ECB, you know as well as i do why people drive so damn fast in texas:
1. is f*ing flat
2. the weather is usually good for it
3. there are highways that take you EVERYWHERE
4. it takes you at least 15 minutes to get anywhere you want

after moving here to seattle, i am thankful that i rarely have to get on the freeway, but damn it, i hate going 60mph.

Didn't the government also base funding to states upon their compliance with the then-55 mph speed limit mandated by the Feds?

They should raise the speed limit to 200 mph if it will kill more Texans.

Oh my God, yes, Gurldoggie. And let's relax their seatbelt laws as well.

ECB, if you are from Texas, then you have probably driven through West Texas before. While everything you say above is true, I know from my one experience driving through West Texas, it was hard not to want to move through there as fast as possible.

Mr. Muse, I believe they did tie federal funds to the speed limit thing (at least highway funds). I know for sure they did this when they were forcing all the states to raise the drinking age to 21.

Have you ever driven in West Texas? 80 is a conservative speed. If it lets me get out of Texas faster next time I'm there, I'm for it.

my car can't even go 80 mph!

Well, parts of Montana don't even have posted speeds, cause there ain't no speed limit.

And, yes, it is darned flat in Texas. Unlike Bush, I was born there, with a rattlesnake in my crib and I used to race roadrunners for fun. He just raced the liquor delivery truck when he moved there as an adult.

Where the road conditions, visibility, signs, markings, etc, are all OK, there is no problem whatsoever with an 80 mph speed limit.

As a New Mexican I can guarantee that everyone is far too broke there to afford to go that fast.

Texas has oil fields.
New Mexico has green chile.

You do the math.

It's funny that only bush's state rases speed limits to 80 mph

Bah, whatever. "Traffic safety experts" are about the same as the people who want to ban cellphone use (but not eating, playing with the radio, etc.) while driving, because they find that a lot of people in accidents use cellphones. Well, duh. Lots of people on the road use cellphones.

So traffic safety experts determine how fast the cars in an accident were going. Then, they take the high number, and use it to say that high speeds cause accidents. Why isn't the low number meaningful? Or even better, the difference between the two? If an accident occurs because someone going 55 suddenly found themselves behind someone going 25, who's to blame? The faster driver. Of course. Sure.

I have to admit, the curve of the prevailing logic is compelling. After all, if we all drive 0 miles per hour, then we'll have no accidents. But, uh, that would sort of defeat the purpose of transportation.

As a recent transplant from Texas who exceeded posted speed limits to leave that state for good, I have to agree: getting from any city, town, or landmark is an excurciatingly long drive through miles of clear visibility. I know that convenience is never a good argument to burn extra gas, but it's a lot easier (and safer and, let's face it, cheaper) to do in that part of the world than it is here, just like it's much easier to be an environmentalist here where there's an environment worth living in.

are there really that many hummers in west texas?

In parts of Utah the posted speed limit is 75 (I believe this was the previous highest posted limit outside of No-limit Montana). People always drive much faster than that. Maybe this is just a red state thing.

K-

The experts say that there are more fatalities at higher speeds, not accidents. Most accidents happen at speeds less than forty mph. Most of those accidents happen in parking lots. However, common sense dictates that you're a lot less likely to die in a low-speed crash. High speed equals high impact equals death.

i am from west texas and lived there until i was 18 and still drive back from austin almost every month. most of the people who use those roads are truckers and farm and oil field workers in work trucks, not people out on joyrides racing around having fun. there isn't even anything out there to look at except for the farms and oilfields. so its not like we're driving eighty in the middle of a city.

Montana re-established speed limits in 1999, the highest being 75 on the interstate. While I was growing up there (70s and 80s) a speeding ticket during the day was a ticket for "wasting a natural resource" and it was $5 that you could pay in cash (hmmm...) and go on your merry way. I don't think there was a limit as to the number of tickets you could get in a day.

well, bummer about Montana.