Editorial: Texas can’t drive 75?

Friday, May 19, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.

The last time this country faced an energy crisis, Congress implemented a national 55-mph speed limit. That was scrapped in 1995, and currently states set limits, even on federal highways.

Now we face a new crisis, but in our fast-paced, gas-guzzling nation there has been precious little commitment to conservation. Quite the contrary. In Texas, officials are seeking to raise the speed limit from 70 mph or 75 mph to 80 mph in 10 mostly rural western counties, USA Today reported this week.

It's been three decades since U.S. drivers last saw an 80 mph limit sign - it was in Kansas - although Nevada and Montana at times have had no posted limits on some rural highways. There are two reasons many federal and state officials prefer that drivers slow down - it saves lives and gas. High speeds raise the likelihood of accidents and increase fatality rates, experts say.

"When states raise speed limits, they're trading lives for faster travel times," Richard Retting, senior transportation engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told USA Today.

A judge in one of the Texas counties made another good point to the newspaper: "If the speed limit is raised to 80, everybody is going to be doing 85 or 90." Beyond the safety issue, the Energy Department reports that cars guzzle gasoline more voraciously over 60 mph. Every 5 mph over 60 amounts to paying roughly 20 cents more per gallon, the department estimates.

No one has said the energy crisis would be resolved easily or quickly. There are no simple fixes. A new commitment to conservation by drivers and politicians would be a good start. But there is certainly one thing states can do immediately - avoid making the problem worse. It appears that even boneheaded ideas are bigger in Texas.