Texas Opens Fastest Speed Limit in the Country

[News]

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety believes safety is traded for time.

An 85 mph speed limit sign is placed on the 41-mile-long toll road in Austin, near the increasingly crowded Interstate between Austin and San Antonio, Texas on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012. While some drivers will want to test their horsepower and radar detectors, others are asking if safety is taking a backseat to pure speed. (AP Photo/Statesman.com, Ricardo B. Brazziell)

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[Arctickat]

Holy mother!! My ambulance can't even drive that fast when it's floored!!!

[Chief1C]

We could prolly hit 85, going down hill, but I wouldn't wanna be on board.

[island emt]

Everything is bigger in texas.

The body count will be large and the private operators of this turnpike have to pay the state 100 million to start.

Think there are some kickbacks going on?

[spenac]

Every one said when the interstate 10 and 20 went to 80 mph in West Texas that deaths would go up. Funny thing they went down significantly. May speculate that fatigue is lessoned as well as that maybe people are paying closer attn to the road at the higher speeds.

It annoys the heck out of me when I travel to the North East and you barely see any highways that will let you do 65 mph even in non populated areas.

[BillKaneEMT]

Everything is bigger in texas.

The body count will be large and the private operators of this turnpike have to pay the state 100 million to start.

Think there are some kickbacks going on?

Perhaps. I have some numbers that I found extremely interesting here though. Regrettably the numbers are found in an editorial article of the type so often found on the interwebs (conspiracy theory/paranoia- esque), which I don't particularly agree with. Feel free to skip down to the numbers for an interesting read. I thought I posted this last night but it seems I didn't.

http://www.motorists...-safety-paradox

edit: If you totally agree with the opinion behind the article, more power to ya. I'm not saying the author's nuts, his numbers are pretty shocking and he presents his case well. I simply think the numbers speak for themselves and he would have made a better case without the first half of the article. One man's opinion, I won't argue if you think he's dead on. I've come to the conclusion that arguing opinions on the internet is probably the least effective use of time in the history of our planet. I'll discuss facts all day though

Edited September 9, 2012 by BillKaneEMT

[tcripp]

This is in my back yard and scares the bejeezus out of me. People on the road now don't (well, didn't) go to posted speed limit so why do we think they will go the extra 5 - 10? This means they do nothing more than block traffic for those trying to go the speed limit. (Yeah...most of our drivers don't understand about the passing lane.)

Now, the reason for the increase (as I understand it) is to alleviate much of the traffic that goes straight through Austin (IH35). They feel that if they offer the higher speed that many (especially the truckers) will pay the toll and get off IH 35 which is usually a parking lot and not a highway.

I'll be traveling down that road in a few weekends. I'll let you know how it goes.

[DFIB]

I have driven I-10, I-35, and I-45 at the new 80mph speed limit without incident. Most were driving about 75 -78 mph.

I did see a suburban that rolled in the median south of Dallas on I-45 last month. My wife kept asking "Are you going to stop? Are you going to stop?" Nope.

EDIT: The reckless drivers in the 60mph zone are the ones that are scary. Drivers seem to be more cautious in the 75mph zone.

Edited September 10, 2012 by DFIB

[Richard B the EMT]

Any of our German or Bavarian City members want to chime in with statistics from no top speed autobahns?