85 MPH Speed Limit.

[cptbarkey]

i live very close to 130, the soon to be famous 85mph toll road.

essentially they are trying to drum up more toll charges with this publicity stunt.

130 itself is not travelled on very much at all because of its wallowing meandering path around the austin area, and the toll charges as-is are too high for 18 wheelers to bother with it.

i myself will continue to enjoy driving on it going a leasurely 70mph at the most.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: mailman74
Yes Mobil 1 can handle 85 MPH.

I`m not worried about the oil, My concern is these idiot`s on the highway. As tig1 mentioned, an 85mph limit will have people going 100mph!!

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: lexus114
Originally Posted By: mailman74
Yes Mobil 1 can handle 85 MPH.

I`m not worried about the oil, My concern is these idiot`s on the highway. As tig1 mentioned, an 85mph limit will have people going 100mph!!


Lexus114, You hit the nail on the head. On highways that post 70 most go 75-85. The State Troopers will give away 5-10MPH so the public will always go well beyond the posted limit.

 

[lexus114]

Thank you sir.

 

[BrianWC]

Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
i live very close to 130, the soon to be famous 85mph toll road.

essentially they are trying to drum up more toll charges with this publicity stunt.

130 itself is not travelled on very much at all because of its wallowing meandering path around the austin area, and the toll charges as-is are too high for 18 wheelers to bother with it.

i myself will continue to enjoy driving on it going a leasurely 70mph at the most.


I participated in the environmental prep work for SH130 back in 2001. I can't tell you how many cow pastures in the middle of nowhere I stood in wondering why anyone would aim a loop waay out away from everything. Boy I sure did eat a lot of good Lockhart barbeque, though...

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: lexus114
I`m not worried about the oil, My concern is these idiot`s on the highway. As tig1 mentioned, an 85mph limit will have people going 100mph!!


I'm not sure that this will be true. Ok, some people will do 100--however, I'm sure 99% people are already doing that. I'm going to guess few people will do 100 just because the limit is now only 15 below that, instead of being a whole 25 below.

 

[chiks]

Originally Posted By: mailman74
Yes Mobil 1 can handle 85 MPH.

u will need the 0w-40 though.

 

[L_Sludger]

speed kills fuel economy, lol. i love the 55mph limits in all these cincinnati freeways. i'm getting 75mpg where in CA I only got 55-65 depending on how slow I could safely go without being rammed into.

 

[440Magnum]

I have mixed feelings. My daughter is going to regularly use Texas 130 (85 mph limit) in her Cherokee, and frankly that's a bit fast for a young (19) driver in an SUV. But she just camps in the right lane at about 75-80, as do many other drivers.

On the other hand, one thing I always noticed on I-10 (the limit has been 80 Texas west of Kerrville for 10+ years now) is that very few people speed at the higher limits. With a limit of 65, you'll get a nut doing 90 and weaving. I just don't see people running 25 over the limit and weaving on 80 and 85 mph limited freeways.

I think higher limits are just fine, provided the HIGHWAY can handle it. When you think about it, cars could safely handle 70 mph on highways in 1965. Surely we've progressed in how safe cars AND highways are at higher speeds now. In fact, I think there is so much speeding on 65 mph highways BECAUSE cars (rightly) feel safe and controllable at higher speeds, unlike the way they used to. I've always been a pretty firm believer in the old "85th percentile" rule. Basically, the safe speed is self-setting because of the engineering of the vehicles and roads and the comfort level of drivers. Setting it lower by arbitrary decree just tempts speeding and creates revenue for traffic enforcement.

Another opinion of mine is that speed doesn't kill. That's an ignorant ad campaign, if that were true we'd all travel at 25 mph. Mistakes kill, be it going too fast for conditions, too slow for conditions (talking on a cell phone and slowing to 15 below the limit in the left lane- seen that many times!), or being distracted.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
I have mixed feelings. My daughter is going to regularly use Texas 130 (85 mph limit) in her Cherokee, and frankly that's a bit fast for a young (19) driver in an SUV. But she just camps in the right lane at about 75-80, as do many other drivers.

On the other hand, one thing I always noticed on I-10 (the limit has been 80 Texas west of Kerrville for 10+ years now) is that very few people speed at the higher limits. With a limit of 65, you'll get a nut doing 90 and weaving. I just don't see people running 25 over the limit and weaving on 80 and 85 mph limited freeways.

I think higher limits are just fine, provided the HIGHWAY can handle it. When you think about it, cars could safely handle 70 mph on highways in 1965. Surely we've progressed in how safe cars AND highways are at higher speeds now.

For the record: my opinion is that speed doesn't kill. That's a stupid, ignorant ad campaign, if that were true we'd all travel at 25 mph. Mistakes kill, be it going too fast for conditions, too slow for conditions (talking on a cell phone and slowing to 15 below the limit in the left lane- seen that many times!), or being distracted.




Magnum,
It may be your opinion that increased speed like we are talking about is stupid and ignorant, but Iowa is finding out differant. Even increaseing the speed limit on their Interstate system 5MPG has caused an increase in deaths. See link below.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/09/04/70-mph-limit-blamed-in-increase-iowa-highway-deaths/

Also other say faster speeds cause more deaths.

http://money.msn.com/auto-insurance/news.aspx?feed=AP&date=20120906&id=15526644

 

[dparm]

Something the National Motorists Association has been pushing since its inception is proper traffic engineering. The reason so many people "speed" is due to poor engineering. A speed limit is just arbitrarily set and often times is too low.

