Why does 85 MPH in Texas matter for the rest of the United States?

The fastest highway in Texas is a 41-mile-long toll road in the Lone Star State called Texas Highway 130 (SH130), connecting Austin and San Antonio. This highway has set the bar as the highest posted maximum speed limit in America at 85 miles per hour.

Where’s this rise in speed limits coming from? Since 1995, when Congress repealed all federally imposed speed limits, the states have taken responsibility for the posted legal speed limits of individual cities and towns. In the years that followed, speeds have been steadily on the rise.

There are 36 states with 70 miles per hour limits, 12 that allow speeds on some highways to reach 75, and only the 2 states of Utah and Texas post 80 miles per hour signs on selected highways and tolls. Most of the roads with higher speed limits are in rural, lower-populated areas.

Why 85 MPH in Texas?

The support for higher legal miles per hour and resulting political pressure from drivers to legislators is easily explained by a culture growing used to instant access to all things. God forbid we don’t get where we are going as fast as humanly possible.

Safety experts have a growing concern about this trend. Research conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that few drivers view speeding as an immediate risk to themselves or others, yet the probability of traffic deaths, disfigurement, or injury grows with higher speed at impact and doubles for every 10 mph over 50 miles per hour that a vehicle travels.

The fatality numbers are alarming. The NHTSA reports that on average, 1,000 Americans are killed every month in speed-related crashes and 66% of speed-related crashes involve a single vehicle.

More importantly, many drivers on higher-speed roads will go even faster. Yes, police may be stricter about the driver who goes 5 miles per hour over the speed limit in an 85 zone compared to a 65 zone. Drivers who are used to going 10 over will continue to go 10 over, further increasing the risk.

Is Texas’ speed limit 85 good or bad?

The good news is that rates for traffic fatalities are on the decline. Between 2006 and 2012, there have been a reported 27% fewer deaths due to traffic collisions. Experts do not believe this comes from safer driving at lower speeds. It’s been concluded instead that the combination of motor vehicles built to handle at higher speeds and improved passive and active safety technology are the key reasons for the change. Things like lane departure warnings and safety features that actually apply brakes before a collision go a long way toward preventing deadly accidents.

No matter how you slice it, increasing the speed limit invites people to push the boundaries up. Or so says Jonathan Adkins, deputy executive director with the Governor’s Highway Safety Association in Texas.

“Whenever we see a posted speed limit, we think we can go above it,” Adkins said. “We think we can go 5 or 10 mph above it and in a lot of cases we can’t, so the reality is you’re talking about the flow of traffic being 90, 95, even a little bit more, and so if you’re in a crash, you’re just not going to survive, even if you wear a seatbelt.”

Clearly, his concern is that American drivers who typically push to be going faster than the maximum limits are more likely to end up in a fatal crash on roads with a higher set MPH speed limit than those drivers abiding by slower posted limits on standard public highways.

What about fast lane hogs?

This is not what you might think. We aren’t talking about drivers who sit in the fast lane when it’s supposed to be a passing lane.

With all the arguments for and against an 85 MPH limit, an unforeseen factor was allegedly the cause of the first three accidents that occurred after the opening of SH130 in October of 2012. Officials in the area have reported that two wild hogs and a deer were hit on the road since its opening. A local news station reported video footage from the local police officials, showing examples of the feral hogs running into the highway and the easy access wildlife has to the high-speed road. They report that the hogs have become such a problem in the local area, that there is a bounty of $2 per tail on them due to overpopulation.

So, with all the arguments about high-speed safety, the first accidents on SH130 did not reportedly involve speed. This does beg the question: will driving that fast put you in a more dangerous situation when wildlife has easy access to the highway?

What are the economics of speed?

The cost of driving on America’s fastest highway is an average of $6.17 one way. That price pays for shaving off around 9 minutes on a trip that usually takes around 38 minutes to complete. Not too surprising is the fact that high-speed highways are money-makers and that’s where the rubber literally meets the road. If the case of Texas State Highway 130 is any clue to the future, driving faster on toll roads is a profitable venture for state governments.

The private company that built SH130, Cintra-Zachry, was confident that the toll road could be a money-maker in the market for speed. In fact, they baked it into the deal. The company offered the five-member state legislators a financial incentive in its contract $67 million cash payment upfront or a percentage of the toll profits in the future for posting at 80 mph, and $100 million upfront or a corresponding increase in profit.

Speed also drives up gas prices. When you start going faster than standard freeway speeds, you lose miles per gallon quickly.

So with states looking for any way possible to become financially healthy and please an increasingly impatient constituency, the future of maximum speed limit increases seems to be fast approaching whether we like it or not.

What do you think? Do you want higher miles per hour on your highways, or are you happy with the way they are now?

Ford Upgrades Sync to Read Text Messages With MAP (Message Access Profile)

The current generation of Ford’s infotainment system – the MyFord and MyLincoln Touch platforms – already supports Ford Sync talk to text through the Bluetooth Message Access Profile (MAP). MAP was designed for the specific purpose of streaming messages in automobiles and supports SMS, MMS, and emails.

Which types of device supports MAP on your vehicle?

Unfortunately, not many mobile phones on the market currently support MAP, and owners must have Sync compatible phones. A number of Research in Motion Blackberry models, a couple of Motorola phones running Google’s Android, and a single HTC Android phone are the only models sold right now that support MAP. It does not have the full functionality of Android Auto or Apple CarPlay.

