Be still, my heart, but the Texas House of Representatives has passed a bill that would allow speed limits as high as 85 mph. Having driven the road to El Paso, I’m not convinced 85 is high enough (I was once given a warning in Hudspeth County for doing 86 in an 80, and I was spending about half of my time in the right lane being passed), but it’s better than the status quo. The only reason I can think of to keep the limit that low is that American drivers have for too long been forced to drive too slow, so the speed limit should only be increased incrementally. Given the capabilities and safety of modern automobiles, there are large stretches of the American West where the speed limit, if there should be one, should have three digits.
The harping from the insurance lobbyist is the typical nanny state drivel, arguing that even increasing the speed limit to 75 would cause a “dramatic” increase in deaths. This is poppycock. Since the repeal of the 55 mph limit, most states have had 70 or 75 mph speed limits, and the death rate per mile driven has decreased steadily. We still have a higher fatality rate than Germany, which is more densely populated than America and still has lengthy sections of unrestricted highways. Looking at this map, it’s not obvious to me that the Western states with a 75 mph limit fare significantly worse than those states with a limit of 70 or below.
Posted by Apollo in Deep in the Heart of Texas