Page 67 - Speed Limits News Today

The fast track. >> reporter: if you think traffic is fast in texas now, just wait. legislation is working its way through the texas state house to allow future highways to have speed limits up to 85 miles per hour. texas already has more than 500 miles of rural interstate that allow 80 miles an hour. none of those are any other existing roads would change. the 85-mile-per-hour limit would only apply to new construction on roads engineered for that speed and only at the texas transportation commi...

The fast track. >> reporter: if you think traffic is fast in texas now, just wait. legislation is working its way through the texas state house to allow future highways to have speed limits up to 85 miles per hour. texas already has more than 500 miles of rural interstate that allow 80 miles an hour. none of those are any other existing roads would change. the 85-mile-per-hour limit would only apply to new construction on roads engineered for that speed and only at the texas transportation commi...

Lawmakers in texas allowing a speed limit of 85 miles an hour. havent we always heard 55 saves lives? why are they increasing it? >> reporter: we should point out first down here in texas we have 500 miles of interstate where motorists can legally drive 80 miles an hour. but this new legislation would not affect existing roads or freeways. we are talking about freeways and interstates built after june of this year. if passed it would call for favorable engineering studies and we could see 85-mil...

>> hi, contessa. >> im assuming you would oppose an 85-mile-an-hour speed limit. >> well, if you were to go back and read the transportation headlines for the past year, you would think that texting and driving and runaway toyotas were the biggest safety problem on our roads. but in fact researchers know it is speeding. speeding accounts for -- a factor in about a third of all highway deaths. and it leads to the deaths of almost a thousand americans every month. and raising speed limits just exa...

Is that when you raise the speed limits, you shift the drivers who are going five or ten miles an hour over the speed limits into ever higher speeds. when you -- when we look at the research, going back to when we had the first energy crisis, and the congress imposed the 55 mile an hour speed limit in 1973, it is estimated that there were 4,000 fewer deaths in 1974 as a result of that. and then as states raised speed limits, we saw 25 to 30% more deaths. so speed is a -- allows us -- the speed l...

Interstates and they say it increased 25% to 30% when the state started increasing speed limits from 55 to 65 miles per hour. in 1989 the numbers are about two-thirds of the increase, 19%, or 400 deaths were attributed to an increase in speed. as you point out, this is maybe more a regional argument. i told someone just today if you have not driven through texas, you really cant chime in on this one because when i have driven for example from texas to pennsylvania where you are, i felt like it t...

Imagine, including from insurance companies that say higher speeds increase the likelihood the drivers would be killed in a crash. >> which is true, but man, being able to go 85. >> a lot of problems going fast. if youre an experienced driver you can handle it. not everybody is. >> the pictures were showing where they have the 85 mile an hour speed limits. >> a long stretch of flat road. >> not bumper to bumper traffic. >> uses more fuel. >> in new york city they dont have to have a speed limit....

Where the speedometer goes up to 110 and 120, and i think that if you want to limit frankly the speed limits you also limit how fast a car can go. look, i will admit, when i had a mazda miata, i drove from dallas to houston, i pushed it to 110 miles an hour. well shg, we will leave the speeding to bobby from here on in. both of you, interesting discussion and bit of controversy there. thank you, guys. president obamas top adviser gives donald trump no chance of winning the presidency, but th...

Coming up on "world news now," stopping the shutdown. once again, the president held a late-night meeting at the white house with leading members of congress. >> and once again, there is still no deal. now, the chances of a government shutdown are growing by the second. its friday, april 8th. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." good morning, im peggy bunker. >> and im mike marusarz. after the fourth meeting with president obama and members of congress still no deal to cut sp...

A california city is set to put the brakes on skateboarding. on tuesday, the laguna beach city council will vote on a set of skateboard restriction including speed limits and closing eight roads to skateboarders completely. the mayor says he understands why kids like the sport but public roads are not the best place for it. speaking of which in central florida a homeowners association wants to ban kids from playing outside altogether it is not safe for kids to play parking lot which is the onl...