Texans! Start Your Engines

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Well the exodus from Texas and its drought can proceed a little faster and Indianapolis may be a few miles closer now that the rural speed limit in the Lone Star state has been raised to 85 from the pokey 80. In a state where everything is bigger — and now faster — the good ladies and gentlemen of the legislature have seen fit to ignore the high price of gas and the need for highway safety for sake of  moving Texans around quicker.

State officials say the roads can accommodate the higher speeds. “We studied it,” said Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson. “These are parts of the state where higher speeds is a safe decision.” Some studies show drivers already are cruising at about 79 miles per hour on these vast expanses of Texas countryside mostly in the western part of the state.

 Tom “Smitty” Smith, Texas director of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen offered this cautionary note,”You can repeal the speed limit law, but you can’t repeal the law of physics. People don’t survive crashes at these excessive speeds.”  

But as the folks down in Texas say, “A Cowboy is a man with guts and a Horse — and now a really fast car.”

Source: Business Insider

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger