Texas Speed Limits

[Wyandot Jim]

In Texas, speed limit signs aren’t rules… they’re more like suggestions written by someone who has clearly never driven on I-35.
When you see “75,” what that actually means is:
Right lane: 80
Middle lane: 90
Left lane: whatever that lifted F-250 with dark tint decides is spiritually correct
You might be doing a calm 78, minding your business, when suddenly a truck flies past you at 100 like it just got a notification that the Buc-ee’s exit is coming up.
There’s an unspoken Texas agreement that “10 over is just participation.”
15 over? Now we’re getting somewhere.
20 over? Depends… are you late, or just emotionally committed?
And then there’s that moment when you’re cruising along thinking you’re fast…
and a car appears out of nowhere doing 110 like it spawned in from another dimension.
No warning. No signal. Just pure chaos and horsepower.
Out-of-state drivers are always shocked.
They’re gripping the wheel like,
“Why is everyone driving like this??”
Meanwhile Texans are like,
“Relax… traffic’s actually moving today.”
But here’s the twist…
The same state that turns highways into a NASCAR qualifier
will have people merging onto the freeway at 50 mph with full confidence,
like they’re gently pulling into the H-E-B parking lot.
And of course…
there’s always that one person.
Left lane.
Going 70.
Blinker on.
For no reason.
For miles.
Everyone behind them is building a quiet, shared frustration…
but nobody honks. Nobody flashes lights.
Because in Texas, we don’t escalate.
We just change lanes, floor it, and pretend that never happened.

There is no force on Earth more committed to stealth than a Texas State Trooper on a random sunny afternoon.
You’ll be cruising down I-35 or I-10, minding your business, thinking the road is wide open… and then out of absolutely nowhere, red and blue lights hit behind you from a spot you KNOW was empty ten seconds ago.
Behind a tree line.
Tucked into the median.
Parked at an angle on a hill like it grew there naturally.
Nobody hides better than DPS.
Not deer.
Not armadillos.
Not that one coworker who disappears when it’s time to do actual work.
These troopers can park a cruiser in a patch of shade so perfectly it becomes part of the scenery.
And somehow they always appear the exact moment you say,
“Everybody’s doing 85, I’m good.”
Texas drivers don’t fear speeding.
We fear that one shadow off the shoulder…
because that’s not shade.
That’s a traffic stop waiting to happen.

 

[Jeepnik]

You must never have been to SoCal. We have folks that drive like that in the worst congestion possible. They just use the center median and the right shoulder. On the other hand, I think CHP has a competition among themselves to write the fewest tickets monthly. When half a dozen idiots block every lane of a freeway stopping traffic just so another one can do donuts you know the police have lost all semblance of control. Worse still, it will be on the TV news for twenty minutes and not a single cop shows up. Then again, if they do a surface street takeover the cops just stop traffic so they can do it unmolested. But the ultimate in my personal experience is when some "individual" points a handgun at you during a street take over and the police won't even bother to call you back after they hang up on 911.

 

[Dan in MI]

Southern Michigan is the same.


I do like the State Cooper, can anyone get a barrel?

 

[Fox Mike]

The politicians here in Maryland refused to raise the speed limit on I-95 from 65 mph to 70. If you are doing 70 you best be in the right lane. The State Troopers will blow you off the road unless you are close to 80 and not in their way.

 

[375hh1973]

When i feel like runnin my Camaro, I dont go up north and find a long stretch of highway.

I get on 696 or 94 in the Detroit metro area.

I honestly have no idea how fast ya gotta go on 696 to get a ticket

 

[Mike J]

@Wyandot Jim - Your post made me think of when I was a kid. We were driving from Atlanta, Ga to Andrews, Tx to visit my mother's family. I believe we were somewhere between Big Springs & Andrews when we came up to where two, two lane highways intersected. There was a big cloverleaf with ramps to go from one road to the other. This was about 80-100 miles from nowhere. When we got to Andrews, we asked why the intersection had been built that way. Apparently, the locals, when driving late at night on empty roads would drive about 100 m.p.h.. There were 4 kids in a car going home from a Boy Scout meeting. They met another car at the intersection. Everyone died. So, the cloverleaf was built.

 

[Mike J]

Traffic in the Atlanta area is the worst I have ever seen it. The highway system is at full capacity & there always seems to be work being done to change something. We have had so many people from up North & California move here it is ridiculous. Most of the transplants are horrible drivers.

 

[gjgalligan]

Back in the 1980s I know a deputy that was transporting some county officals was doing 90 on 696 and getting passed by a steady stream of cars during afternoon rush hour.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

When i feel like runnin my Camaro, I dont go up north and find a long stretch of highway.

I get on 696 or 94 in the Detroit metro area.

