Texas House approves 85 mph speed limit, fastest in the U.S.

surfsupl · Apr 8, 2011

Thursday, Apr 7th, 2011 @ 3:21 p.m.
With the UK considering an 80 mph speed limit on its motorways, the great state of Texas is poised to one-up the Brits (and most of the world) with an 85 mph limit on some interstates .

Pingo · Apr 8, 2011

I swear I've seen some 85's in montana... Maybe they were 80 It's been awhile

chris4x4 · Apr 8, 2011

What about cars that cant go that fast?

cantac09 · Apr 8, 2011

Pingo said: ↑

I swear I've seen some 85's in montana... Maybe they were 80 It's been awhile
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not that ive seen 70 to 75. 85mph thats moving.

woody6047 · Apr 8, 2011

Ive been on a few of the 80 MPH roads and those are crazy... this is gonna be insane.....

XPOTRON · Apr 8, 2011

Awesome!! Gotta love TX for their pure lack of giving a shit haha

Pingo · Apr 8, 2011

cantac09 said: ↑

not that ive seen 70 to 75. 85mph thats moving.
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You're right I looked it up it's 75 in montana.

Nightwar · Apr 8, 2011

This is awesome! does that mean you can run 90 before you start getting tickets?

Oskie_78 · Apr 8, 2011

yeeeahhh!!! move out the way here I come!!!

97T · Apr 8, 2011

Nightwar said: ↑

This is awesome! does that mean you can run 90 before you start getting tickets?
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yup

allow me to remind all the naysayers of the time when Montana did not have daytime speed limits at all. Once speed limits were put in, accident rates went up

http://www.motorists.org/press/montana-no-speed-limit-safety-paradox

Most important information

Here is what the Montana data shows. (chart below) After all the politically correct safety programs were in place and fully operational, complete with federal safety funds, more laws and citations being issued. Here are the results.
1. After the new Speed Limits were established, interstates fatal accidents went up 111%. From a modern low of 27 with no daytime limits, to a new high of 56 fatal accidents with speed limits.
2. On interstates and federal primary highways combined, Montana went from a modern low of 101 with no daytime limits, to a new high of 143 fatal accidents with speed limits.
3. After a 6 year downward trend in the percentage of multiple vehicle accidents on its 2 lane primary highways, multiple vehicle accident rates increased again.
4. With the expectation of higher speed when there was no daytime limit, Montana’s seat belt usage was well above the national average on its highways without a primary law, lane and road courtesy increased, speeds remained relatively stable and fatal accidents dropped to a modern low. After the new limits, fatal accidents climbed to a modern high on these classifications of highway, road courtesy decreased and flow conflict accidents rose again.
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and

Summary of the effects of no daytime speed limits:

1. Fatal accident rates on these highways reached an all time low in modern times.
2. On 2 lane highways with no posted limits the frequency of multiple vehicle accidents dropped 5 percent.
3. Seat belt usage is up to 91% percent, with only a secondary enforcement law.
4. Posted limits and their enforcement, had either no or a negative effect on traffic safety.
5. As predicted by the engineering models, traffic speeds did not significantly change and remained consistent with other western states with like conditions.
6. The people of Montana and its visitors continued to drive at speeds they were comfortable with, which were often speeds lower than their counter parts on high density urban freeways* with low posted limits.
7. The theory behind posting speed limits on these classifications of highway is to reduce conflicts in traffic flow (caused by speed differential), thereby reducing accidents. On the two lane highways flow conflict accidents (multiple vehicle) decreased when the limits were removed. When added to the Autobahn results and the no change found on Montana’s Interstates, this thesis needs to be rethought because the field data on highways without posted limits doesn’t support it. With the expectation of higher speed differentials, multiple vehicle accident rates declined even when the actual speeds did not change significantly. This suggests the changes are the result of positive motorists behavior (courtesy and due caution).
8. In traffic engineering findings the vehicles traveling faster than average have the lowest accident rates, yet they are the primary targets of speed enforcement. To this we can now add, with speed limits there was no positive correlation between speed enforcement and accident rates on rural free flowing highways, if anything, the highways became less safe.
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Nevada at one time also had no daytime limits.

