85 mph speed limit in Texas!

[TooManyWheels]

Originally Posted By: calvin1
When following distance and lane discipline are observed you can wring a lot more speed out of a road. These are things Americans will never get without mucho reeducation.


That really gets at the heart of what I am trying to describe. The highway I am most familiar with is a two lane (per direction) highway. In the left lane you have vehicles going 70-85 (but with some very important outliers). In the right lane you have vehicles going 40-65. Down to vehicles like a barely running pickup towing a wobbly trailer. Or a barely running econobox, towing two more similar cars behind it down to Mexico for rebuilding.

So the guy who just wants to run a consistant sane speed (doesn't care about the upper limit) has to constantly switch between lanes, trying to dodge the slow cars in the right lane while not being overrun by someone going 85 in the left.

As long as slow cars stay in the slow lane and fast cars in the fast lane, things are OK. But the"I don't have to go the limit" guy changing lanes mixes the two, resulting in disaster.

And then you have the people who decide they have a "right" to just camp in the fast lane going 60 so they can text, or because the average speed in the slow lane offends their dignity. With a line of frustrated 85 MPH drivers behind, somethings going to happen.

 

[HerrStig]

If we can put the "all gonna die" whining aside, traffic engineers have a formula for setting safe speed limits which works out to the "85th percentile" of MEASURED speeds on a road without obvious enforcement. Politicians ignore THAT procedure with a passion, getting Granny's vote by "slowing down the whippersnappers" is more important. The injury rates on OUR RURAL interstates have been for years HIGHER than on the URBAN Autobahns. But, in Germany, the Autobahnpoletzi on the big BMW bikes vill TICKET you for going holding up traffic in the high speed lane, tailgating, NOT using signals, or going from the passing lane to the exit in one swoop. Your average comatose American would get a ticket a mile, and NEVER understand why.

 

[HerrStig]

Good observations. I love the way beauties with the cruise control locked on will swerve lane to lane to avoid having to actually use their foot. In one New England state they are actually thinking they have to "outlaw" driving with a PET on your lap ---- as though common sense weren't enough. "Pet lovers" slide down the interstate with little Schatzi on their laps and b...h about all those "speeders" passing them on the right.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: TooManyWheels
Originally Posted By: calvin1
When following distance and lane discipline are observed you can wring a lot more speed out of a road. These are things Americans will never get without mucho reeducation.


That really gets at the heart of what I am trying to describe. The highway I am most familiar with is a two lane (per direction) highway. In the left lane you have vehicles going 70-85 (but with some very important outliers). In the right lane you have vehicles going 40-65. Down to vehicles like a barely running pickup towing a wobbly trailer. Or a barely running econobox, towing two more similar cars behind it down to Mexico for rebuilding.

So the guy who just wants to run a consistant sane speed (doesn't care about the upper limit) has to constantly switch between lanes, trying to dodge the slow cars in the right lane while not being overrun by someone going 85 in the left.

As long as slow cars stay in the slow lane and fast cars in the fast lane, things are OK. But the"I don't have to go the limit" guy changing lanes mixes the two, resulting in disaster.

And then you have the people who decide they have a "right" to just camp in the fast lane going 60 so they can text, or because the average speed in the slow lane offends their dignity. With a line of frustrated 85 MPH drivers behind, somethings going to happen.


The thing is that when you go on the Autobahn, there are trucks that are restricted to pretty low top speeds. And then there are fast cars. Its a matter of training and we dont have it.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Another thing to consider is truck tires. .. they don't like being run fast and heavy for long in the heat.


Originally Posted By: Chris142
not in my jeep! anything over 70 is spooky plus it drops my mpg into The single digits


I've got skinnny ,high profile recaps on my Cherokee on FWD offset wheels and it's lifted. It has the aerodynamics of a brick and an engine that can be traced back to the 60s.

It doesn't have the handling characteristics to go that fast and it would probaby get 8mpg

 

[demarpaint]

I think that speed limit is risky. There are certain vehicles that are not equipped well enough to drive at those speeds for any length of time, and their owners are too stupid to know that. Just because the sign says 85 mph, doesn't mean it's a safe speed for everyone. Yet people see the sign and take it at face value. Not good IMO.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Originally Posted By: apwillard1986
At night it slows to 65 for safety. Last I looked it was 65 for semis as well.

