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

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Jason Sickles | The Lookout


http://i.imgur.com/aAs5f.jpg

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."

[Muddy]

The roads to San Antonio are so long and straight.. 85 is OK..

[DemonGeminiX]

And if the drivers down there are anything like Atlanta I-75/I-85 drivers, everybody will be doing 115+ on them.

[Acid Trip]

I've driven to San Antonio hundreds of times and that stretch between Austin and San Antonio can back up quite a bit.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

I drive 85 most of the time

[Teh One Who Knocks]

And if the drivers down there are anything like Atlanta I-75/I-85 drivers, everybody will be doing 115+ on them.

Not if it's anything down there like it is here...on all stretches of interstate where the posted speed limit is 75 in Colorado, the state patrol are out in force and they have zero tolerance for speeding in a 75 mph zone.

[Arkady Renko]

85, that's cute.

[Godfather]

When computers drive our cars we'll be able to go 185 safely :mrgreen: That's my hope

[Hal-9000]

When computers drive our cars we'll be able to go 185 safely :mrgreen: That's my hope

I saw a show recently where they took the guy out on some road situations in computerized cars for breaking and parking....the guy was literally giggling near the end, he was really impressed. Cars were new Ford products I recall...

[redred]

85, that's cute.

show off :lol:

[Godfather]

I saw a show recently where they took the guy out on some road situations in computerized cars for breaking and parking....the guy was literally giggling near the end, he was really impressed. Cars were new Ford products I recall...

That's awesome, I'd like to see that!

My Dad's buddy bought a new BMW M5 and obviously didn't listen to the features when writing the cheque. One day a few weeks back he's driving too fast coming up to a stop light and talking on his phone, when the car goes BOOM! It slams on the breaks to stop him from rear-ending someone :lol: He shit his pants but it prevented an accident.

[Hal-9000]

That's awesome, I'd like to see that!

My Dad's buddy bought a new BMW M5 and obviously didn't listen to the features when writing the cheque. One day a few weeks back he's driving too fast coming up to a stop light and talking on his phone, when the car goes BOOM! It slams on the breaks to stop him from rear-ending someone :lol: He shit his pants but it prevented an accident.

Trying to recall the show...it was something like 60 minutes or W5. The car makes warning sounds then hits the brakes.

They had an awesome test with two cars that 'sensed' each other. One was behind a semi truck trailer and the other turned in front of the truck. Both cars indicated shit was going to happen and avoided the impending blind corner accident.

Here's the downside of the tech..they fear that people will get so complacent driving that other types of accidents will happen :lol:

[Hal-9000]

I sure was impressed with the automatic parallel parking. Guy pulled up beside the open spot and then took his hands off the wheel and pedals...it parked perfectly.

[Godfather]

I sure was impressed with the automatic parallel parking. Guy pulled up beside the open spot and then took his hands off the wheel and pedals...it parked perfectly.

That's very cool. Lexus has been doing it a while, but it's neat to see it on more standard cars like Fords these days. We were debating a Ford Focus with MyTouch for my Mom, but the interior still felt cheap, despite the many features.


My schlong is just better at getting into tight spots so I take my hands off the wheel let him take over too.

[redred]

My schlong is just better at getting into tight spots so I take my hands off the wheel let him take over too.

has your mom left the car by this point ?

[Hal-9000]

:lol: yikes

[Hugh_Janus]

has your mom left the car by this point ?
bwahahahaha!

[KevinD]

I'm gonna have to look the law back up again. I remember looking it up and posting it here when last year the national news said the speed limit in Texas (all over) would be 85. They were wrong. If I remember, the only areas that can be 85 are very, very sparsely populated. I think this proposed area would have to many residents to allow 85mph.

[Muddy]

85, that's cute.

:(

[Arkady Renko]

That's very cool. Lexus has been doing it a while, but it's neat to see it on more standard cars like Fords these days. We were debating a Ford Focus with MyTouch for my Mom, but the interior still felt cheap, despite the many features.


My schlong is just better at getting into tight spots so I take my hands off the wheel let him take over too.


has your mom left the car by this point ?

prime comedy

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Chris Woodyard - USA Today


http://i.imgur.com/SB24C.jpg

Texas will soon open a stretch of highway with the highest speed limit in the country, giving eager drivers a chance to rip through a trip between two of the state's largest metropolitan areas.

The Texas Transportation Commission has approved a speed limit of 85 miles per hour for a 41-mile toll road several miles east of the increasingly crowded Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio.

"I would love it," Austin resident Alan Guckian said. "Sometimes it's fun to just open it up."

But while some drivers will want to test their horsepower and radar detectors, others are asking if safety is taking a backseat.

"The research is clear that when speed limits go up, fatalities go up," said Russ Rader, a spokesman for the non-profit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. He said higher speed limits get people to their destinations faster, "but the trade-off is more crashes and more highway deaths."

A 2009 report in the American Journal of Public Health studied traffic fatalities in the U.S. from 1995 to 2005 and found that more than 12,500 deaths were attributable to increases in speed limits on all kinds of roads.

The study also said that rural highways showed a 9.1 percent increase in fatalities on roads where speed limits were raised, but did not cite specific numbers in those instances.

Most highways in the U.S. top out at 75 mph, and there are no longer any roads in the U.S. with no speed limit:

Some highways in rural West Texas and Utah have 80 mph speed limits.

The Texas Legislature last year approved 85 mph limits for some new stretches of road. The strip of toll road running from Austin to Seguin, about 35 miles northeast of San Antonio, will be the first to allow that speed when it opens in November.

The Texas Transportation Commission, which is appointed by Gov. Rick Perry, approved the 85 mph speed limit at a public meeting on Aug. 30. Commissioners would not comment on their decision.

The state contract with the toll operator allows the state to collect a $67 million up-front cash payment or a percentage of the toll profits in the future if the speed limit is 80 mph or lower. At 85 mph, the cash payment balloons to $100 million or a higher percentage of toll revenues.