I’m not against raising speed limits, as I am one of the x-percenter’s that speeds regularly. But I do question the logic behind the decision.

I have driven on quite a number of highways where the speed limit is not enforced (QEW near Toronto and Autoroute 15 near Montreal) and , and I do feel very unsafe driving 60 when other cars are running 80 or above. If everyone is going around the same speed we should all be safe…

But raising the speed limit, just because people don’t obey it seems a little far fetched. I don’t always go 20 in a school zone, and neither do most drivers in my town, but they haven’t raised that yet….For that matter, a lot of people smoke pot, and that has not been legalized….

Don’t get me wrong, I like driving fast–I like carving up a good twisty road in my car on the weekend. I also understand the risks associated with it, and would not argue being given a speeding ticket when speeding. But, do any of you want to see Grandma driving 50 in an 80 with cars blazing by? She will. How about the teenager now going 100mph instead of 90? You know that that will happen….

Seems like a poor plan to me.

If the speed limit is reasonable, how will the police make money?

I think the plan makes sense. The 85th percentile rule was widely used to initially establish speed limit decades ago. Given the huge advances in car design and roads being designed for higher speeds generally, looking at the 85th percentile of today is not very risky – its reasonable considering most drivers are not the speed demons flying by you in the left lane (85% percent are driving at the speed or lower). If you think about it, what is the rationale for the current speeds? 55mph was aimed at lower gas usage, not really safety.

You’ve nailed it Greenspeed! That is the ONLY reason that every posted speed limit in the country is not at the 85th percentile. Not only would it dessimate the state revenues, but the insurance companies as well since they can’t jack up the rates for the “speeders”. And this is not the opinion of a lunatic fringe road rebel. How about a quote from Dr. Samuel C. Tignor, the chief of the Traffic Safety Research Division of the Federal Highway Administration, based on studies thay have conducted.

“on the average, current speed limits are set too low to be accepted as reasonable by the vast majority of drivers. Only about 1 in 10 speed zones has better than 50-percent compliance. The posted speeds make technical violators out of motorists driving at reasonable and safe speeds. For the traffic law system to minimize accident risk, then speed limits need to be properly set to define maximum safe speed. Our studies show that most speed zones are posted 8 to 12 mph below the prevailing travel speed and 15 mph or more below the maximum safe speed. Increasing speed limits to more realistic levels will not result in higher speeds but would increase voluntary compliance and target enforcement at the occasional violator and high-risk driver.”

As for the driver who will speed regardless of the posted limit, that’s why they call it an 85th percentile. There will always be exceptions. The increased safety from raising the limit is that it levels the variation in relative speeds between drivers. The conscientious ones are free to speed up to the norm set by the majority.

Hopefully, they’ll make less on speed violations alone. Bravo. This has been pretty obvious for years. 80MPH isn’t a great change but any increase is worth applause.

You’re worried about teenagers? How about limiting the speed teenagers are allowed to drive until they reach a certain age?

The concept as a whole aims to emphasize the driver’s responsibility in gauging safe and unsafe speeds depending on the driving conditions. I’ll admit, I wish the driver education programs were much more rigorous on safety, procedure and driving etiquette, but I do not believe that drivers are incapable of self-governing.

Now in large major cities… maybe the limits are where they need to be already.

[...] read more [...]

Cops in Houston and I-45 don’t enforce the speed limit. Cops drive 80-95 mph themselves on the highways, without their sirens on.

For the size of Houston, and the high visibility of highways on Texas’ flatlands, the speed limit needs to be high. People are traveling great distances of straight roads, and with a population of 4 million people, it’s already been demonstrated that at 65 mph, congestion is insane, and everybody’s late for work.
Speed limit really is environmentally dependent. Laws should recognize that.

No kidding. Houston traffic flies, but it is usually smooth sailing in the surrounding areas until you get to downtown. Here in CO, we have people that don’t drive the speed limit at all. One is either 15 over or 10 under, almost no middle ground. It is crazy though because the only speeding tickets I have ever gotten were both in texas last summer when I worked there for the summer.

I wanna move to Texas!

I hate to say it, but texas is full of idiots. I’m sure everyone driving faster will greatly help the fuel situation. Why not just punish the people for speeding instead of changing the laws to accomodate them? Also, I don’t know if texas has meters on entrance ramps or not, but if they do, you’ll have to go from 0-80 in an extremely short distance, killing your mpg even more.

