Somewhere, Sammy Hagar is smiling. Texas' Transportation Commision will consider raising the speed limit on Interstates 10 and 20 next week. The Texas Department of Transportation's proposal would bump the speed limit to 80 mph to better reflect the rate of speed that traffic presently travels at anyway. A survey of the West Texas roads found that 85 percent of drivers regularly travel at up to 79 mph.
Of course, the proposed change has environmentalists and road safety advocates audibly concerned, but advocates maintain that raising the legal limit will make the roadways safer by encouraging a more universal pace.
What do you think? Sound off in 'Comments.'
[Sources: Associated Press via Houston Chronicle; Motomania; Lyricsbox]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Proud Japanese @ May 16th 2006 7:13AM
Yeah, and then they will find that 85% of the drivers travel upto 89mph. Viscious circle.
Shantanu @ May 16th 2006 7:15AM
Great idea...
Now for the other states.
Ari Kukkonen @ May 16th 2006 7:24AM
excellent idea!
novadays cars are so excellent and quiet that 80 miles an hour is piece if nearly of cake.
Bill @ May 16th 2006 7:35AM
I like the idea because I like to drive fast. It will keep me from having to worry about cops' speed traps while driving. I think I can hold it to 81-82 if they raise the limit.
I think the key is the cops stopping people for driving more than a few mph over the speed limit and being consistent about it. Then people will stress out less while driving.
Leo @ May 16th 2006 7:40AM
You can't ignore the will of the people. Flat, straight, wide Interstates can handle it. Idiot drivers can sideswipe you anywhere.
When the speed limit is 65, I drive 80. When it's 70, I drive 80. If it were 80, I wouldn't have to be looking for cops all the time, so I'd be safer!
traveller @ May 16th 2006 7:41AM
And high time it is, in my opinion it was needed long ago. My congratulation to all.
Sam Tucker @ May 16th 2006 7:44AM
(clip) Yeah, and then they will find that 85% of the drivers travel upto 89mph. Viscious circle.
Posted at 7:13AM on May 16th 2006 by Proud Japanese 0 stars (clip)
Cool, then maybe they will raise the speed limit to 90 MPH! I-10 and I20 are pretty much STRAIGHT highways, not "viscious circles".
x @ May 16th 2006 7:49AM
Texas cops are pretty easy going..usually. They'll pull over a 85 in a 70 or maybe a 90 in a 70. The people going 80 usually don't get pulled over. If they raise the limit, they won't be pulling people over until they probably hit 90 or 95. :)
Eric L. @ May 16th 2006 7:50AM
#2 - What would prevent you from driving 85 or 90, if the speed limit were 80? Pretty much any modern car can cruise at 100mph nowadays.
Glenn A. @ May 16th 2006 7:51AM
Driving at 80 would be fine were the drivers competent, well taught and disciplined.
I've lived in and driven in the UK and ridden in Germany with good drivers. Compared to almost all of these drivers, we American drivers are woefully inadequate in - driving competence, discipline and our so-called driver's education is woefully, pitifully inadequate.
Just another reason to avoid Texas.
Yes, I have to admit that 99% of drivers in the US do not follow speed limits, and won't follow the Texas 80 mph limit, either.
Contrast this to an article I read from a 1956 Popular Science auto road test of a Continental automobile from Chicago to New York on the then new expressways and tollways. Instructed to faithfully go the speed limit (which ranged from 30 in construction zones to 65 mph and using a correct speedometer), the driver and co-driver were passed by a mere 15 speeders - on a busy holiday weekend.
Yes, Virginia, once upon a time Americans actually DID obey the rules of the roadway. Of course, one reason might have been the fact that speeding tickets were as much as $200 (more or less the equivalent of $2500 now). And the police were actually out enforcing the law (wow, what a novel idea! No donuts?!)
With driving standards and competence seemingly dropping on a daily basis (by my own observation), it is little wonder our death rate is going up year on year in the United States - despite ABS, EBD, SRS, ESP, VSC, curtain airbags, traction control etc etc
ad nauseum.
Safer cars are absolutely no use with incompetent drivers who seemingly insist upon threatening the lives of all other drivers (and risking their own and their passenger's lives) by tailgating, weaving, driving through red lights and stop signs, going below the speed limit in the fast lane (making others drive around them on the right), speeding, driving too fast for conditions. I could go on and on and on.
