Post by: erik the bold on October 16, 2006, 02:34:39 PM
FORT HANCOCK, Tex. (Oct. 15) -- Just past Mile Marker 61, heading east on Interstate 10, the steady roar of accelerating vehicle engines booms across the vast West Texas landscape.
There, amid creosote bushes, mesquite trees and the occasional cactus, is a heavy-footed drivers dream a road sign declaring a speed limit of 80 miles per hour that coincides with entry into bucolic Hudspeth County.
State officials approved the new speed limit in May, making it the highest legal limit in the United States. The old speed limit had been 75 m.p.h., said Carlos Lopez, director of traffic operations for the Texas Department of Transportation.
The 80 m.p.h. zone extends east on Interstate 10 from the El Paso County line, through Hudspeth County and beyond.
In all, it includes 521 miles of highway in parts of 10 counties, Mr. Lopez said, splitting off at the junction with Interstate 20 east of Kent and continuing toward Monahans and on Interstate 20 into Kerr County.
The limit is an ideal fit for Texas, a state that prides itself on being larger than life.
You can now get places in a more legal fashion, said Mike Mossman of Fort Hancock. In Texas, we measure distances by hours rather than miles.
The new speed limit does not apply to big trucks, which have a limit of 70 m.p.h. during the day. The speed limit at night is 65 m.p.h. statewide.
Most drivers had already been driving above the old 75 m.p.h. limit, Mr. Lopez said. You get a safer highway when people are driving in more uniformed speeds, he added.
Not all Texans are happy with the higher speed limit. Before it took effect, the Hudspeth County commissioners passed a resolution opposing the change, and the county judge, Becky Dean-Walker, complained that the new speed limit was too dangerous.
Whats next? 85? Ms. Dean-Walker asked. Theyll keep going.
She also said the new speed limit was a burden on the county. Most of Hudspeth County, which has a population of 3,295 and an area of 4,572 square miles, is served by a volunteer ambulance service. The judge said she was concerned that the ambulance service would be overburdened by an increase in highway accidents.
Were a poor county, Ms. Dean-Walker said. We cant keep enough volunteers. Every time they jack up the speed limit it puts a terrible strain on rural counties. Five miles an hour makes a difference every time in accidents.
Here in Fort Hancock, a dusty border town of 1,713 people about 50 miles southeast of El Paso, the issue has split the local population between those who drive the new speed limit and those who do not.
Its a personal choice, said Jose G. Franco, superintendent of the Fort Hancock Independent School District. Mr. Franco said he observes a speed limit of 70 m.p.h.
I see people pass me at 80 m.p.h., and yet we hit the exit about the same time anyway by the time you slow down for semis, he said.
But the higher speed limit has been a boon for Mr. Mossman, who as the owner of a wholesale cactus and desert plant company drives some 80,000 miles a year across the Southwest.
He said the roads with the new speed zones were so remote that everyone waves at each other because they havent seen any other human in so long.
He added, Its lonely out there.
Sgt. John D. Schuller of the Hudspeth County Sheriffs Office, a Fort Hancock resident, said drivers had been obeying the new speed limit.
Theyre given a few miles over, Sergeant Schuller said. If youve got an 80-mile-an-hour speed limit and you give them two or three miles, thats 83, and then if they get all the way up to 85-plus, theyre in trouble.
Sergeant Schuller said he drove in accordance with the new speed limit, but his wife, Georgia, refused to go beyond 70 m.p.h.
She tells me to slow down, he said.
In Sierra Blanca, population 533 and the Hudspeth County seat, Tom Ellison, 81, shook his head at the mere mention of the 80 m.p.h. speed limit.
Mr. Ellison, who owns a car repair and rock polishing shop, said he used to retrieve wrecked vehicles on Interstate 10 but stopped in the late 1990s because of the morbid scenes he often encountered.
Its just too fast, Mr. Ellison said. I just dont like it. Its going to give a lot of people tickets, and accidents, too.
Post by: Perd Hapley on October 16, 2006, 02:49:21 PM
Post by: Standing Wolf on October 16, 2006, 02:55:19 PM
Post by: El Tejon on October 16, 2006, 03:23:20 PM
I always hated driving early in the morning in the Hill Country around Kerrville. The speed was self-limiting as there were always critters and fog (especially in the fall) in the roads early, however after the shooting was done it was 90 to 110 back to the hotel room.
Faster you can get around down there the better. "Just down the road" is a 6 hour drive. "The sun has riz, the sun has set, and we ain't out of Texas yet."
Reminds me of that British traveler's description of Texas, "miles and miles of bloody Texas".
Post by: Sylvilagus Aquaticus on October 16, 2006, 08:57:08 PM
Where's that surplus JATO unit? I gotta go out that way later this year.
