| hfelknor |
then how about 80........and the cops give you another 5.........for over 500 miles!
Course, I have been doing 90 out there and had Suburbans go by me at about 120*........... :D
But at least it is completely legal to do 80 now and semi legal to do 85.......... :D
In west Texas, the state truck of Texas for the working man is the Ford F150/250/350, but the state Limousine of Texas is a fully decked out Chevy Suburban.
Texas buys more Ford Trucks (and Suburbans) than any other state.
Homer
Can’t Drive 55? West Texas Welcomes You
Bruce Berman for The New York Times
On Interstate 10 between Sierra Blanca and Fort Hancock. The new speed limit is the highest in the nation.
By THAYER EVANS
Published: October 15, 2006
FORT HANCOCK, Tex. — Just past Mile Marker 61, heading east on Interstate 10, the steady roar of accelerating vehicle engines booms across the vast West Texas landscape.
The New York Times
On parts of Interstates 10 and 20 in Texas the speed limit is 80.
There, amid creosote bushes, mesquite trees and the occasional cactus, is a heavy-footed driver’s dream — a road sign declaring a speed limit of 80 miles per hour that coincides with entry into bucolic Hudspeth County.
State officials approved the new speed limit in May, making it the highest legal limit in the United States. The old speed limit had been 75 m.p.h., said Carlos Lopez, director of traffic operations for the Texas Department of Transportation.
The 80 m.p.h. zone extends east on Interstate 10 from the El Paso County line, through Hudspeth County and beyond.
In all, it includes 521 miles of highway in parts of 10 counties, Mr. Lopez said, splitting off at the junction with Interstate 20 east of Kent and continuing toward Monahans and on Interstate 20 into Kerr County.
The limit is an ideal fit for Texas, a state that prides itself on being larger than life.
“You can now get places in a more legal fashion,” said Mike Mossman of Fort Hancock. “In Texas, we measure distances by hours rather than miles.”
The new speed limit does not apply to big trucks, which have a limit of 70 m.p.h. during the day. The speed limit at night is 65 m.p.h. statewide.
Most drivers had already been driving above the old 75 m.p.h. limit, Mr. Lopez said. “You get a safer highway when people are driving in more uniformed speeds,” he added.
Not all Texans are happy with the higher speed limit. Before it took effect, the Hudspeth County commissioners passed a resolution opposing the change, and the head of the panel, Becky Dean-Walker, complained that the new speed limit was “too dangerous.”
“What’s next? 85?” Ms. Dean-Walker asked. “They’ll keep going.”
She also said the new speed limit was a burden on the county. Most of Hudspeth County, which has a population of 3,295 and an area of 4,572 square miles, is served by a volunteer ambulance service. The judge said she was concerned that the ambulance service would be overburdened by an increase in highway accidents.
“We’re a poor county,” Ms. Dean-Walker said. “We can’t keep enough volunteers. Every time they jack up the speed limit it puts a terrible strain on rural counties. Five miles an hour makes a difference every time in accidents.”
Here in Fort Hancock, a dusty border town of 1,713 people about 50 miles southeast of El Paso, the issue has split the local population between those who drive the new speed limit and those who do not.
“It’s a personal choice,” said Jose G. Franco, superintendent of the Fort Hancock Independent School District. Mr. Franco said he observes a speed limit of 70 m.p.h.
“I see people pass me at 80 m.p.h., and yet we hit the exit about the same time anyway by the time you slow down for semis,” he said.
But the higher speed limit has been a boon for Mr. Mossman, who as the owner of a wholesale cactus and desert plant company drives some 80,000 miles a year across the Southwest.
He said the roads with the new speed zones were so remote that “everyone waves at each other because they haven’t seen any other human in so long.”
He added, “It’s lonely out there.”
Sgt. John D. Schuller of the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office, a Fort Hancock resident, said drivers had been obeying the new speed limit.
“They’re given a few miles over,” Sergeant Schuller said. “If you’ve got an 80-mile-an-hour speed limit and you give them two or three miles, that’s 83, and then if they get all the way up to 85-plus, they’re in trouble.”
Sergeant Schuller said he drove in accordance with the new speed limit, but his wife, Georgia, refused to go beyond 70 m.p.h.
“She tells me to slow down,” he said.
In Sierra Blanca, population 533 and the Hudspeth County seat, Tom Ellison, 81, shook his head at the mere mention of the 80 m.p.h. speed limit.
Mr. Ellison, who owns a car repair and rock polishing shop, said he used to retrieve wrecked vehicles on Interstate 10 but stopped in the late 1990’s because of the morbid scenes he often encountered.
“It’s just too fast,” Mr. Ellison said. “I just don’t like it. It’s going to give a lot of people tickets, and accidents, too.” |
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| Murano_driver |
quote:
Originally posted by hfelknor
Mr. Ellison, who owns a car repair and rock polishing shop
Strange, I thought this guy should be happy. More money for business......:8:
Aside that, IMO 80 MPH is a good idea. No one driving less anyway, but at 65 people are speeding and looking around for the cops trap more than paying attention to the road/driving. You know how drivers hit the breaks before the blind spot of the highway thinking the cops might be there; it is more dangerous than going 80 all the time...
P.S. Officials who are saying it is not acceptable, has the immunity to the police. Did anyone ever see county commissioner, cop, fireman etc receiving a ticket for speeding?
Rules are for the regular people. |
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| Stoker |
Interesting story, until you can repeal the law of physics, the faster you go the longer it will take to stop and your reaction time will not be able to keep up to the increase in speed.
I personal drive at 100 Km/hr so that I can get improved gas economy and be able to react to what ever I find happening on the hwy better. And I still get there just as fast as the next guy doing 110 Km/hr.
I wonder if the lawmakers there also mandated better head lights so that you do not over drive your lights at night.
The world wonders |
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| Kris |
I drove on I10 this past May. It was very boring drive in places.
In Northern Territory, Australia there is no speed limits. Or at least there wasn’t a few years ago. Police Commissioner was against it as he said: “our roads are so straight and so boring that if we imposed speed limit at 100 kph people would fall asleep”! I love it!
I drove many times this year on German Autobahns at speed up to 220 kph. There is nothing wrong with it. Provided you have a car that can handle it and you can actually drive (I cannot say it about many Atlanta drivers…).
So “good on you, Texas. Enjoy you speed”. |
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| njjoe |
I have mixed feelings on this.
Many people believe they can handle 80 MPH because they have driven at 80 MPH in a straight line. Driving in a straight line is relatively easy. The challenge comes when you need to suddenly brake and/or alter your direction. Your average driver out there has no idea how to properly react to oversteer or understeer.
If 80 is the posted speed limit, that means the tolerated limit will be closer to 90 or 95 MPH. We have now entered some really serious territory.
Traffic deaths will increase; there is no denying that. Will it be worth it? I am sure a guy who regularly drives I-10 will say yes. But I bet you will get a different answer from the man whose wife was killed when she was hit by someone who could not control their car at 85.
-njjoe |
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| Kris |
Joe,
I understand your concerns. Majority people here do not know how to drive....they are blocking, passing in right lanes, they have no idea or understanding that a big SUV does not handles as a sports car, that you actually can hydroplane on water etc. etc. I guess it is time to send them back to driving schools.......and I am deadly serious.... |
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