Texas May Go To 85 MPH

I said:

"On my trips through West Texas in 2008 and 2009 there were 80mph limits on lots of the roads, but not on the Interstates. There you had to go 80 in order to keep up with the traffic, just like in Los Angeles. The difference is that in Texas there is a lot of room between traffic clumps; in Los Angeles it's usually just a couple of car-lengths.

"On one of the Texas roads I was loping along well above the 80mph limit when I thought, "You know, I can see a long way down into this valley, there are no cars or crossroads for a couple of miles ahead. Maybe I'll go 120." Then I thought, "But this is where the deer and the antelope play ... " so I slowed down to something under the limit. At the bottom of the slope, just before the creek crossing, was a herd of javelina, six or so of them strolling across the road. I had no trouble avoiding them, but that wasn't true of one of the other guys we met farther along: he was clamping off his busted a/c condenser and picking desert pig pieces out of his grill.

"You can never drive the posted speed limit rather than the "basic speed law": don't go faster than is safe for conditions. A problem with that is that the conditions are likely to change because of factors you can't even imagine."

Thus spake Suzanne McKenzie :

Yes, happiness around here. Other than I10 between Katy and Columbus (where I have lots of company) I'm reticent to drive over 80, since that's the magic defensive driving number. Or 15 over, which ever.

(On 10 I'm willing to do a ton if I've got "friends")

Thus spake "Frank ess" :

Javelina are nasty little critters to hit. They're just low enough to get under most cars and stout enough to potentially launch the car. Or remove much of the underside. Like the pan, trans, shaft, pipes, etc, etc, e$$$.

For years several Western states had R&P rather than posted limits. Then Uncle Sugar said "go what we say or find your own dollars".

Suzanne McKenzie wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@v31g2000vbs.googlegroups.com:

Socialist F---s in some U.S. states and Canada would mourn the loss of control they like having over people, and the millions they collect in speeding fines.

The Feds would probably force them (extort, bribe, etc) to a lower limit.

As a patrolman of 20+ years experience, I know what hitting a critter can do. I have seen a jackrabbit total out the front end of a pickup that was traveling 70mph. The watch commander refused to believe it... until he was taken out to the parking area and saw for himself the fur, innards, etc, which extended from the grill up over the lightbar.

And I had the misfortune to be on duty when a sudden dust storm caused a 13 car pileup. The migration of tarantulas which made the road slippery as ice. Coyotes, deer, moose. Once, while off duty, came close to getting me a bear in my private auto. And I have seen people nearly wreck their cars to avoid hitting a Desert Tortoise which is a protected specie....

I've also seen cases where someone traveling at speed rammed right into the back end of someone who was traveling at the speed limit at night because they misjudge the speed of the car they hit.

Doesn't matter how high the speed limit is, it's the conditions which matter most.