I love Texas

[cairns]

Texas considers highest speed limit in nation - Drive On: A conversation about the cars and trucks we drive - USATODAY.com

Texas considers highest speed limit in nation
By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY

Rock star Sammy Hagar, lead singer of Van Halen, helps apply the 6 on top of a 5 as the maximum speed limit is raised from 55 to 65 mph on Highway 101 near Santa Rosa in Northern California on Sunday, Dec. 17, 1995.
CAPTIONBy Robert Buhl, Associated PressAs lead singer of Van Halen, Sammy Hagar once crooned, "I can't drive 55." To show how far things have come, now some Texans aren't happy about only driving 80 miles per hour. The Legislature is considering raising the maximum speed limit to 85 mph, highest in the country.

The Texas House of Representatives has approved a bill that would raise the speed limit to 85 mph on some highways. The bill now goes to the state Senate, the Austin Statesman reports.

We suspect Sammy, shown at right back in 1995 when California raised its speed limit from 55 mph to 65 mph, would be pleased.

Texas currently has more than 520 miles of interstate highways where the speed limit is 80 mph, according to the Associated Press. The bill would allow the Texas Department of Transportation to raise the speed limit on certain roads or lanes after engineering and traffic studies are conducted. The 85-mph maximum would likely be permitted on rural roads with long sightlines.

Some car insurers, however, oppose the bill:

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, high speeds were a factor in about one-third of all fatal crashes in 2009. The faster you're traveling, the greater the distance needed to bring your vehicle to a complete stop and the longer it takes a driver to react to emergency situations, according to IIHS. If an accident does occur at a higher speed, there is a strong likelihood that the crash impact will exceed the protection available to vehicle occupants.

On top of safety concerns, speeding increases fuel consumption. Every 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.24 per gallon for gas, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

In the mid-1990s, the federal government deregulated national highway speed-limit standards, allowing states to set their own speed limits. Before the reform, all states had adopted a 55-mph speed limit by 1974 to keep federal highway funding, with some rural areas able to travel up to 65 mph since 1987.

Since then, 33 states have raised speed limits to 70 mph or higher on some portions of their roads. Texas and Utah have the highest speed limits of 80 mph on specified segments of rural interstates, according to IIHS.

[masraum]

The roads where they are raising the speed limits are mostly out west in BFE. Long stretches of NOTHING as you drive through the desert on your way to El Paso and that sort of thing. The places where I drive are generally 60-70mph as a top speed.

[red-beard]

We've already been discussing this, but....

The insurance companies don't like the higher speed limits because it reduces tickets, which reduce the amount they can soak drivers. There are other studies showing that driver fatigue is a major problem on these rural interstates. By raising the limit in very rural areas, the drivers have to be more alert and they time they drive is reduced.

The distance from San Antonio to El Paso is around 500 miles. About 350-400 of it is 80 mpg. So at 55 mph, it takes 9 hours. At 65 it takes 7 hours 40 minutes. With 350 miles at 80 and the rest 70, it takes 6.5 hours. At 85 it will be about 10 minutes less.

I think the rest of the 80 mph area is between Dallas and El Paso on I-20.

[stomachmonkey]

I wonder about this. It's nearly impossible to patrol those roads on a regular basis. Revenue from speeding tickets could be significant but likely not profitable.

BUTTTTTT, we ARE taxed on gas. We all agree that we consume more gas the faster we go. Wonder what the passive revenue gain from increased gas sales is? It's cheap revenue, costs nothing additional to collect.

[red-beard]

About 13% more drag 85 vs. 80, but that does not mean a direct 13% increase in fuel consumption. There are other things that consume energy (A/C, engine/transmission friction, alternator, etc). I'd guess at that speed the drag is the highest portion so it is prrobably 10% or so.

[74-911]

Originally Posted by red-beard

The distance from San Antonio to El Paso is around 500 miles. So at 55 mph, it takes 9 hours.

Back when the speed limit was 55 we thought the best way to get it repealed was to fly about 1/2 dozen of the legislators (they were mainly from the northeast states) to San Antonio in the middle of August, put them in an econobox (at least with a good AC and a radio) with the top speed limited to 55 and tell them their return tickets to D.C. awaited them in El Paso. Give them a first hand look at what they were subjecting people to...

[GothingNC]

Does the street tire life decrease exponentially at sustained speeds of 85-90MPH?

[AirKuhl]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

I wonder about this. It's nearly impossible to patrol those roads on a regular basis. Revenue from speeding tickets could be significant but likely not profitable.

BUTTTTTT, we ARE taxed on gas. We all agree that we consume more gas the faster we go. Wonder what the passive revenue gain from increased gas sales is? It's cheap revenue, costs nothing additional to collect.

Consumption taxes make sense, I'd even argue that they are the most ethical form of taxation. In this case, you "pay to go fast" via increased fuel taxes, but no one requires that you go fast so feel free to keep your costs down. Either way it's your option and your choice. Sounds like a win-win to me.

[CurtEgerer]

Somewhat ironic seeing that the newly elected Green Party in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany is proposing speed limits on the unrestricted parts of the autobahn (not for safety reasons of course, but to save Mother Earth ).