cantac09 · Apr 8, 2011

97T said: ↑

yup

allow me to remind all the naysayers of the time when Montana did not have daytime speed limits at all. Once speed limits were put in, accident rates went up

http://www.motorists.org/press/montana-no-speed-limit-safety-paradox

Most important information

and

Nevada at one time also had no daytime limits.
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my dad told me about montana not having a speed limit. he said the sign said 'whatever is reasonable and prudent'.

bigwalton15 · Apr 8, 2011

Lucky, highest posted speed limit here is 60, and we have posted speed limits of 45 in some places on the highway.

toyotatacomaTRD · Apr 8, 2011

Pingo said: ↑

I swear I've seen some 85's in montana... Maybe they were 80 It's been awhile
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When I was growing up, they never had an enforced speed limit at all... About 15-16 years ago I think they re-instated the speed limit on Highways.

elblako91 · Apr 8, 2011

My poor toyota is at 3200 rpm's at 70 mph don't think i could push it anymore pass that

97T · Apr 8, 2011

toyotatacomaTRD said: ↑

When I was growing up, they never had an enforced speed limit at all... About 15-16 years ago I think they re-instated the speed limit on Highways.
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and it was all due to some jackass from California

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/mt-supreme-court/1110919.html

summary from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_the_United_States

On March 10, 1996,[90] a Montana patrolman issued a speeding ticket to a driver traveling at 85 mph (136 km/h) on a stretch of State Highway 200. The 50 year-old driver was operating a 1996 Camaro with less than 10,000 miles (16,093 km) on the odometer. Although the officer gave no opinion as to what would have been a reasonable speed, the driver was convicted. The driver appealed to the Montana Supreme Court. The Court reversed the conviction in case No. 97-486 on December 23, 1998; it held that a law requiring drivers to drive at a non-numerical "reasonable and proper" speed "is so vague that it violates the Due Process Clause ... of the Montana Constitution".
Effective May 28, 1999, as a result of that decision, the Montana Legislature established a speed limit of 75 mph.[91]

Montana US and State and even Secondary roads have speed limits posted similar to Texas. 70 mph /night: 65 and truck: 60 / night:55 (similar to the truck speed limit for secondary (Farm to Market) roads in Texas.)

Despite this reversal, Montana's then-governor, Marc Racicot, did not convene an emergency session of the legislature. Montana technically had no speed limit whatsoever until June 1999, after the Montana legislature met in regular session and enacted a new law. The law's practical effect was to require numeric speed limits on all roads and disallow any speed limit higher than 75 mph (121 km/h).
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toyotatacomaTRD · Apr 8, 2011

^^ Good Find.

bajamoon · Apr 8, 2011

I remember Montana not having a speed limit. My dad was driving 80 or so and people just blow on by, me being 15 or so telling my dad to step on it.

StandingCow · Apr 9, 2011

Odd that they do this when gas prices are going up... isn't that the big case for speed limits?

I always hated the "speed kills" slogan, it doesn't kill, lack of attention and hesitation is what kills.

jjew18 · Apr 9, 2011

For those who aren't from here, this is only going to be in the middle of no-where parts of west Texas, miles and miles of desert. Unfortuantley for me, this won't affect mine or nearly 99.9% of Texans daily commutes.

RLDTACO · Apr 9, 2011

jjew18 said: ↑

For those who aren't from here, this is only going to be in the middle of no-where parts of west Texas, miles and miles of desert. Unfortuantley for me, this won't affect mine or nearly 99.9% of Texans daily commutes.
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It won't effect me.
The state has lowered the speed limit on a couple of roads I drive on! A real PITA.

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