I always hoped that there would be made a “super passing” or actual Fast lane. If people wanted to go slow they could, and if you separated this special lane sufficiently it could be safe at the same time (many cars today can do 100 MPH without breaking a sweat. But also I agree that many speed limits should be raised, we all know city streets are where they should be (i.e. pedestrians), but highways are often painfully saturated with those going the “posted” speed limit in the fast lane. An interest point is the fact that 95%+ of the time you won’t get pulled over going less than 10 over (on highways) which begs the question, why not make the limits higher and then make the actual limits instead of some kind of warning MPH.

Heck just get a Valentine One and do what your car and its driver can safely do…

Wow… I’m very impressed.

Raise the national speed limit to 80 – which is SENSIBLE and most city limits at least 10-15 higher. Keep the school limits where they are, NOBODY minds driving slow for a short stretch. It’s when you have a 10 mile long “residential” road that is 4 lanes wide and has a 25 MPH limit which is ridiculous and pure profit-generation for police who have nothing better to do than to harrass innocent people.

Take the speeding ticket and make it hurt, multiply it by 10 and add a 30-day license suspension on first offense with these new limits. Only the whackos and true road criminals will get tickets instead of hard-working innocent people who are just trying to get to work on time.

[...] http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/05/15/texas-to-raise-speed-limits-to-conform-to-driver-habits/ [...]

Kevin: I have no idea what you are talking about. Up where I live (about 20 miles north of Houston) the ramps are plenty long. I am usually up to sixty five before I even get off the feeder road. Getting up to 80 would be no problem, and it would be a lit nicer if I could drive faster.

Getting off work late at night helped me realize that driving 75 on a two lane (really four lane, but it is divided) residential road isn’t even all that dangerous. As long as you don’t get the morons int the minivans who pull out in front of you no matter how close you are and insist on driving 33.

Raise it to 85 and I can go 95 all day. Thank you Texas for starting something. All the liberals in California will whine about it call it a bad idea and slow us down to effing 40. Bastards.

The reason why raising the speed limit to 80 makes a lot of sense is that that 100mph teenager was going to be going that speed anyway – having no natural limit anyway other than his/her fear and general lack of stupidity (and of course the cars ability) to slow him/her down. The guy speeding 90 isn’t going 90 because it’s X amount over the limit, he’s doing that because it feels “About right” in terms of fun and danger.

By raising the speed limit to 80, that means you only have a 20MPH difference between you and the 100MPH driver – and it’s the difference in speed between cars more than anything else that causes accidents, so even there it should slightly reduce the accident rate between teenagers and other cars.

On the school zones I would also generally agree to leave them about where they are, but an argument could be made that in general cars can come to a stop much quicker now and so it might even be OK to raise that a little (though I don’t see many people violating school zones, it’s the one time when most people seem to stick right to the limit).

Two words: Graduated License. In exchange for undergoing expanded driver training, you are permitted to drive at a faster speed limit than the driver who just paid $16 and had his/her picture taken. With the right car and experience, 100mph is very manageable.

And how will that be enforced chomer? they cant pull you over if you’re going 100 mph in a 100 mph zone. So what now? Random checks? That doesn’t work.

Two letters: IQ. Why not print a driver’s IQ on their license? This way, drivers like the folks posting comments here would be restricted to 70 or so.

All the people not living or never been to Texas doesnt understand. They are talking about just two highways. One will obviously be I45 and the other will probably be I35. Those two highways are primarly used for just getting back and forth between the big cities. I drive between Houston and Dallas which is 200miles quite a few times every year. Every time I do I set my cruise control at the max my old truck will go 85..lol yes its an old truck. But needless to say I spend most of my time in the right hand land, I am being passed. I45 doesnt actually monitor speed limit for the most part because its a straight away. There are rarely accidents, it isnt inner city, its just straight roads that go on..and on..and on..so yes I would like this new speed limit, heh.

By this logic if we raise the speed limit to 300 mph then no one will break the speed limit.

I think a major problem with society today is that most people think they know best when often they don’t. It has been demonstrated time and time again that people (and certainly drivers are people) make bad decisions very regularly. Our individual grasps of reality are easily shakable and are largely based on assumptions which are often incorrect.

We should be better of having good public transporation systems where a limited number of people who are highly trained and experienced do all the driving. We would have less accidents and very likely less damage to the environment.

Raise it to 80 and people will drive 100.

I wish speed limits were abolished altogether, but I guess that’s asking too much, eh?

I think it’s a good move… we shall wait and see…

Biggest ever ticket issued in Texas @ 242mph in a Koenigsegg, what’s a little increase in the limit going to affect nutters like that?

I learned how to drive in dallas and I think this is what the state needs. People already are going 75-90 mph down 35 and 635. The majority of people are going to go what they feel safe doing and on a lot of texas highways I feel very safe driving on.

