State of Texas now permits 85 MPH on open freeways

barman · Sep 1, 2011

In the spring, the Tea Party-dominated Texas legislature upped the speed limit on some highways to 85 mph, a change that went into effect today. Insurance companies are very displeased.

"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. He said drivers already exceed 70 mph highway speed limits. "But 85 mph is simply too fast to drive even on a flat road. Any little hitch can cause an accident at that speed. There is still traffic on those roads, and to drive 85 mph is simply ludicrous," he said.

barman · Sep 1, 2011

Dante · Sep 1, 2011

Awesome

michael777 · Sep 1, 2011

good move by the tea party,bravo

DollarDay · Sep 2, 2011

Too bad that's only in parts of western texas. I'd love to see them increase the speed limit on the drive from Dallas / Fort Worth down to San Antonio. I make that drive about 4 times a year for work and would welcome the extra speed.

ALSportsJunkie · Sep 2, 2011

Very nice....if you can't drive 85 on a flat, open road then you probably shouldn't be driving.

steaktartar · Sep 2, 2011

wait til you pop your tire on some old cattle skull in the middle of nowhere ...you'll wish you were doing 75

texansfan · Sep 2, 2011

steak tartar said:
wait til you pop your tire on some old cattle skull in the middle of nowhere ...you'll wish you were doing 75

C'mon now steak, we just crush them skulls with the big ol tires on our trucks...

BAGIANT · Sep 2, 2011

I know I drive85 mph most of the time.

steaktartar · Sep 2, 2011

texansfan said:
C'mon now steak, we just crush them skulls with the big ol tires on our trucks...

ope:

thetout · Sep 2, 2011

i am not worried about me but the semis doing 85 is just insane.

Doug · Sep 2, 2011

85 MPH is quite reasonable on open road in the middle of nowhere during daylight hours. The limit used to be 70 MPH ( I think) in CT in the early 70's. That was with crappy cars lacking airbags, ABS, even seatbelts on older cars, etc.

I wouldn't support 85 MPH in CT, but certainly it is fine out west.

There should be some sort of allowance for the quality/ safety of your car and your driving skill level.

Any fairly new car should be quite capable of 85 mph safely. I don't want to see U-haul trucks and boat trailers going 85.

I believe much of Western Europe ( not just Germany) drives much faster than the US, places like Spain for one.

texansfan · Sep 2, 2011

The only one's not speeding are the trucks filled with illegals so they don't get stopped.

Doug · Sep 2, 2011

the tout said:
i am not worried about me but the semis doing 85 is just insane.

85 does seem a bit much for an 80,000 lb rig with a 53' trailer

Doug · Sep 2, 2011

BAGIANT said:
I know I drive85 mph most of the time.

Where around Vista ?

Highway 78 ?

I-5

101

???

bigtendominator · Sep 2, 2011

Doug said:
I believe much of Western Europe ( not just Germany) drives much faster than the US, places like Spain for one.

The problem here is people don't understand the concept of pass and move to the right.

You know how many idiots drive at the posted limit in the fast lane. I can remember driving up I-35 one friday last year and this SOB is doing 70 and causing a quater mile delay behind him, because he wouldn't move. When I passed him, he was looking at me like I stole his lunch money.

If people drove like truckers and passed and then moved over, I would have no problem with it. I just think there are too many idiots here in Texas for this to be safe and successful.

Doug · Sep 2, 2011

driving right is certainly desirable. On a two lane highway like I-95 in much of ct it is difficult to get people to do this.....part of the reason is people don't want to be in the right lane because of the onramps and people don't know how to merge into oncoming traffic, mainly people that refuse to accelerate to 60 mph quickly to get up to speed, there are also occasional left lane exits here....so driving the left lane avoids the merging issue...if you want to do that, as I often do, then be prepared to drive 75-80 and still let the guy that wants to go 85+ pass you. There is often a big speed difference here between the two lanes.

Don't ticket me for passing on the right, ticket the A-hole that won't drive right, causing me to pass illegally....

Cops could easily ticket people for " failure to drive right" and help solve the problem. Tickets for no seatbelt have caused people to wear them, same principle here.

My wife often pulls 15' past the white line at an intersection making it difficult for others from the right to make a left turn, pointless to point it out anymore.

Cops could write all kinds of tickets for more serious stuff like the above instead of 8 mph over a speed limit.

Bourn · Sep 2, 2011

I got 2 tickets last week in the same fuckin spot by my house. 57 in a 30 and 45 in a30. Both were standing on the side of the road with their little gun and just pointed for me to pull over. Hate 'em!

Bourn · Sep 2, 2011

Doug said:
My wife often pulls 15' past the white line at an intersection making it difficult for others from the right to make a left turn, pointless to point it out anymore.
.

I do the same thing. Not quite 15', but a good 8' i'd say past the white line. I just can't seem to stop behind it for some reason. It's like a disease.

TheCommish · Sep 2, 2011

Bourn said:
I got 2 tickets last week in the same fuckin spot by my house. 57 in a 30 and 45 in a30. Both were standing on the side of the road with their little gun and just pointed for me to pull over. Hate 'em!

Was it the same cop??

State of Texas now permits 85 MPH on open freeways

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