Do we have a new fastest road in America?

SAN ANTONIO – On one brand new stretch of toll road southeast of Austin, Texas, you can cruise at 85 mph and not worry about being pulled over for speeding.

That’s because starting Wednesday, on this 41-mile segment of road, 85 mph is the legal speed limit. It’s the highest in the country, and some are wondering whether it might be a little too high.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012...ca-opens-to-motorists-in-texas/#ixzz2AFhSA9we



My take?
We need more roads like this, although I expect the worriers and people who think we need to be saved from ourselves will likely get this shut down.

I was stationed in Germany for 3 1/2 years. The autobahn was a blast and the penalties for being an idiot were stiff. Those penalties go beyond the obvious related to crashes to the fines and cost of accident cleanup, road repair, and environmental cleanup. The system worked well.

I live in Montana. I, officially, learned to drive here. Unofficially there were trips to the ranch in WY and camping trips to the mountains and desert when I was in CA and AZ that proved useful training grounds. Anyways, for many years we had no speed limit in MT. Then the Fed threatened to take away highway funding unless we followed the rules they set. So, a speed limit was established. The speed limit might have been 65 on the road we were on but up to 80 MPH we paid a $5 conservation ticket. It was paid on the spot and did not impact our driving record. I loved those days! There were stiff fines for reckless driving and consideration for time of day, weather, and road conditions were taken into account by the officers who pulled you over.

Then, that went away. We were shackled like the rest of the US. For a time we had "reasonable and prudent" as the rule of law. Night time limits existed. However, for the most part it was left to the officers patrolling the road to make the call. They were on the road with us and could see the condition of the car, the condition of the road, weather, etc were taken into account. When pulled over the difference between a ticket and a warning could largely depend on the age, and therefore implied driving experience and ability. This was a wonderful thing, although not as pocket friendly as the $5 tickets of yesteryear. Out of staters complained. Out of staters came in numbers not seen in years in order to test out the "Montanabahn". People decided they needed to protect us from ourselves and, despite not having an armageddon of traffic fatalities sent us back inline with the rest of the country.

People who have no idea what its like to live in wide open spaces shouldn't be setting policies for us. Enjoy it while you can Texas, and may this be the first of many roads to get people up to speed.

 

In the early 90's I dated a gal who lived out of town. It was not uncommon for me to visiting her and when it came time to head to town for church (about 40 miles away) I would follow her dad. We averaged just under 80.