“Raise it to 100 and people will drive 125 mph.

Raise it to 125 and people will drive 150 mph..”

umm..nice try but I doubt it. Makes for good myth but in reality there is a ‘natural’ reasonable safe speed most drivers ‘feel’. There will obviously always be those drivers who press the extreme speeding envelope on the highway but that’s not what this law is intended to address: the average drivers.

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Lower speed limits = lower fuel costs

I just can’t my BMW over 80 in LA the past month. It seems to me that either traffic got really bad or people are slowing down cause it costs too much to drive.

Dumm Fuc’s: I can just see all those F350’s getting 8mpg because those people who-wear-big-hats-while-dancing cannot resist pushing their right pointy-toe boot.

Just the kind of leadership we’ve come to expect from TX.

j i m

I am jealous. Our stupid I-95/128 has 55mph limit here in Boston! I applaud Texas.

The Interstates are I-10 and I-20 out in West Texas. Ain’t nothing but sand devils and tumbleweeds to get in your way. Yeeehaa

Nice comments Jim. Who are you, John Kerry and Al Gore’s illegitemite brat?

See, Jim suffers from the same thing alot of people suffer from. IGNORANCE. What he doesn’t realize, is that there is NO oil shortage. It’s greenie weenies that are preventing oil refineries and nuclear stations from being built. Less power, means more $$$. You want to solve this manufactured oil crisis, then call your Senators. Did you know the US Government makes more off a gallon of gas than the oil companies do? That’s right. So when Exxon made record profits, well our government collected record taxes. Less taxes, more refineries, means less $$$.

With that said, people do conform to a 85th perctile statistic. People want to drive at a limit where they are comfortable. Regardless of how capable a car is today, I don’t see people driving beyond 80. 80 is about the limit where the human eyes and brain are capable of processing the drive. Any faster and it “feels” dangerous. School speed limits will never be raised because it’s not about road safety, it’s about the safety of pedestrians.

This would only affect two highways out in West Texas where there is no traffic and absolutly nothing for hours and hours on end. 99.9% of Texas drivers would never see these signs.

What’s interesting is that no one has even mentioned Europe. There are tons of places in Europe where there is no limit on the speed that you can drive. You know why?? DRIVER EDUCATION!! It’s a lot harder to get your drivers license there than in the US. Which in turn makes better drivers on the road.

Piablo mentioned “80 is about the limit where the human eyes and brain are capable of processing the drive” This makes entirely no sense what so ever. Why is it that people in europe manage so well and that race car drivers are able to drive beyond 80mph?? Where exactly did you get this information from? I’d be interested to see the research.

Route, Race car drivers do not make up the general population. Race car drivers are also not talking on cell phones, monitoring kids in the car, listening to music, reading directions, eating big macs and cheese doodles, or smoking cigarettes. These are all activities that occur while driving on open roads and it takes conscious thought to perform these duties. With regards to Europe, and more specifically the autobahn, it is not the wild wild west that has become legendary here in the states. The Autobahn was engineered to be a high speed route of travel, back in the 60s. The unregulated areas are open straight stretches of highway that were designed for high speed. The majority of motorists out there STILL travel between 80 and 90 mph. Not to mention the autobahn is not what it used to be, and those unregulated areas are few and far between. I don’t know of too many other areas in Europe that have unregulated highways. European infrastructure is not like it is here in the US.

If racecar drivers do not make up the general population, where do new racecar drivers come from? Are they manufactured in test tubes by the Pfizer Corp?

Driver education and the driver licensing system should be reevaluated. When I took my tests at sixteen, I was more concerned with failing the double parking portion of the test than I was with the parts involving oncoming vehicles, intersections and signaling.

There was an entire section dedicated to the operation of a manual transmission and emergency gear braking, etc. that was completely skipped over! When I finally bought a manual transmission car four years later, I had to be taught the basics of gear operation and concepts like engine braking from scratch. To a sixteen year old, it seemed to be very easy to get a driver’s license.

Also, in any driver’s correction course I have been to, why is it that instead of focusing on something related to the problem caused by the driver in question or a group discussion, we are instead forced to watch an outdated, low budget general safety video (nearly identical to the ones we were forced to watch in Driver’s Ed), and take a simplified rehash of a multiple choice driver’s test? Does this really help red light runners? Does this help to curb excessive speeding? Does this really convince people to use their turn signals from now on?

Right now the system is the way it is for the convenience of local police revenue and for the convenience of insurance companies. I’d like to see a change in both the way speed limits are set and in the way we are given our driving privileges.

Quote from Piablo:

“Nice comments Jim. Who are you, John Kerry and Al Gore’s illegitemite brat?