Regards,
Rabbit.
Post by: Leatherneck on October 17, 2006, 02:30:34 AM
TC
Post by: 280plus on October 17, 2006, 03:25:55 AM
Post by: 280plus on October 17, 2006, 03:28:16 AM
You'll be longing for Texas in no time...
Post by: Perd Hapley on October 17, 2006, 03:36:13 AM
Post by: auschip on October 17, 2006, 03:46:40 AM
Quote from: fistful
280, you're confusing the Texans. They think we ALL long for Texas, all the time. Wierdos.
(Lyle Lovett/Willis Alan Ramsey/Alison Rogers) - That's right (you're not from Texas)
You say you're not from Texas
Man as if I couldn't tell
You think you pull your boots on right
And wear your hat so well
So pardon me my laughter
'Cause I sure do understand
Even Moses got excited
When he saw the promised land
That's right you're not from Texas
That's right you're not from Texas
That's right you're not from Texas
But Texas wants you anyway
Post by: Perd Hapley on October 17, 2006, 04:36:09 AM
Post by: TarpleyG on October 17, 2006, 04:41:43 AM
Quote from: fistful
Let's all sit back and count the bodies.
Whatever...someone else said it...it isn't how fast but how well you drive. Do some research on what it takes to get a DL in Germany and then look at how few accidents thay have on the Autobahn compared to here in the States. There's a formula there that works, albeit an expensive one.Also, it doesn't matter if you raise the posted limit to 110, people will do 120...
Greg
Post by: mfree on October 17, 2006, 04:56:07 AM
Oh, I will not.
My little truck tops out at just over 100
Post by: Perd Hapley on October 17, 2006, 05:36:28 AM
I don't know why so much attention is paid to freeway speeds, when it is the speed limits on other roads that are ridiculously low. I've never owned anything but old beater vehicles with lack-luster acceleration and speed. Nevertheless, when I just drive as I see fit, I find myself doing at least ten miles over the speed limit on most roads. So, I'm breaking the law without even trying - that can't be right.
I think the philosophy is wrong. I suspect the people who determine the limits are setting them at what they feel are safe speeds, and punishing anyone who exceeds them. Instead, they should set the limits at obviously unsafe speeds, so that one doesn't face a fine until real negligence becomes obvious. A 25 should be a 40. A 40 should be a 60, etc. In addition, drivers shouldn't be encouraged to think that the speed limit is the appropriate speed for that road. That's the way most people drive, partly because the limit is set at the reasonable, rather than the unreasonable speed. If the limit were thought of as an actual limit, and not a guideline, we would probably drive more safely, rather than getting our speed up to a certain number, and making sure we stay somewhere around that number, rather than watching the road.
Post by: Art Eatman on October 17, 2006, 06:36:33 AM
Check your map: I had no difficulty on one run from Terlingua to Denver, making the 900 miles in some twelve hours. Alpine to Pecos through Carlsbad and on up to I-25 at Las Vegas. I never felt like I was pushing either the car or the curves.
Ever since we got away from that silly 55mph speed limit, I'd drive from Fort Stockton to Junction on I-10, running along about 72 or 73 and be passed by many a car doing 80 to 85.
On I-75 from Lake City, Florida, on up to Chattyhoohoo, Tennessee, you see many a pack of cars running above 80. Talking on the cell phone, putting on lipstick, drinking coffee. Definitely a case of, "Tienes cuida'o, hombre!"
, Art
Post by: Typhoon on October 17, 2006, 07:07:32 AM
Quote from: Art Eatman
It ain't the speed; it's speed "too fast for conditions". Most western Interstates are quite safe at 100, if the driver has some clue and his tires are good. Same as race tracks at 200, really...
Agreed. Road, skill, tires, traffic, weather, engine, and brakes, and not necessarily in that order...
Post by: Perd Hapley on October 17, 2006, 07:08:06 AM
Quote from: Art Eatman
Definitely a case of, "Tienes cuida'o, hombre!"
"Take care, man!"? "Watch out!"?
Post by: Art Eatman on October 17, 2006, 03:44:55 PM
, Art
Post by: Iapetus on October 18, 2006, 09:08:07 AM
Quote from: erik the bold
Five miles an hour makes a difference every time in accidents.
Yes - when you are supposed to be going 30.I rather doubt many people who were killed by a car going at 80 would have survived if it had been doing 75.
Post by: Brad Johnson on October 18, 2006, 09:33:21 AM
Quote
They think we ALL long for Texas, all the time.
You don't!!?? What are you, French or somethin'? Brad
Post by: 280plus on October 18, 2006, 10:32:03 AM
Ok, not really.