Texas House backs plan to allow 85 mph speed limit

I think the safety of that speed depends a lot on the road being driven. Properly built roads make high speed a lot safer than poorly built roads or roads that were built with a lower maximum speed in mind.

I tend to drive 5 mph over the speed limit at most. I used to always drive 10 mph over or even more. Then I had to commute for 2 years. I drove past CHP cars that were tucked into side pockets waiting for speeders. I passed CHP cars that were driving down the road. I did it at 5 mph over the limit and never worried about it. I knew that, if I didn't mind my speed, I WOULD get ticketed so, after 2 years of driving at 5 mph over the limit, it became habit.

I no longer commute but I do have to make drives of 2 - 5 hours sometimes for work. I do it at 5 mph over the limit (at most) and never worry about being ticketed.

With an 85 mph speed limit I don't know that I'd go even 5 mph over. 85 seems plenty fast to me. Depending on the road, I'd probably be over in the right lane going under the limit unless that impacted the flow of traffic too much. Remember, going way slower than all the other traffic can also earn you a ticket.

A day or two ago, my local newspaper carried an AP article which seemed to suggest that this bill would apply only to roads built in the future and specifically designed to handle the higher speed.

Does anyone know whether that is the case?

is some clever way of reducing the number of those the State has to take care of.