See, Jim suffers from the same thing alot of people suffer from. IGNORANCE. What he doesn’t realize, is that there is NO oil shortage. It’s greenie weenies…”

…blah blah blah. Sure Piablo. And there is no o-zone depletion. And there’s no greenhouse effect. And the climate isn’t changing dramatically. And the rain isn’t eating away the paint. And the run-off isn’t destroying our top-soil. Yee-haw, cowboy.

Something tells me that some of you haven’t driven I-10 or I-20. Aside from the two or three cities attached to them, there is nothing for miles around. These are wide open interstate highways with excellent visibility.

I’m not from this state, but I do live here and I completely agree that the limit needs to be raised. They aren’t talking about a downtown area with school zones and such. This is open country where you could watch your dog run away for a couple of days with a pair of simple binoculars. And traffic usually isn’t that heavy either till you hit Houston, San Antonio areas where speed limits are at around 65MPH. Which is fine.

And when Piablo said that racecar drivers don’t make up the general population, he was referring to that not everyone drives a racecar for a living. Of course future racers come from the normal people of the world, but they certainly don’t make up the general populace. Otherwise there would be a lot more racecar drivers in the sport(s). There are however people that think they are racecar drivers.

I’m gonna stop now before I start ranting.

Squanto, Derek, right on! You both raise excellent points that can’t be argued against.

[...] Texas is considering raising speed limits to the speed that people actually drive: Texas is considering raising the speed limit on two major interstate highways to match how most motorists drive. The state’s director of traffic operations, Carlos Lopez, said research found that 85th percentile speed of traffic was 79 mph. Thus, speed limits are likely to raise from 75 mph to 80 mph. The Texas Department of Public Safety said raising the limit to conform to the speed the majority of drivers travel will make roads safer. [...]

Piablo quote,

“See, Jim suffers from the same thing alot of people suffer from. IGNORANCE. :”

You and Jim seem to have a lot in common. Because people on the Autobahn DO travel in excess of 125MPH. Yes your right, not everyone does. But if your in the left lane you better not be going much slower than that. There are also a few other places in Europe that have unlmimited roads, Northern Territory in Austria and the Isle of Man in the UK to name a few.

And I do realize that drivers on the highways are eating big macs and cheese doodles. This is part of the problem to begin with. If people would pay attention in the first place we would have less accidents and we could all get where we were going a lot faster. Which brings me back to my original point that we need a better driver education system like they have in europe.

Also, I’d like to point out the fact that race car drivers although not on the phone are on two way radios’ for the majority of a race.

Oh how I wish our Canadian lawmakers could show such common sense. It is not the speed that kills, it is the speed differential. If the traffic is moving at 79, then that is the safe speed, and the guy doing 65 becomes a hazard. So does the guy doing 95. Go with the flow. Low speed limits are not intended to increase safety or save fuel. They are there to make money! Lucky Texans!

High speed limits or No speed limits work just fine. Look at Germany. The problem is people are better drivers there due to better education and stricter requirements. People NEVER drive on left lane, unless passing. Here is the cituation i see happening in Texas: a 15 y.o. kid going at 80 mph rams into 79 y.o. grandpa driving 55mph on the left lane. Better driver ed, increased cost of obtaining the driver’s licence would permit removing speed limits on most freeway in the USA, but it ain’t happening.

I don’t really see what the problem is in raising the speed limit. Most people know the limits of their driving and their cars. If Europe can use the autobahn, why can’t we?

While I’m pleased with their decision, I have reservations. Speed isn’t the real issue – driver attentivness is. But I suppose that if that’s what everyone is driving at already, there really won’t be a change.

I hear people say that if you raise it to 100 people will drive 120. ABSOLUTE RUBBISH! The autobahn is proof that is not true. I was there for 3 years and people drive about 75-80. Many have mentioned driver education is better in Europe – and that is true. They also have much stricter vehicle safety inspections. Their cars are engineered for those speeds. They don’t build luxo-barges and minivans. The plush ride that Americans have come to expect from their cars is the enemy of handling. There has to be a balance, American cars lean toward plush, European cars lean toward handling.

I always get a laugh when someone, um, Piablo does such a great job of making themselves look like a complete and utter idiot. Not one single point you tried to make made the least bit of sense or had the smallest portion of accuracy. Good job at keeping the internet moving forward.

A couple of thoughts:

(1) It’s nice to see that someone in government is actually listening to traffic engineers and seeking an 85th percentile speed limit instead of seeking to keep speed limits artificially low for revenue generation purposes disguised as “safety measures.”