The local governments know this and just ticket speeders instead of correcting the problem. Same thing is true for red light cameras.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: foxnews

According to the Register, a 2009 report from the American Journal of Public Health found that since the 1995 repeal of the national speed limit, deaths related to higher speed limits increased 3 percent nationwide and 9 percent on kind of rural interstates cited in the Iowa statistics.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/09/0.../#ixzz25o6k91su


I wonder how much of that is attributable to either more miles driven per year (more drivers, etc) or deer strikes for the rural areas. It says "related to" but doesn't explain how it was able to pinpoint it to strictly higher speeds.

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Let's bring it down to Earth a little. Cars like your M5 are not that common even in Germany. Majority of cars in Europe are econoboxes that are neither fast nor great handlers. The difference is that they know where their place is and they stay out of the left lane unless passing an even slower econobox and they don't cut you off by suddenly jumping into your lane because they make use of their rear view mirrors.

Not sure how it is in Canada, but down here one of my biggest gripes is that many drivers will just stumble into the left lane with complete disregard for the cars quickly approaching in the rear view mirror. "Hey, I'm up front and I only need to pay attention to what's in front of me. If there is someone behind me that's moving fast, well, he's just going to have to slam his brakes. It's his problem."

I agree.

My biggest fear while passing on the left lane is one of the slower cars in the right lane may change to left lane without looking at the mirror to see if a faster car is approaching. I always look at slower car(s) very carefully while passing and ready to slam on my brakes or steer the car the the left shoulder if needed.

I didn't have a chance to drive on Autobahn, but I drove in France some years ago. The drivers over there are much more discipline in following the "Slower Traffic Keep Right" law than American.


Huge problem and literally my biggest annoyance about driving on highways in North America. The left lane is a passing lane, period. If you are not overtaking, why are you there? It just drives me insane, how many bad drivers are out there. And yes, I put my money where my mouth is when it comes to highway etiquette.

 

[Duffman77]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

Not sure how it is in Canada, but down here one of my biggest gripes is that many drivers will just stumble into the left lane with complete disregard for the cars quickly approaching in the rear view mirror. "Hey, I'm up front and I only need to pay attention to what's in front of me. If there is someone behind me that's moving fast, well, he's just going to have to slam his brakes. It's his problem."


It is a North American problem, you just have to do some reading in the tailgating thread and some people clearly feel that their responsibility lies only in front of them and they are not shy to admit it.

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: Artem
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
85 is a nice slow cruise, I'd like to be able to run a lot faster than that...legally. 120-130 is a very comfortable and easy cruising speed.

Oh and I'd also love for us to adopt German vehicle inspections and licensing requirements. Because they do, do the driving thing better than we do.

120-130mph on cruise control? Although I feel fine at those speeds in my lowered and performance modified vehicle, I can't say the same about my 15 year old Camry...


That's not fast in the right car.

130 in an S600 is about as exciting as 70 is in your Civic. Believe it or not in other countries not just Germany people do it every single day.

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Thing is with German cars is that they don't need to be lowered or performance modified to go that fast, or feel safe at those speeds.

I can do 140Mph in 4th gear. Car will readily cruise at 190Mph (as shown by Gustav from M5board in Germany) screaming at close to 7K without issue for as long as you can keep it there.

Let's bring it down to Earth a little. Cars like your M5 are not that common even in Germany. Majority of cars in Europe are econoboxes that are neither fast nor great handlers. The difference is that they know where their place is and they stay out of the left lane unless passing an even slower econobox and they don't cut you off by suddenly jumping into your lane because they make use of their rear view mirrors.

Not sure how it is in Canada, but down here one of my biggest gripes is that many drivers will just stumble into the left lane with complete disregard for the cars quickly approaching in the rear view mirror. "Hey, I'm up front and I only need to pay attention to what's in front of me. If there is someone behind me that's moving fast, well, he's just going to have to slam his brakes. It's his problem."



Sure, your 530I is a fantastic car. It will happily run at WOT all day every day if you were able to.

This is one of the reason German cars have big sumps, and coolers everywhere. They are built to bleed heat from high speed running.

The biggest difference is the training, I really wish driving was treated as more of a privilege in this country and training was much better.

Drive right, pass left should be drilled into drivers heads from day one, and enforced by law enforcement.

 

[BrianWC]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy

130 in an S600 is about as exciting as 70 is in your Civic. Believe it or not in other countries not just Germany people do it every single day.


Hey I have an Si and 120, at least, is not that bad at all...

 

[HTSS_TR]

The S2000 is very stable at 120 with top down and side windows up. With top and side windows up it can do 140-150 easily.

 

[SteveSRT8]

All the "speed nazi" [censored] is just that. Baloney.

Accidents per mile have steadily declined for ages now. Absolute fact. The only thing speed is associated with is accident SEVERITY.

Driver training is virtually non-existent here, we have some of the worst drivers out there and no law enforcement. Just enforcing our laws already on the books would help.

But it starts at 16 when we should have about a 3 day course with skidpads and snow simulation, etc.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Originally Posted By: Artem
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
85 is a nice slow cruise, I'd like to be able to run a lot faster than that...legally. 120-130 is a very comfortable and easy cruising speed.

Oh and I'd also love for us to adopt German vehicle inspections and licensing requirements. Because they do, do the driving thing better than we do.

120-130mph on cruise control? Although I feel fine at those speeds in my lowered and performance modified vehicle, I can't say the same about my 15 year old Camry...


That's not fast in the right car.

130 in an S600 is about as exciting as 70 is in your Civic. Believe it or not in other countries not just Germany people do it every single day.


My Magnum would run all day at 100+...wouldn't do 130, but that's because Chrysler governed it to 120 (OEM tires were only H-rated).

A P71 Vic will run all day at 90+ with over 300,000 miles on the clock!