gotta love TX and state's rights! 85 MPH

[repilce]

Originally Posted by GP1937

Makes me miss the "reasonable and prudent" days... any state can set a speed limit at 85, only in MT are lawmakers ballsy enough to say "meh, just don't hit anything and we're cool."

^^^ This.. I can see the appeal

[HowardMan]

Originally Posted by CrAz3D

I drive at a rate that feels appropriate. Some places I speed. Other places I go under the limit. *shrug*

cant say i always agree with you but we share the exact opinion on this one. people are going to drive the speed they feel they can safely handle on any given stretch of road. theres always going to be the people who crash from going too fast but they're going to do that no matter the posted limit. i find speed limits are less about safe speeds on a road and way more about making money from tickets.

[jmichna]

Originally Posted by getanxd

Texas highway would be the first to allow 85 mph speed limit | The Lookout - Yahoo! News

Can't drive 55? … 65? … 75? How about 85?

A stretch of Texas highway may soon be the first road in the country to have a posted 85 mph speed limit.

...

It was a long time ago, but when we were kids we'd travel hundreds, even thousands, of miles by car going on vacation each summer. Unless my memory is shot, I recall driving as a teen driver through Kansas in the mid-60s at a posted 85 mph speed limit. Of course all that changed with the oil shortages of the 1970s... the national 55 mph speed limit.

[jmichna]

Originally Posted by stuz92

How will a speed difference help congestion, 2000 cars traveling 65 mph just becomes 2000 cars traveling 85 mph. I can see the new road with the traffic it gets off the old one helping relieve congestion.
....

Not really relevant. No one is going to set an 85 mph speed limit where traffic congestion is present. It is open road travel, across very long distances. Even today, many states have 65 mph and 70 mph speed limits for limited access highways in rural areas... as you approach populated areas, the speed limit drops down to 55 mph, sometimes even lower.

[getanxd]

Originally Posted by jmichna

It was a long time ago, but when we were kids we'd travel hundreds, even thousands, of miles by car going on vacation each summer. Unless my memory is shot, I recall driving as a teen driver through Kansas in the mid-60s at a posted 85 mph speed limit. Of course all that changed with the oil shortages of the 1970s... the national 55 mph speed limit.

you forgot, "and with no seatbelts and METAL dash boards!"

[CrAz3D]

I wonder if this will increase congestion.

This won't increase the speed of the people already driving at a rate under the limit, but it likely will increase the speed of speeders/people that go the limit. So the rate variation is now more. Inevitably, someone going fast will be "stuck" behind someone going slow and have to brake, which causes everyone else to brake, which messes up the flow of traffic (it slows people down, then people speed back up), which totally defeats the purpose of the increased limit.

Also more chance for catastrophic crash when everyone is all piled up waiting to get by the slow grandma.

Seems like having a min/max speed with only a small jump would make sure traffic is at its most efficient speed.

[jmichna]

Originally Posted by getanxd

you forgot, "and with no setbelts and METAL dash boards!"

My Dad's '56 Chevy Bel-Air had a metal dash, but I think that was the last one in our family. Seat belts were still a dream. We had a '62 Ford Galaxy 500 with lap belts... they were an option. I think the next year, 1963, seat belts became mandatory equipment. Our '66 Dodge Coronet 440 came standard with seat belts. That Dodge was quick off the line up to about 40-45 mph... we had a 318 V-8 deuce and posi-traction, the car only weighed about 3100 pounds. Was a nice car for a teen driver to cut his teeth... not too great for necking, as the front had bucket seats and the shifter was console-mounted. Sigh.

[getanxd]

yep, i rem those early '60s and the intro of the seatbelts, we went from a '59 ols to a '64 chrysler town and country wagon then a '66. i rem my mom buckling in my little sister around sis and her in one seatbelt in the front seat...then later being told THAT would have been be a bad scene, if they did have a wreck (mom's weight would have been bad on sis). you might be right in the '64 might have had seatbelts...i can't rem if it was the '64 or '66, but think both did and '64 little sis would have been 2?

that 400 coronet sounded nice. too bad about the front buckets in the 'deuce', but i'm sure you found the back seat eventually. i need to research the 'deuce' my mind always goes to the chevy II nova...goo time, 318 a dodge motor!

i want to say those chrysler wagons had some nasty 'bumper' looking dashes though...the '64 had push button gear selections and at the time we were told 'that' was a safety feature to remove a lever from impact? they should have looked at those metal dashes though!

[jmichna]

Originally Posted by getanxd

...that 400 coronet sounded nice. too bad about the front buckets in the 'deuce', but i'm sure you found the back seat eventually....

My Mom used the Dodge as her car, and my Dad's Ford crapped out in the late 60s... he ended up getting a used '60 Chevy (Biscayne, I think) with a bench front seat and a lot of room... Woo Hoo! That Chevy became my "date car"!!!

[getanxd]

Originally Posted by jmichna

My Mom used the Dodge as her car, and my Dad's Ford crapped out in the late 60s... he ended up getting a used '60 Chevy (Biscayne, I think) with a bench front seat and a lot of room... Woo Hoo! That Chevy became my "date car"!!!

i hear all what you are saying! girls in our era couldn't just volunteer saying, "why don't WE get in the back seat for more room!" - esp on the 1st date! (ha)...yep it had to at least start in the front seat!