. Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Iowa also need a higher limit for I-80..miles of empty..

I'm sure they do. For crying out loud, the de facto speed limit on most of the Garden State Parkway, NJ Turnpike and Atlantic City Expressway are 80 mph. And all are safer (deaths per 100 million miles travelled) than the surface roads at slightly less than half that speed... That must majorly P.O. the traffic engineers.

[Croc]

If "slower traffic keeps right" then there's no safety problem.

But you're thinking rationally. Any lane on a interstate is go as fast or slow as you like

No, many states have codified "Slower traffic keep right" in the vehicle code, but enforcement is a completely different manner. In Colorado, I've found that it's generally enforced and respected.

[Satty]

The people of Colorado tend to be, you know, smart.....

[ocnblu]

How so? They voted in 2006 to ban same-sex marriage.

[Satty]

In Texas homosexual intercourse was illegal until the Supreme Court stepped in in 2003.

[Robert Hall]

How so? They voted in 2006 to ban same-sex marriage.

uar

Well, the state does have a lot of a social conservatives/right wingers, esp. in the Colorado Springs area and the rural voids of the eastern plains. But as a whole, Colorado is more purple than nearby hard core red states such as Utah, Wyoming, Kansas, AZ, Oklahoma, or Texas..

Edited April 9, 2011 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[ocnblu]

Social conservatives should be among the ones demanding equal marriage rights, seems to me. Married people tend to be measurably more monogamous than non-marrieds.

[Robert Hall]

Social conservatives should be among the ones demanding equal marriage rights, seems to me. Married people tend to be measurably more monogamous than non-marrieds.

Socons are against equal marriage rights because of the religion angle, I think..

Anyway, back on topic---higher speed limits where appropriate is a good thing.....one thing I hate about interstates back in Ohio are the darn low speed limits...always find myself going 10 miles over the limit when I leave the Columbus airport..

Edited April 9, 2011 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[G. David Felt]

We need to get the morons out of office in Washington state and raise the speed limits. Now that they have forced all these safety features that have raised the weight and cost of auto's. Time to raise the speed limits so they can be driven at those speeds and get from point A to point B ASAP.

No need for driving slow. Course then you have the state of Oregon with all their conservatives and their bloody 55 state wide and even slower on the major freeways going through a town. Hate it when I have to drive through Oregon to get to California.

Speed does not kill people, Idiots who do not know how to drive and drive slow in the left lanes kill people.

[loki]

Speed does not kill people, Idiots who do not know how to drive and drive slow in the left lanes kill people.

rapid change of speed kills people. hehe

should just be fair weather speed and bad weather speed. i know on "back roads" i can go ~15mph over the suggested speed just fine on sharp turns (unless it's a <30mph turn) in nice weather.

Edited April 11, 2011 by loki

[Oracle of Delphi]

Just in time for my 2011 Camaro to make a visit back to my home state ... YeeeeHaaaaa!

[ZL-1]

...And 100MPH For All!!!

[Justin Bimmer]

In my over 100,000 miles of travel in a commercial vehicle to over 40 states, I found that most rural interstate traffic subscribed to the slower traffic keep right expectations. This was likely due to the lack of congestion. As soon as congestion becomes an issue, then it becomes a asphalt/concrete free for all.

[ZL-1]

In my over 100,000 miles of travel in a commercial vehicle to over 40 states, I found that most rural interstate traffic subscribed to the slower traffic keep right expectations. This was likely due to the lack of congestion. As soon as congestion becomes an issue, then it becomes a asphalt/concrete free for all.

So you guys drive like the Spanish do: highly civilized until traffic builds up... We Portuguese, on the other hand, are a bunch of animals whether at 20MPH or at 100MPH :/

[dwightlooi]

Let's hope that eventually, the freeway signs read

DO NOT EXCEED THE SPEED RATING OF YOUR TIRES

DO NOT SLOW DOWN FOR MERGING TRAFFIC

SEAT BEATS AND HELMETS RECOMMENDED

SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT

(MINIMUM PENALTY FOR DUI -- 5 YEARS IMPRISONMENT)

(MINIMUM PENALTY FOR CAUSING A LETHAL ACCIDENT WHILE IMPAIRED -- DEATH)

[Croc]

Let's hope that eventually, the freeway signs read

DO NOT SLOW DOWN FOR MERGING TRAFFIC

Seriously? You have to slow for merging traffic in many circumstances if you don't want to be sideswiped, cause an accident, or just be a dickhead.

(MINIMUM PENALTY FOR CAUSING A LETHAL ACCIDENT WHILE IMPAIRED -- DEATH)

And what would the maximum penalty be? Please, this is absolutely ridiculous.