Texas highway would be the first to allow 85 mph speed limit

[Shipkiller]

Read it here:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/...154924311.html

[Mtxzptlk]

It's a start.

Then again. always that percentage of the population that ruins it for all of us.

[kennyfrc]

Originally Posted by Shipkiller

Read it here:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/...154924311.html

It's about time traffic laws caught up with modern engineering.

[Finnegan]

Great idea, but I can still where you'll get three semi-conscious drivers all going 60 MPH side by side across 3 lanes.

Speed limit here is 65, and we get these blocking lines going all the time where the drivers are all under 60 MPH. Mile of open road in front, and no intention of keeping right/yielding to faster traffic.

[jophish17]

"The higher the speed limit, the more accidents there are, the more injuries and the more deaths," Jerry Johns, president of the Southwest Insurance Information Institute, told Reuters last year.

I wonder if he bothered to look at miles driven, and perhaps compare historical rates of accidents or fatalities per mile driven as the number of miles driven has generally increased over time, much like speed limits have over the past 20 years

someone is mixing up correlation and causation

[CalRick]

Originally Posted by jophish17

I wonder if he bothered to look at miles driven, and perhaps compare historical rates of accidents or fatalities per mile driven as the number of miles driven has generally increased over time, much like speed limits have over the past 20 years

someone is mixing up correlation and causation

The Insurance Institute isn't concerned with safety. The lower the speed limits, the more speeding tickets that will be written so that they can charge extra premiums for added points to driver's records, even if loss experience doesn't change.

[kennyfrc]

Originally Posted by CalRick

The Insurance Institute isn't concerned with safety. The lower the speed limits, the more speeding tickets that will be written so that they can charge extra premiums for added points to driver's records, even if loss experience doesn't change.

The insurance companies actually purchase laser guns for the police departments!

[ShakyDog]

I did a research paper way back in college about how speed does not kill speed variance kills. That is why I always adjust my speed to that of the traffic.

Steve

[Hawkeye]

whole lot of conspiracy goin on in here. haha!

[007MCoupe]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

Great idea, but I can still where you'll get three semi-conscious drivers all going 60 MPH side by side across 3 lanes.

Speed limit here is 65, and we get these blocking lines going all the time where the drivers are all under 60 MPH. Mile of open road in front, and no intention of keeping right/yielding to faster traffic.

I HATED driving in Texas. People seriously went straight to the left lane to cruise. I talked to so many people that had the mantra of, "If someone wants to pass me, they can go around."

Just thinking about it gets my blood boiling.

[txz4]

Originally Posted by 007MCoupe

I HATED driving in Texas. People seriously went straight to the left lane to cruise. I talked to so many people that had the mantra of, "If someone wants to pass me, they can go around."

Just thinking about it gets my blood boiling.

Texas drivers a very crazy drivers, i should know! <---- If anything the higher speed limits should intimidate those slow drivers into going into the right lane.

[mfanatic325]

Hehe first world problems?

There are plenty of asshats in Cali "free"-ways, as Finnegan has already pointed out. Quite annoying when you know traffic could be so much smoother but a few decide to shaft everyone else

On the flip side there are those that just drive way too fast for seemingly no good reason at all and cops are never there when they really should be lol

[TexasZed4MC]

Its not me that I worry about driving the 85mph on the road, its the people tha really have no clue how to drive a car on it that scares the hell out of me. I see it EVERYDAY! 98% of all drivers drive 5' in front of their hood. Most have no clue what is happening 1 hundered foot ahead, much less the 1/8 mile ahead that needs to be observed at those speed and in traffic. You can actually drive the Sam Rayburn tollway in north Dallas at that speed (posted speed limit is 65) you just have to look far ahead and plan your routes very carefully. As an employee of TxDOT, will the tollway work at that speed? Yes. Will there be accidents and deaths becasue of it? Yes. Is it the roadways or speed limts assigned fault? NO.

[007MCoupe]

Hell no! I completely 100% blame each state's DMV/BMV for not ensuring they're putting safe drivers on the road. Being in the military I've heard my share of stories of them getting licenses' for solely being military. WHile I love and appreciate being taken care of being for being military, some things should not be given.

There was a girl I was on the bus to Seoul with and I overheard a convo she was having about how bad of a driver she is etc. She said the licenser actually told her that she would've failed the test on 3 different occasions but STILL gave her a license because she's military.

I can't open the link but I remember hearing about something before I left. is it the strip of I-10 between El Paso and San Antonio that's going to be 85? If so, that's a terrible idea. I've driven that exact stretch of road MANY times. Just after Junction it gets bad. And nighttime is just waiting for deaths. SO MANY DEER on that stretch!!! 85(plus) + deer = bye bye.

wow. sorry for the soap box! lol

[Caddyshk]

How much more fuel does an average car use at 85 vs. 65/70? That will decide it - environmentalists trump all other agendas...

[kennyfrc]

Originally Posted by Caddyshk

environmentalists trump all other agendas...

And will ruin the world if we allow it!

[007MCoupe]

IDK. I set cruise around 80-82 in the 75 zone there and avg'd ~27mpg. It's a pretty flat stretch of road so there's not a bunch of revving uphill needed.

[pal]

Here in NJ if you are on the Turnpike, I-287 or the parkway, you would think the speed limit is 80mph.

[Shipkiller]

Originally Posted by pal

Here in NJ if you are on the Turnpike, I-287 or the parkway, you would think the speed limit is 80mph.

I hear you. I drive the turnpike and 287 to the Tapenzee all the time.