They have already started removing the 65MPH limit at night. On I-10 from Orange to Houston, it is gone and the speed limit has been raised to 75MPH until you hit the outskirts of Houston on the east side. It changes back to 75MPH on the west side of Houston headed towards San Antonio.

Now to up the limit between Fort Worth and Amarillo on US287 to 75MPH. Maybe it already is--I will be finding out on our next trip to Colorado.

Just returned from CO and it is 70 all the way from the Fort Worth area all the way to Texline (but no 65MPH slow down at night). It would have been nice to see it upped to 75MPH--nothing there but open fields, tumbleweeds, and oil pumps.

 

[RTexasF]

Originally Posted By: matrass
does not make a lot of sense to me. 70mph is fast enough to get where you are going. people in my neck of the woods stink at driving over 65 at 85 they would all be doing over that speed limit too, while texting reading the paper ( yes I have seen people doing that while driving ) etc ....


It is plainly obvious that you have never driven across west Texas. If you ever do you will genuinely appreciate the escalated speeds.

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted By: RTexasF
Originally Posted By: matrass
does not make a lot of sense to me. 70mph is fast enough to get where you are going. people in my neck of the woods stink at driving over 65 at 85 they would all be doing over that speed limit too, while texting reading the paper ( yes I have seen people doing that while driving ) etc ....


It is plainly obvious that you have never driven across west Texas. If you ever do you will genuinely appreciate the escalated speeds.


Do you realize that you would have to drive nearly 5 hours for the difference in speed between 70 and 85MPH to equal 1 hour of drive time? If I am driving for more than 5 hours an extra 15MPH of speed would be near the bottom of the list of priorities. Food, rest stops, bathroom breaks, where am I going to stay for the night ect. I have made drives that would be the equivalent of driving from El Paso to Houston. The last thing on my mind is to drive 90 the whole way to get there. I am more concerned just to make it there even if I have slowdown to 60-65MPH because after the 3rd hour on the road I start to get the road hypnosis, also adrenaline is good to awaken you and your senses but I can not keep a adrenaline high for a whole driving trip like that. So in short if I have to drive long enough for 15MPH to make a difference I would not appreciate the difference in speed.

 

[Malo83]

Love driving from Cali to Tucson,Az. cross into AZ. and the speed limit jumps up to 75, usually set the cruise to about 78 and let her fly but after a while it doesn't seem fast, you get a few cars that pass you like you were standing still

 

[Popinski]

They raised the speed limit near my highway. People actually drive slower because it is unsafe at those speeds. No one knows why they increased the limit.

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted By: Malo83
Love driving from Cali to Tucson,Az. cross into AZ. and the speed limit jumps up to 75, usually set the cruise to about 78 and let her fly but after a while it doesn't seem fast, you get a few cars that pass you like you were standing still

That is the truth! Semi's and RV's will pass you at 78.

 

[TooManyWheels]

Originally Posted By: Malo83
Love driving from Cali to Tucson,Az. cross into AZ. and the speed limit jumps up to 75, usually set the cruise to about 78 and let her fly but after a while it doesn't seem fast, you get a few cars that pass you like you were standing still

Conditions are everything, and in those conditions driving 85 seems reasonable.

 

[HerrStig]

Exactly

 

[HerrStig]

I wish there would be less whining about other people's fuel economy at higher speeds. I'll make that decision for myself and purchase my vehicle accordingly. I don't need some retired fogey with time on his hands telling ME what my time is worth. Most of the early interstates were built to a 75 mph standard, taking into account thecar designs of the time, and THEN politicians grubbing votes from Granny began to hack away at the limits. Traffic engineers have a procedure for setting safe speed limits based on where drivers feel comfortable (the 85th percentile is often cited) They don't factor the fuel consumption of Granpa's '88 pickup into it. Most of MY cars over the years have been manuals with overdrive.

 

[HerrStig]

Soo they gonna get BETTER at it if the speed limit is continually going DOWN???

 

[HerrStig]

So why should I suffer because of YOUR Jeep?

 

[HerrStig]

That's why traffic engineers use the 85th percentile when given the chance by the bureautwits and political hacks. They want the speed differentials as small as possible. But, ya can't stop the left lane bandits from bleeping it up in the name of saving the world.

 

[HerrStig]

Maybe I own a car with a six speed and low frontal area which operates efficiently at higher speeds. Perhaps I paid a bit extra for that. Maybe you should block traffic in the right hand lane only.

 

[HerrStig]

So drive slower but don't impose your ideas on the rest of us.