I honestly have no idea how fast ya gotta go on 696 to get a ticket

When we lived up there, I quickly learned that if you leave a half-carlength between you and the car in front of you somebody will cut in there.

 

[375hh1973]

When we lived up there, I quickly learned that if you leave a half-carlength between you and the car in front of you somebody will cut in there.

That's how we learn to drive lol

Space between cars is wasted space!

 

[Kevin]

Jim’s post is spot on. I just took I45 down to Galveston.

In the Audi I did hit 102 mph at one point. Then later the “suggestion” was 55 (construction) I slowed down to 65 and got passed by a state trooper.

Not kidding at all.

I haven’t been on I35 in a long time, but I45 from Dallas to Galveston does have highway patrol, but some sections never have any police. Everyone seems to know this too.

 

[Armybrat]

I-35 from San Antonio to Dallas is a terrible high speed mess between cities and a parking lot in the Austin metro area.
To solve the congestion, the State should rename that stretch the Donald Trump Trail……..so half the drivers would refuse to use it.

 

[Jeepnik]

Traffic in the Atlanta area is the worst I have ever seen it. The highway system is at full capacity & there always seems to be work being done to change something. We have had so many people from up North & California move here it is ridiculous. Most of the transplants are horrible drivers.

What, the city of Atlanta is as bad as all of SoCal. Can't be why every state in the union is practically perfect compared to California.

 

[contender]

And yet,, when these very same drivers get into our mountains,, on curvy 2-lane roads,, where the speed limit is 45 or 55,, they WILL ONLY DO 20-30 MPH & even stop to point at a rock or a tree or whatever. They also IGNORE the FACT that there are 5, 10, 15 or more vehicles behind them. Yet, the very minute they get to a straight stretch,, or a passing zone,, they floor it,, to prevent anybody from going around them.
And the very minute they get to a 4-lane,, they crank up to 80, 90, mph or more.

 

[Fox Mike]

Traffic in the Atlanta area is the worst I have ever seen it. The highway system is at full capacity & there always seems to be work being done to change something. We have had so many people from up North & California move here it is ridiculous. Most of the transplants are horrible drivers.

I first encountered Atlanta traffic on my first drive to Ft Rucker, back in the early 70s. Thought it was awful. I have since encountered I-495 around DC, I-495 near Boston and close to home, on I-695 around Baltimore. I don't even want to mention Houston.

 

[Mike J]

What, the city of Atlanta is as bad as all of SoCal. Can't be why every state in the union is practically perfect compared to California.

I can't say anything about how traffic is in SoCal. I've never been there. I really don't mind the people from there for the most part. The only thing that annoys me is when people move out of an area because things have changed for the worse. Then they vote the same way that destroyed where they are from.

 

[jimbo1096]

I’ve driven in probably half of the states in the lower and western US.
California was by far the worst. I took my family back for a reunion on my wife’s side. We flew into Vegas, played there for a couple of days and then rented a car to drive out to Bakersfield. One of the cousins was in Los Angeles. Not far out of Las Vegas. the rental car which was a Subaru basically gave up the ghost.
They upgraded me to a full-size Lincoln back in the days when they were land yachts. Due to the delay, we didn’t reach Los Angeles until late afternoon. Just remember that Los Angeles was built in a depression, a lower area with canyons and hills all around it and over the years these canyons and hills have filled up with houses and residential/business areas. The highways run about 4 to 5 lanes wide each way and go sweeping and swooping around the canyon hills working their way downtown. We hit the evening traffic and in the land yacht I was trying to be safe, one because it wasn’t my car, and because of my family on board. I felt like it was a NASCAR road course event. I lived in SoCal for years before the politians messed it up, and not unfamiliar with the traffic but that way it was particularly ridiculous. There was no gap between cars. If you had to cgange lanes you just turn your blinker on and start changing lanes and somebody has to get out of the way. I think we were doing about 70+ in heavy traffic when most of the areas were posted at 50. I have my wife holding onto the grab bars and four kids in the back sliding back-and-forth across the seats. In retrospect, it was quite funny, but at the time It was pure terror.
In Texas I got pulled over by the troopers on 87. I was doing 62 in a 55 zone with no traffic in sight. I believe in that one statement up about Texas troopers being camouflage that goes. I never saw that brown and beige Mustang.The trooper pulled me over, checked my info and learning through the window says “ you really need to slow down because we do monitor out highways out here”. He let me go with a warning.

 

[Johnny-Baseball]

I can't say anything about how traffic is in SoCal. I've never been there. I really don't mind the people from there for the most part. The only thing that annoys me is when people move out of an area because things have changed for the worse. Then they vote the same way that destroyed where they are from.

I've lived in SoCal AND in Tejas. And experienced the highway traffic in both. SoCal traffic and Tejas' Big Cities traffic are each bumper to bumper. The difference? SoCal's traffic moves at 15 mph. Tejas' traffic moves at 73 mph.

