Texas raises speed limit to 85mph on some highways (we should follow)

[1exotic]

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas House has given final approval to a bill that could up the speed limit on some highways to 85 mph.

The Texas Senate is considering a similar bill, which would make the state's speed limit the highest in the nation.

The measure by Brenham state Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, which won initial approval Wednesday, is part of a larger transportation bill. Final approval came Thursday.

The bill would authorize the Texas Department of Transportation to raise the speed limit on designated lanes or entire stretches of roadway after doing engineering and traffic studies. Texas currently has more than 500 miles of interstate highways where the speed limit is 80 mph.
Critics have raised safety and fuel-saving concerns.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...h-speed-limit/

85 MPH so that's 137 KM/H

what's the limit on the highways around here like 80/90 km? lol.

[tool001]

yes we should, be not on a 2 lane highway where people have enuff trouble following posted limit

[dark0821]

well... more encouraging news...

source: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/04/11/o...150-mph-sound/

Time to raise the speed limit, how does 150 MPH sound?

Ever since automobiles first appeared over 100 years ago, every automaker has tried to make them go faster. And they succeeded. Nearly every year, cars became more powerful with higher top-end speeds. But then, in the mid-1950s, we hit a plateau. The national speed limit was set at 70 miles per hour, and we've been stuck at that rate ever since. As a result, the automobile has made absolutely no progress as a transportation device in over half a century.

Actually, in 1974, it got worse. The national speed limit was lowered to 55 mph, ostensibly to save fuel and lives (it did neither). Such an agonizingly slow rate of travel proved too much to take for most Americans. We demanded that the limit be raised, and we got it back to 70 mph. Now it's time to demand another raise.

I'm not talking about some sort of modest increase to, say, 85 mph. We need to put a comprehensive plan in place to gradually move the limit up, over the next couple of decades, to 150 miles an hour. And we need to do that with no sacrifice in fuel economy or safety.

People tell me it's impossible or crazy to design passenger cars to go 150 mph. But do you want to know why German luxury cars are so good? Because they're designed to go 150. In fact, most of them have speed limiters on them. Otherwise, they'd go faster.

Speed itself is not a safety hazard. It's the difference in speeds between cars that lead to accidents. Somebody driving 50 mph while all the cars around them are flashing past at 70 mph or greater is creating a hazard. But if everyone is going the same speed, the situation is a lot safer – even at much higher speeds.

Just like today's Autobahn, some sections of highway would have lower limits, while others would be set at the maximum. The speed limit could also vary depending on the time of day and traffic load.

Before this decade is out we're going to see big strides in vehicle-to-vehicle communication, using radio frequencies and GPS. We've already got adaptive cruise control and radar-controlled braking. Put it all together and we're literally on the verge of making it almost impossible for cars to crash into one another, even if the driver fails to act. In the next decade, we're going to see the first commercialization of autonomous technology, where cars can literally drive themselves. That opens up the door to a 150-mph speed limit on national highways.

This technology also creates the opportunity to use what the transportation experts call "platooning." Cars could travel in packs, or platoons, in a nose-to-tail file not unlike the NASCAR guys drafting each other. But in this case the cars would be electronically linked together. And that kind of drafting would produce significant gains in fuel economy.

A 150-mph speed limit would transform automotive transportation. I daresay no one would ever again take an airplane ride of 500 miles or less. It would be so much faster and convenient to drive – no more pat downs from the friendly TSA agents!

Setting this kind of stretch goal would unleash a frenzy of R&D activity, create new companies, grow new jobs, and produce an economic boom much like building the Intestate Highway System did. It's just a matter of getting our heads around the idea.

Back in the 19th Century, Queen Victoria stipulated that any time she travel by train it was prohibited from going more than 40 miles an hour. The thinking was that going any faster than that was harmful to one's health. We laugh at that concept today, just as, later in this century, they'll laugh at us for thinking that driving 150 mph was dangerous.

[JqC]

I would love this new limit on our highways, but C-lais' can barely handle 50km/h.

[MG1]

Originally Posted by JqC

I would love this new limit on our highways, but C-lais' can barely handle 50km/h.

I was going to say that.......... too many fucked up shitty drivers here. Raise the speed limit only after Asians learn to drive, LOLOLOLOLOL.

Seriously, I'd be going 150 in the fast lane and some C-Lai will just switch lanes in front of me for no fucking reason... then she'd be like, solly, solly.........

j/k

[Soundy]

They can do it in Texas, because anyone who drives like an idiot would get shot.

