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Texas Opens Fastest US Highway With 85 MPH Limit

Posted by Soulskill on from the germany-chuckles dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Most highways in the U.S. top out at 75 mph, while some highways in rural West Texas and Utah have 80 mph speed limits. All that is about to change as Texas opens a stretch of highway with the highest speed limit in the country, giving eager drivers a chance to rip through a trip between two of the state's largest metropolitan areas at 85 mph for a 41-mile toll road between Austin and San Antonio. While some drivers will want to test their horsepower and radar detectors, others are asking if safety is taking a backseat. A 2009 report in the American Journal of Public Health found that more than 12,500 deaths were attributable to increases in speed limits on all kinds of roads and that rural highways showed a 9.1 percent increase in fatalities on roads where speed limits were raised. 'If you're looking at an 85 mph speed limit, we could possibly see drivers going 95 up to 100 miles per hour,' says Sandra Helin, president of the Southwestern Insurance Information Service. 'When you get to those speeds, your accidents are going to be a lot worse. You're going to have a lot more fatalities.'"

14 of 992 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's in texas.

    So. There's that.

    1. Re:Yeah but... by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's in texas.

      So. There's that.

      It's Darwinism in action, but don't expect them to put that in the school books.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    2. Re:Yeah but... by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 4, Funny

      Speaking of Darwinism... how many of those vehicles are pickup trucks with people sitting the bed?

    3. Re:Yeah but... by rickb928 · · Score: 1, Funny

      "It's Darwinism in action, but don't expect them to put that in the school books"

      More like Calvinism. Armenianism doesn't really apply.

      So long as you're settled up with God, speed is not a problem. At least in Texas.YMMV.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    4. Re:Yeah but... by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Funny

      Speaking of Darwinism... how many of those vehicles are pickup trucks with people sitting the bed?

      In some parts of Texas that's known as Air Conditioning

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    5. Re:Yeah but... by NFN_NLN · · Score: 5, Funny

      Speaking of Darwinism... how many of those vehicles are pickup trucks with people sitting the bed?

      Was that suppose to read:

      ...with people sitting in the bed?

      -OR-

      ...with people shitting the bed?

      because it could really go either way.

    6. Re:Yeah but... by HungWeiLo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Darwinism only affects the population if the dead driver has not yet reproduced. Since the minimum age for obtaining a driver's license is generally greater than the median breeding age in rural Texas, the increased speed limit may not have any impact on Darwinism's effects on the population there.

      --
      There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
  2. Here's a safety tip: by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

    With a speed limit of 10mph, you can virtually eliminate car related deaths on highways!

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Here's a safety tip: by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

      With a speed limit of 10mph, you can virtually eliminate car related deaths on highways!

      You're forgetting something. At 10 mph, driving through Texas would kill people either from boredom or old age.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:Here's a safety tip: by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 3, Funny

      To get to the absurd velocity you suggest we're going to have to change the gearing on that NASA crawler-transporter a few stories down.

  3. Re:It's an Effing Toll Road by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    This. A million times this. I am SO sick and tired of people citing risk as a reason NOT to do something. I control my own body and my own mind and I and ONLY I should be the one to decide what I do and when I do it. If I want to drive 150 mph on a fucking toll highway in my car, why shouldn't I? I am a way better driver than anyone else on the road, and even with 'excessive' speed I can avoid accidents just by using COMMON SENSE (which no one else seems to have any more).

  4. Please raise it 88 MPH. I have a Delorean. by Cutting_Crew · · Score: 4, Funny

    Then you really dont have to worry about anything. of course when traveling back and forth in time i could always collide with another vehicle. Oh and i also need lightning.

  5. Darwinian Self Sacrifice! by Sebastopol · · Score: 1, Funny

    Bring it on! Anything to reduce the number of electoral votes Texas owns!

    Kidding, kidding.

    Sort of.

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    https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
  6. Re:Nothing new by BinarySolo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seems to me that Wreckless Driving is a good thing.