Ludovic @ May 16th 2006 7:52AM
Can American cars handle it?
Can American drivers handle it?
Peter W. @ May 16th 2006 7:56AM
Modern cars and interstates may be able to handle the high speeds... but cruising at 80 still eats a lot more gas than cruising at 60. Why are people in such a resource gobbling rush all the time?
In Atlanta, everyone drives 75-80 in the 55, and you're likely to get pulled over for going only 62 because you're becoming a hazard by impeding the flow of traffic. I just worry about all the people who think raising the speed to 80 means they can start going 95 no-problem...
Juan @ May 16th 2006 8:00AM
Personally, I would love if the speed limit was raised to 80 mph because I usually drive 80/85mph anyway. But I can't honestly say that if the limit was raised to 80 that I would still do the same old 80/85. I'd probably cruise around 90 more often and even push 100 on my "feel good" days. Like #6 said, basically all cars these days can travel 100 mph easily. No matter what the speed limit is, people are still going to exceed them as long as we have cars that can
Nick @ May 16th 2006 8:13AM
I always hoped there would be an autobahn in America, but what about the increased oil consumption. People might not start doing 90 at first, but ten years down the line they would.
Shawn @ May 16th 2006 8:14AM
I don't think anyone drives less than 80 here in NJ already
Steve C. @ May 16th 2006 8:26AM
Wait -- what's that sound I hear? Oh -- it's Ralph Nader having a stroke.
Matt @ May 16th 2006 8:29AM
Can the Prius even drive that fast without the battery? lol
bhtooefr @ May 16th 2006 8:30AM
#13 Juan: Here in Ohio, the speed limit's 65, and people normally go 65-70. My 1985 Jetta diesel with 52 horsepower can just keep up.
However, go somewhere like Michigan, where I've seen 90 in a 70, and there's no way in hell that I can keep up. The PO of my car said that he got it up to 85 once, but I don't believe him. :(
ConceptualReality @ May 16th 2006 8:35AM
I would like to point out the following from:
(the following link is missing the 3w's in front.. it was complaining about too many URLS)
ibiblio.org/rdu/sl-irrel.html
Wherethe following under the summary of findings is stated:
"# Raising speed limits by 5, 10, or 15 mi/h (8, 16, or 25 km/h) at the rural and urban sites had a minor effect on vehicle speeds. In other words, an increase in the posted speed limit did not create a corresponding increase in vehicle speeds."
The increase would be limited to those that purposely wanted to go faster, but fewer people would want to travel that speed. Many folks do not feel comfortable exceeding the 80 MPH threshold. Essentially if the posted speed limit is 70 and 80% are doing 75mph an increase to 80MPH would probably see the 80 - 90 % doing 90.
Wiki has this to say:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limit#Speed_limits.2C_actual_speeds.2C_and_aggregate_safety
"Increasing a speed limit by 4 mi/h would increase the average speed by 1 mi/h"
So 10 MPH increase increase avgerage speed from 79 to 81.5 - not much of an increase.
The Federal Highway Administration has this on the report:
http://www.speedtrap.org/speedlimits/fhwa_report.html
At 34 locations, existing speed limits were posted within 5 mi/h (8 km/h) of the 85th percentile speeds. When speed limits at these sites were lowered more than 5 mi/h (8 km/h) below the 85th percentile speed, the mean difference in percentile speeds was less than 1 mi/h (1.6 km/h). [In other words, lowering the speed limit does not mean traffic will slow down.]"
"
Finally the following comes from National Motorists Association Foundation and speaks to safety advocates concerning fatalities as a result of raising speed limits.
http://www.speedtrap.org/speedlimits/bennett.html
"In conclusion, the best available recent data show no effect on traffic safety when interstate speed limits are raised."
So raising speed limits has little effect on anything except fuel economy. But for a state that is 822 miles across, saving an hour and a half legally does have it's advantages.
Proud Japanese @ May 16th 2006 8:37AM
Sam Tucker #7:
Do you even know what I meant when I said "Vicious Circle"? Here, I'll explain it to you.
"A vicious circle is a sequence of events that make each other worse"
So you they will find later that 85% do 89mph. They increase the limit to 90mph and then they find that 85% of the people do 99mph and so on.
From your name, I assume you are a citizen of the U.S. It's pathetic that a native speaker doesn't know the meaning of idions used in everyday conversation.