 

[Donnieweps]

In Texas, speed limit signs aren’t rules… they’re more like suggestions written by someone who has clearly never driven on I-35.
When you see “75,” what that actually means is:
Right lane: 80
Middle lane: 90
Left lane: whatever that lifted F-250 with dark tint decides is spiritually correct
You might be doing a calm 78, minding your business, when suddenly a truck flies past you at 100 like it just got a notification that the Buc-ee’s exit is coming up.
There’s an unspoken Texas agreement that “10 over is just participation.”
15 over? Now we’re getting somewhere.
20 over? Depends… are you late, or just emotionally committed?
And then there’s that moment when you’re cruising along thinking you’re fast…
and a car appears out of nowhere doing 110 like it spawned in from another dimension.
No warning. No signal. Just pure chaos and horsepower.
Out-of-state drivers are always shocked.
They’re gripping the wheel like,
“Why is everyone driving like this??”
Meanwhile Texans are like,
“Relax… traffic’s actually moving today.”
But here’s the twist…
The same state that turns highways into a NASCAR qualifier
will have people merging onto the freeway at 50 mph with full confidence,
like they’re gently pulling into the H-E-B parking lot.
And of course…
there’s always that one person.
Left lane.
Going 70.
Blinker on.
For no reason.
For miles.
Everyone behind them is building a quiet, shared frustration…
but nobody honks. Nobody flashes lights.
Because in Texas, we don’t escalate.
We just change lanes, floor it, and pretend that never happened.

View attachment 99557

View attachment 99558

There is no force on Earth more committed to stealth than a Texas State Trooper on a random sunny afternoon.
You’ll be cruising down I-35 or I-10, minding your business, thinking the road is wide open… and then out of absolutely nowhere, red and blue lights hit behind you from a spot you KNOW was empty ten seconds ago.
Behind a tree line.
Tucked into the median.
Parked at an angle on a hill like it grew there naturally.
Nobody hides better than DPS.
Not deer.
Not armadillos.
Not that one coworker who disappears when it’s time to do actual work.
These troopers can park a cruiser in a patch of shade so perfectly it becomes part of the scenery.
And somehow they always appear the exact moment you say,
“Everybody’s doing 85, I’m good.”
Texas drivers don’t fear speeding.
We fear that one shadow off the shoulder…
because that’s not shade.
That’s a traffic stop waiting to happen.

I honk and flash lights at all the rude idiots who drive at 65 in the fast lane on an interstate. JERKS.

 

[Armybrat]

Here’s what I despise on I-35 in Texas at 70mph (no trucks allowed in left lane, notwithstanding)…..and both shoulders always closed for construction of course.

 

[vito]

I flash lights at the slow drivers blocking the left lane almost every time I am on Interstate 90 heading East toward Chicago and have yet to be shot at or threatened for doing so. I consider it a courteous way to telling the moron that he is rudely interfering with the normal flow of traffic.

And this might sound racist, but I have found that the most common offender is when the driver is a young Black woman. I recall years ago when contesting a traffic ticket in a Milwaukee courtroom, that case after case of driving without a license came up before my case. Over and over these young Black women said that they could not afford the cost of a license and that's why they were driving without one.

 

[txramfan]

I've lived in SoCal AND in Tejas. And experienced the highway traffic in both. SoCal traffic and Tejas' Big Cities traffic are each bumper to bumper. The difference? SoCal's traffic moves at 15 mph. Tejas' traffic moves at 73 mph.

Been in DFW area since 77 , grew up in Southern CA and have spent a lot of time driving to and from Southern CA the last 10 years.
Traffic is worst here than the areas of Southern CA I have been driving.
I haven't experienced an exit in Southern CA like I 35 at 380 in Denton.
The distance to DFW airport from my house in TX is similar to the distance from my moms house to SNA . It always takes longer to drive from to/from DFW . Drivers on the 405 and 5 simply drive a lot faster .

I also know traffic goes faster on 20 and 10 and 8 heading to CA. Cross the river and 8 slows until you get close to San Diego, than everyone speeds up.

 

[el caminero]

You must never have been to SoCal. We have folks that drive like that in the worst congestion possible. They just use the center median and the right shoulder. On the other hand, I think CHP has a competition among themselves to write the fewest tickets monthly. When half a dozen idiots block every lane of a freeway stopping traffic just so another one can do donuts you know the police have lost all semblance of control. Worse still, it will be on the TV news for twenty minutes and not a single cop shows up. Then again, if they do a surface street takeover the cops just stop traffic so they can do it unmolested. But the ultimate in my personal experience is when some "individual" points a handgun at you during a street take over and the police won't even bother to call you back after they hang up on 911.