(2) I don’t buy the argument that most people will suddenly increase to 90 if the speed limit is raised to 80. I think most people have a “comfort zone” with respect to speed where they begin to personally feel unsafe and uneasy when they exceed it. I think that’s probably around 75-80 for most people, though some will surely hit 85+. I don’t think most people will automatically reset their speeds to 90 as some claim. I for one feel pretty comfortable at 75-80, but start to feel uneasy over 80. Make the speed limit 80, and I doubt I’d exceed it by more than a couple MPH once in a while.

(3) While speed can kill, *differential* in speeds and the resulting unsafe lane changes are the real dangers. I’ll bet a hypothetical road where everyone does 80-85 would be safer than one where half are doing 55 and the other half are doing 75.

(4) Because of #3, I worry that some people who want to drive slower (even if in the right lane) will be what makes 80 less safe, not as much the speed itself. I respect the right of drivers who, whether for reasons of safety, personal comfort or fuel economy, want to drive (say) 55 to 65 (in the right lane, of course). But if most are doing 80, this results in a speed differential that leads to reduced safety. Because of this, I’m not sure it’s a good idea as long as there are no separate “autobahn” lanes for those who want to drive faster.

(5) I’m also not sure this is a good idea with $3 gas and $70 barrels of oil. The faster you drive, the more you’re feeding the economies of nations which hate us.

LMAO! My pleasure Peebil. Your rebuttal seems very well thought out, on point, and argues the topic in a very clear and concise manner. You too, are keeping the internet moving forward.

I don’t think there should be a limit!!!

I DON’T THINK THERE SHOULD BE A SPEED LIMIT!!!
Remember… SLOW TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT!!!!!
IF U SEE A CAR COMING BEHIND U LIKE A BAT OUT OF HELL MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

to comment 54. you dont deserve to drive…

Does anyone know the 85th percentile on the autobahn now? Surely that should be the recommended limit for all dual carriageways? I think the last official check was 95mph but that was in 1995. Im assuming it must be over 100 now. FYI the Isle of Man in the UK has no speed limit either.

How do speed limits effet the area of texas?
bbb

The Federal gas tax rates should coincide with the maximum speed limit in each State.

A state with a maximum limit of:

55– $0.05/gallon
60– $0.10/gallon
65– $0.15/gallon
70– $0.20/gallon
75– $0.40/gallon
80– $0.65/gallon
85+– $0.95/gallon

That way all the gas hogging states pay a premium for their priviledge to drive higher speeds……

to Pablo… You don’t either.

Not only is it the LAW that slower traffic keep right, it is a matter of common coutesy to move aside. Everyone DOES NOT have the right to drive wherever they want on the road at whatever speed they want. I just wish it was legal for me to have fender mounted rocket launcher and blast them out of the way.

[...] Texas to raise speed limits to conform with driver habits | Leftlane [...]

To the folks bringing up gas mileage- can you explain why I’ve measured better gas mileage in my 2004 Mazda 6 (V6) at 90-95mph than at 70?

Latest news is that they’re considering raising the limit to 85 on the under-construction SH130 Austin bypass. the GC, Cintra-Zachry, will pay the State for the raised limits, under the assumption that higher speed limits will result in greater traffic volumes on this toll road.

The bad news is that this highway was designed and has been partially completed with 65mph speed limit criteria……sight distances, curve radii, etc. If they elect to go forward with this speed limit increase, the two choices are to do a complete redesign (probably negating any revenue increase from higher toll volumes) or simply ignoring the design safety criteria. By the way, this is not a situation like I-10 in west Texas, where you have fifty miles or more between exits and no interchanges at all. SH130 will involve many major interchanges and lots of traffic getting on and off. I just hope they put up video cameras to record the carnage…..gotta wonder how many NAFTA trucks from Mexico are safe at 80-90mph.

travelinsurance travelinsurance

Hry-45 should be renamed the Dallas-Houston Autobahn. I go into Dallas every morning at 6 a.m. It is not uncommon to see a White Escalade, White Honda, and a White Lexus recing each other at about 90 mph Up to the Martin Luther King Exit. I think the speed limit needs to be 65 mph up to Loop 12 to conform to Ellis County as it is not uncommon for most drivers to do 70 mph.
I usually try to keep at the 60 mph speed limit, but can see where it is a little slow. Still the speed limit is posted at 60 mph. And there still is no excuse for the speeders to shake their fists oty their windows or to extend their arms to show me their IO’s as they pass me. I don’t speed because I have better things to do with my money than to share it with the Cities, Counties, and State between Dallas and Houston.

What they dont tell everyone is that the sections of highway this effects are in west Texas. There is no reason not to raise the limit.