[ae101]

i say just to what germany does & fuck the speed limit

[Jgresch]

I dont think my car can reach 137 kmh lol

[Narayan]

Originally Posted by Jgresch

I dont think my car can reach 137 kmh lol

That's where the issues come in... If everyone is going 137km and over cars are going say 90 or even 100... that's when accidents happen.

[JesseBlue]

^ i don't understand that sentence

[asian_XL]

German has autobahn, should we follow?

[ae101]

canada has the trans-canada highway lol & yes we should

[shenmecar]

Originally Posted by Narayan

That's where the issues come in... If everyone is going 137km and OTHER cars are going say 90 or even 100... that's when accidents happen.

Originally Posted by JesseBlue

^ i don't understand that sentence

Better?

[xilley]

Originally Posted by JqC

I would love this new limit on our highways, but C-lais' can barely handle 50km/h.

they can barely handle 5 km parking without hitting the curb

[Santofu]

As a Novice driver who follows the speed limit, it's hard to stay under the limit while the flow of the traffic is going much faster, so I had to go faster just in case to avoid accidents.
But now i have class 5 next week, I'm basically screwed for speeding.
Canada need to increase their speed limits.

[ae101]

when ever we go to COQ to visit my grandma & uncles we always go though downtown of new westminster & the speed limit is 30km, me & my dad goes WTF all the time cuz thats just stupid & how one day my dads gonna give them a piece of his mind but he never does

[!LittleDragon]

Highways in China have different posted speed limits in each lane.

[baggdis300]

Originally Posted by Santoku

As a Novice driver who follows the speed limit, it's hard to stay under the limit while the flow of the traffic is going much faster, so I had to go faster just in case to avoid accidents.
But now i have class 5 next week, I'm basically screwed for speeding.
Canada need to increase their speed limits.

if you can't NOT speed then well, you got problems..

its not difficult to just go the speed limit for the class 5, heck i got demerits for going too slow! on my class 5....

[The_AK]

Originally Posted by ae101

i say just to what germany does & fuck the speed limit

i heard somewhere that there might be a possibility of a limit being set on the autobahn, correct me if im wrong

[MelonBoy]

Originally Posted by Santoku

As a Novice driver who follows the speed limit, it's hard to stay under the limit while the flow of the traffic is going much faster, so I had to go faster just in case to avoid accidents.
But now i have class 5 next week, I'm basically screwed for speeding.
Canada need to increase their speed limits.

If you cant control your speed for 30-40minutes during a road test.. then you shouldn't be driving period. Also "I had to go faster just in case to avoid accidents" what the hunk of bull shit excuse is that lol..

[slammer111]

This will never happen in BC. Pansy politicians are too scared for any increase in road death stats. Like seriously, 80km/h on the Sea to Sky in the summer?? Are you kidding me?

150MPH will never happen though. The problem is that EVERY car will need to be able to handle that speed before you can raise limits that high. Also, fuel consumption will be a problem. Anyone who's studied aerodynamics knows that drag is proportional to the square of your speed. So even if your car is 2x as aerodynamic (pretty much impossible unless you want to drive a teardrop-shaped vehicle), you'll still be burning a ton of fuel at that speed, killing any gains in engine efficiency and emissions.

The OP's post is pretty cool. Last time I checked they were only approved to 80MPH. This brings them in line (and beyond) some European countries. Good on them.

[MG1]

Good on Texas for taking the lead. Let's see how this affects the statistics on accidents over there.

I honestly don't think it will work here. The roads, not to mention the climate, are not great for high speed travel.

[Hehe]

I think the idea of raising the speed limit is good.

Automobiles' technology is advancing daily. A car designed today is capable of being faster, yet safer (brake faster, better frame construction... etc) to a car designed in the 80s.

I think if Canada can have 10 lanes highway like US do, we could make the innermost lane with no speed limit (while imposing a minimum travel speed of course).

And aerodynamically, if we want to design Civic or Corolla capable of reaching 120MPH easily, it sounds unreal today because they would have to make them all like Lambo or Ferraris. Nevertheless, same thing was said decades ago making cars to go 60MPH.

With higher demand, auto manufacturers would develop ways to do it efficiently. There's little to none incentives right now. But if there's a demand, company would follow.

[MG1]

technology is advancing, but so is the level of dumbness

[Lomac]

BC already has a road with no speedlimit.
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