TEXAS VIEW: Too fast for safety?

There are plenty of wide-open spaces in Texas where motorists may safely drive 75 mph — or faster — on interstate highways that often carry little traffic.

In our more congested corner of East Texas, we’re not sure that’s the case. In fact, we already have seen too much evidence that even the current 70 mph speed limit can be deadly on parts of Interstate 20 through Smith, Gregg and Harrison counties.

Like it or not, though, higher speed limits are coming.

The Texas Transportation Commission last week approved speed limit increases to 75 mph for about 1,500 miles of interstate highways across Texas. That included the stretch of I-20 from the Kaufman/Van Zandt county line to the Louisiana border, a stretch that spans Van Zandt, Smith, Gregg and Harrison counties.

That’s something to be concerned about.

Anyone who has driven that stretch knows how heavy the traffic often becomes and how easy it can be to look up from fiddling with a car radio or cell phone to be surprised by a slower-moving vehicle.

At 75 mph, you’re traveling 110 feet per second. In less than three seconds, you have traversed more than the length of a football field. If you don’t react very quickly to a minor problem ahead, you might wind up with a serious problem of your own.

And the fact is the flow of traffic will be even faster than 75 mph after the new speed limit signs go up this spring.

The Texas Department of Transportation said one reason for the increase is studies have shown most motorists already push the limit by about 5 mph. That’s because some of us have learned we can drive a few miles over the speed limit and not get ticketed. And that means it won’t be long after the new speed limit is in place that it will be common to see drivers whipping around us at 80 mph — or faster.

We hope law enforcers will not tolerate that. And we hope state transportation officials will closely monitor the effect of the changes and reduce limits as needed along congested parts of I-20, such as the stretch that cuts through Longview. We hope it does not take needless traffic deaths for that to occur.

In the meantime, we ask all I-20 motorists to slow down and keep vigilance high.