Apple devices, such as the iPhone don’t support MAP, but we’re not surprised, since so few of the hundreds of smartphones on the market utilize and support the MAP Bluetooth profile. There’s also the fact that so many cars have Apple CarPlay built in. So there’s no reason for iPhones to adapt to another system. The most recent iPhone offers its own self-contained system that goes well beyond functions offered in Sync.

While the upgrade will allow older Sync systems to read text messages aloud to the driver, it won’t add functionality such as allowing drivers to dictate responses to texts or emails by voice. But perhaps that’s not a bad thing, since even hands-free usage of cellular phones can be a distraction. This messages app allows you to get important information you may need from incoming text messages. By not allowing responses, Ford Sync talk to text may encourage you to pull over should you need to respond or make phone calls.

Can you drive safer and get a lower annual premium?

Safe driving is one of the main factors that affect the price of car insurance. MAP is one way for drivers with the right phones to drive safer and save. When you use it the way it’s designed, you can minimize distractions and keep a clean driving record. If you are looking for a more competitive annual premium, plug in your zip code and see how far our quote calculator can take you.

According to the company, the transmission in the affected vehicles can be damaged if the transmission is quickly shifted between reverse, neutral and drive positions. Honda says this should only occur in an “unusual scenario” and offers the example of a situation where a driver would shift between these gears in an attempt to dislodge a vehicle that is stuck in snow or mud.

The software update to the automatic transmission control module will ease the transition between rapid shifts by limiting the engine speed at which such a shift can occur. The update should keep damage from happening, even in situations as described above.

Honda says if the transmission is damaged due to these types of actions, the affected vehicles may experience engine stalls and difficulty in engaging the parking gear. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that in addition to the problems described by Honda, the damage could lead to these vehicles rolling after a driver has placed the transmission into park, which could potentially injure people within the path of the vehicle if it rolls. They also warn that engine stalls increase the risk of being involved in a crash.

Which vehicles are at risk in this American Honda Motor Co. safety recall?

The affected vehicles include:

• 2005-2010 Honda Accord
• 2007-2010 Honda CR-V
• 2005-2008 Honda Element

Owners will be notified sometime after August 31, 2011 and the software update will be provided free of charge. Honda’s recall campaign number is R89, and owners may contact the company’s customer service line at 1-800-999-1009. The NHTSA campaign number is 11V395000, and owners may contact the NHTSA vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236. This is separate from the Honda CVT recall that occurred in 2014-2015, but also related to issues with transmission software.

In addition to the 1.5 million being recalled in the United States, Honda will also be recalling 760,000 in China and 135,000 in Canada of the same models. In all, the company will be recalling nearly 2.5 million models worldwide.

Do you have reliable auto insurance?

Luckily, in this case, Honda found an easy recall remedy for this unusual situation. Many times, car owners who experience these problems early on are forced to pay for the repairs themselves. Then they’re reimbursed when the recall comes out.

If you are considering purchasing a used 2005 Honda Accord, 2001 Honda, or any other model of used Honda vehicles, you should always do your research about past recalls related to that make and model of car.

If you’re involved in an accident because of it, your liability coverage may kick in. Of course, you should have proper liability coverage to cover any accident where you’re at fault, even if it can’t be traced to a safety recall later on. To get started, just enter your zip code. You might be surprised at how much you can save.

With legislation recently vetoed in Mississippi and signed into law in Alabama, insurance verification systems have been trumpeted as a way to both coerce drivers into buying liability insurance as well as solving the issue of the high numbers that continue to drive without insurance. But will these systems be a true panacea for the high numbers of uninsured drivers?

Laws exist across the nation with the same goal – to ensure every driver has minimum liability coverage. In Alabama, those caught driving without insurance can be fined $500.00 for a first offense. But even with these laws on the books, the Insurance Research Council (IRC) estimate that up to as many as one out of four drivers in Alabama don’t have coverage, the sixth highest rate of uninsured drivers in the United States. These drivers face the prospect of paying out of pocket in any crash that they cause as well.

In Mississippi, Governor Haley Barbour vetoed legislation that would have set up an electronic insurance verification system. While Barbour appeared to have agreed that the legislation would be a positive, he says he vetoed it in part because of the short length of time the state would have had to come up with their system – four months after passage. Mississippi is the second leading state for drivers without insurance, which the IRC estimates at 28%.

How Will A Law Enforcement Officer Use Insurance Systems in Alabama?

Insurance systems designed to verify coverage set up online databases that allow police and other government officials to access the coverage status of any driver in the state. In the past, drivers could simply buy a policy with a down payment, and then cancel it immediately after registering their car.

When a police officer pulled over such a driver in the past, the driver simply presented their insurance card as proof of insurance. If the date of the policy was valid, the officer had no way to know if the insurance policy was actually still in effect.

It’s not so with the new system. If a driver has cancelled their policy, that information will be available to an officer with a simple search on their computer. The Alabama electronic verification system is scheduled to go live in 2013.

Will Roads Be Safer when Authorities Can See Insurance Status?

One of the biggest problems when an uninsured driver gets into an accident is payment. In the old Alabama system, drivers could present verification of insurance that wasn’t active. Of course, the insurance companies wouldn’t pay on any claims. Victims may eventually have to sue the responsible uninsured driver. Unfortunately, many of these drivers had no significant liquid assets to sue for leading to issues actually collecting the money.

With the new insurance systems, a law enforcement officer can check actual insurance status more immediately and take action. If the issue is not fixed, the state can take more action.

If you’re looking for a new insurance policy, put your zip code in our calculator and let us help you out.