California is insane. The trucks are limited to what amounts to second gear in a car, which never uses second. They do NOT like letting semis onto their personal racetrack. Chp will pull you over, but not the jackasses in the cars. I have been lucky so far, but L.A. (whjch is short for Loco Anglos) is such a manic ballet i told myself the next time i get sent there i will get a silk scarf to keep from chafing my neck raw, thats why ww1 pilots wore them, they too had to keep their head in speed-swivel mode.

 

[Gopher]

Here’s what I despise on I-35 in Texas at 70mph (no trucks allowed in left lane, notwithstanding)…..and both shoulders always closed for construction of course.
View attachment 99618

This is currently Grayson County from the county line to the Red River. They are building a flyover for 75 and 82 and widening 75 to six lanes from McKinney north. It will be nice if they ever finish it.

OP forgot to mention the Crotch Rockets and organ donors lane splitting and going lord knows how fast on 635 in Dallas.

 

[RoninPA]

I hated getting sent to LA and East LA to do work at the refineries. That I-5 with 6 lane traffic going both ways was just horrendous. I don't think my Garmin could even keep up with the way traffic flowed.

However, that said, try driving in and around Cairo, Egypt. I do not think that anyone has to take ANY kind of a driving test to get a license (not sure if the vast majority on the streets/roads even have them). We had to use one of our drivers (Egyptians) to courier us to the Embassy from Ismailia (right by the Suez Canl) for two months before we were allowed to drive ourselves. We quickly learned the best routes to get us there to mitigate any problems. Downtown Cairo, 3 to 4 lanes were always 7 to 8 cars wide and of course someone at the far right (I will not say far right lane, just in the far right area) would want to turn left at the next light - and they would - didn't matter where they were. Needless to say we didn't go unless we had to (to go to the Embassy or to commissary).

Then on the other roads in Egypt, they drove any way they wanted, no rhyme or reason, pass on the right on the shoulder (NOT a paved shoulder either), pass on the left (didn't matter if another car was coming from the opposite direction). You kept your head on a swivel if you wanted to make it alive. Only time traffic was better was when driving through the Sinai heading south to Sharm El Sheikh on the weekend to the Red Sea to go scuba diving. Funny, seems the Egyptians didn't really like going through the Sinai desert (I wonder why ).

 

[themousethatroared]

I drove I-10 mostly between I-49 and I-55. A couple times west to Houston and east to Tallahassee.
Louisiana highway patrol were pretty obvious running traps. They would run a Fox Body chase car at 100+ MPH through the middle of a pack of cars, then slam on the brakes and duck behind something, waiting for someone to take the bait and haul butt.
Everyone down there seemed to have the idea of passing and getting back out of the way into the right lane without blocking traffic. But when they got into town, traffic signals seemed to confuse them. They would drag along doing 20MPH and slam on the brakes for the seven second yellows.

Mississippi highway patrol on I-55 were a persistent problem, hiding in the woods.

One word of warning about Kansas: They file tickets by last name, can't spell to save their behind, so having a five letter last name will not help. You try to settle it, they can't find it, tell you that you have no ticket, and then they file to have your license revoked using your license number, and they don't mess up numbers. Fricking enhanced enforcement for a football game...

Across the middle of the country right now, after the mostly peaceful riots, we have no traffic enforcement at all, because every officer is deathly afraid of being thrown to the wolves over a civil rights accusation or a shooting. We have Mad Max rules on the roads and highways.

 

[mexicanjoe911]

In the rural part of west Texas we have moveable traffic signs; ie Mule Deer who love to jump out in front of you to renovate your vehicle. I-10 between Pecos County and Kimble County is a fine example of autobahn traffic here. No one does anything under 90 mph.

While patrolling one evening, I was approached by a motorist who said he " hit an elephant , past the Pecos river bridge" and wanted to file an accident report. Looking at his low slung sports car I removed a tuff of dark brown fur from his windshield. I told him he hit a buffalo , not at elephant; because elephants dont grow dark brown fur ! He replied: what ever the hell I hit was hit, cuz it just kept on running away.".

 

[el caminero]

In the rural part of west Texas we have moveable traffic signs; ie Mule Deer who love to jump out in front of you to renovate your vehicle. I-10 between Pecos County and Kimble County is a fine example of autobahn traffic here. No one does anything under 90 mph.

While patrolling one evening, I was approached by a motorist who said he " hit an elephant , past the Pecos river bridge" and wanted to file an accident report. Looking at his low slung sports car I removed a tuff of dark brown fur from his windshield. I told him he hit a buffalo , not at elephant; because elephants dont grow dark brown fur ! He replied: what ever the hell I hit was hit, cuz it just kept on running away.".

Hmmm...an elk leaped over our lil vw bug as we rounded a curve in a logging road in oregon, but no heffalumphs.