Everything in Texas is big...and FAST
06-07-2012 | 11:59 AM
#1
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Everything in Texas is big...and FAST
Sounds good to me 
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/...154924311.html
Can't drive 55? … 65? … 75? How about 85?
A stretch of Texas highway may soon be the first road in the country to have a posted 85 mph speed limit.
The Texas Department of Transportation said this week that part of a toll road being built between Austin and San Antonio will be tested to see if motorists can safely push it to 85.
"It was designed under extremely high design parameters," Darren McDaniel, the state's Speed Management Director told WOAI radio.
Texas and Utah are the only states with 80-mph limits on some roadways. But Texas turned heads when lawmakers gave the green light to go to 85 if needed.
"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.
Eighty-five mph would be the second-highest posted speed limit in the world, according to the European auto rental firm Rhino Car Hire, Reuters reported. Some roads in Poland reportedly allow speeds of about 86 mph.
Texas hopes the faster toll road will help relieve one of the country's most congested interstates, between Austin and San Antonio.
"It's in a straight, flat area," TxDOT spokesman Mark Cross told Yahoo. "Safety is a priority. We want to make sure people understand that."
A stretch of Texas highway may soon be the first road in the country to have a posted 85 mph speed limit.
The Texas Department of Transportation said this week that part of a toll road being built between Austin and San Antonio will be tested to see if motorists can safely push it to 85.
"It was designed under extremely high design parameters," Darren McDaniel, the state's Speed Management Director told WOAI radio.
Texas and Utah are the only states with 80-mph limits on some roadways. But Texas turned heads when lawmakers gave the green light to go to 85 if needed.
"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.
Eighty-five mph would be the second-highest posted speed limit in the world, according to the European auto rental firm Rhino Car Hire, Reuters reported. Some roads in Poland reportedly allow speeds of about 86 mph.
Texas hopes the faster toll road will help relieve one of the country's most congested interstates, between Austin and San Antonio.
"It's in a straight, flat area," TxDOT spokesman Mark Cross told Yahoo. "Safety is a priority. We want to make sure people understand that."
06-07-2012 | 12:38 PM
#2
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From: MAHT-O-MEDI
I drove the autostrada in Italy a couple years ago for about 700 miles in a Fiat 500. They standard limit is 81mph (130kph) and some sections have the ability to go to 90+mph under certain conditions.
They are big well built freeways and it did not seem to be a problem. The are huge difference though as to what that might mean in Texas. First, Italians actually pay attention when they drive, believe it or not, and you virtually never see someone on a phone when driving. Secondly, 90 percent of the cars over there would still get better than 30 mpg traveling at that speed (our Fiat got about 45-50mpg most of the time) but our US SUV's and Pickem-Ups will probably pull 15mpg at a steady 85.
I thinki it will be less safe with US drivers, but not necessarily a death trap. No doubt lots of sports cars will go down to drive long stretches at triple digit speeds the way they would in Montana before they had a speed limit.
They are big well built freeways and it did not seem to be a problem. The are huge difference though as to what that might mean in Texas. First, Italians actually pay attention when they drive, believe it or not, and you virtually never see someone on a phone when driving. Secondly, 90 percent of the cars over there would still get better than 30 mpg traveling at that speed (our Fiat got about 45-50mpg most of the time) but our US SUV's and Pickem-Ups will probably pull 15mpg at a steady 85.
I thinki it will be less safe with US drivers, but not necessarily a death trap. No doubt lots of sports cars will go down to drive long stretches at triple digit speeds the way they would in Montana before they had a speed limit.
06-07-2012 | 01:18 PM
#3
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 58,693
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From: La Crescenta, CA
If you're driving on the Autobahn or Autostrada and someone comes up behind you, you know it because you're using your rearview mirror and you move to the right out of the way. Everyone does. In the US, people don't look in their mirrors, drive slowly in the left lane, don't move over, don't know how to judge differential speeds, are distracted by cell phones and whatever else they're fooling around with, and generally don't know what's going on and don't care. There will be carnage in Texass!
06-09-2012 | 11:42 AM
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I've driven to Texas. It isn't like people aren't already driving that fast.
Off rush hour, the de facto speed limit around Chicago is 80 mph. We have 70mph speed limits on the freeways here in MN and most drive ~10 over as it is. What's another 5 mph while still legal?
A safety issue I foresee is the cars and trucks that can't reach and maintain 85 mph over a large stretch. Also, there's plenty of economy cars that I wouldn't rate as "safe" much above 55 mph, especially not on a windy day. I would expect those drivers would tend to avoid the tollway.
It sounds like they are trying to encourage drivers to use the tollway, thereby reducing congestion elsewhere. Would be interesting if it works.
Off rush hour, the de facto speed limit around Chicago is 80 mph. We have 70mph speed limits on the freeways here in MN and most drive ~10 over as it is. What's another 5 mph while still legal?
A safety issue I foresee is the cars and trucks that can't reach and maintain 85 mph over a large stretch. Also, there's plenty of economy cars that I wouldn't rate as "safe" much above 55 mph, especially not on a windy day. I would expect those drivers would tend to avoid the tollway.
It sounds like they are trying to encourage drivers to use the tollway, thereby reducing congestion elsewhere. Would be interesting if it works.
