85 MPH Speed Limit in Texas!

Texas has been in my sights as a business friendly state. Now, there's another reason I find Texas alluring: the speed limit may go up to 85!

Bam! Texas considers kicking it up a notch! They're not saying why, but you can guess. Highway speed limits top out at 75 while vehicles top out far above that already.

Far, flat, and long
It's how fast you need to and can go between the vast stretches of straight flat miles between cities.

In Texas, there's an awful lot of space between here and there, between where you are and where you really want to be. No point in slow cookin' when a good cut of Texas beef sears fast.

Oh, the horrors...

Already hairs stand straight up on the thought of folks traveling 85 miles an hour. Accidents, injuries, deaths are expected to go up while gas mileage goes down.

The media is all up in arms about how fast drivers will kill others on the road. And, oh, all the gasoline that'll be guzzled. But, ah, another opportunity to drum up some alarmism, as if they haven't put the fear of the boogie man in everything already.

The fact of the matter is three fold.

Doing it already, for one

People are already driving 85 mph. Outside urban areas, out in the plains where nobody but a couple of crows can observe your speed, you're going to push that pedal as far down as it goes. Been there; done that. I know; I've seen it.

Everybody's doing it already and nobody's complaining about highway wreckage, injury, or death. Why not match practice with practicality?

Require training, for two

People who rationally choose to approach that limit are trained. Skip Barber Driving School, shown in the video showing stopping distances at different speeds, will teach you how to stop in the space you choose to have in front of you. It's called threshold braking. I know. I took the course.

Instead of passing your driving test on a wing and a prayer (which is all that's required), try getting some real rigorous driving training before operating that deadly weapon you call a car. Better yet, require it, like they do in Germany: No training, no license.

Choose to go slow, for three

There's always the option of driving below posted limits. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but try it, you'll like it. Only the self-conscious and weak-hearted are intimidated by going slow in the slow lane. That's what that side of the road is for. Driving in one's comfort zone ought to determine your speed, not the signs posted on the road.

What I like about Texas

The liberties Texas provides gives individuals free choice. Options and opportunities are there for your own making. Whether you take them is up to you.

And as soon as you injure others with the choices you make, you can bet Texas is quickest to put a veritable noose around your neck and make you pay. While they give you liberties, they'll just as soon give you death for abusing them. Transgressors are already in jail in Texas. It's the value system there. As it should be all over these United States.

Besides, I can wear my cowboy hat going fast without people asking where I'm from.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/texas-moves-raise-speed-limit-85-mph/story?id=13319173&page=1