Saturday, June 09, 2012

Speedtraps happen.

Stingray posted about the bullshittery regarding speed traps in Texas, and I heartily agree. The truth is the spirit of rugged individuality and wildness that many Texans claim is actually only selectively celebrated.  Texans can be boastful schmucks, and that's why the rest of the country has an eye-rolling series of jokes about the bigger in Texas concept and all that sort of regionalism. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that the local po-po in small towns are more inclined to conveniently not notice the radar registering high numbers if that vehicle was clearly the chariot of sister Mabel's sister-in-law's uncle's cousin's grandson Bubba. Foreign plates, say, Oklahoma? Clearly, you need to be pulled over.  FWIW, I've heard similar horror stories about Louisiana highways. You can bet my lily white arse is at or below speed limit when rolling through Estelline, though.

Frankly, I welcome the idea of 85 mph, particularly on the outpost stretches of Texas highway.  About an hour west of Fort Worth through El Paso must seem eternal to folk who don't find those vast rugged spaces interesting to look at.

7 comments:

Old NFO said...

If you're local, it's okay, if you're not... Well, pay the man... sigh

Mark said...

Heck the trip from Corpus to San Antonio is so much faster now, the way I drive it's normally a 3 and half hour drive. With the new speed limit, daughter #2 and I did it in just over 2 and a half. And all I did was to set the cruise 1 mile under the limit. Where normally I set it 3 miles under to allow for calibration errors. The local PD's and SO's are letting DPS do most of the radar work on that section and DPS down here is known for calibrating their radar units weekly if not daily. I like it. Now if Arkansas would quit running their speed trap, where 32 and 67 comes together and the speed limit goes from 70 to 45 and back to 70 in 2 miles, I'd be happy.

Don said...

My wife hates driving anywhere in Texas because it takes so long to get around. She once burst into tears in a Houston traffic jam on I-10 during one of our cross-country drives. She said she cried because it felt like we were never going to get out of Texas (it took us over 12 hours to cross the state that time).

Regarding speed traps, watch out if you're ever on I-65 between Elizabethtown and Louisville. The cops have a good revenue maker there.

Roscoe said...

Nebraska west of Lincoln and Wyoming seemed eternal to me, but I didn't see any NE or WY State Patrol on either drive last fall unless I left the freeway and headed into one of the towns.

Anonymous said...

Fayette County, GA. They luuuuuuv out-of-state cars. Just so you know.

LittleRed1

DaddyBear said...

I've driven across Texas more times than I can count. The stretch from El Paso to Dallas or El Paso to San Antonio has been christened "God's Ashtray". Driving it at night is worse than day, because the only thing you can see out there is the occasional gas flame from an oil rig. And why can't Texas put an interstate running due east-west between Austin and El Paso? Getting to San Angelo and Killeen always had an extra three to six hours tacked on.

But I must say that Kentucky highway patrol is the best I've ever seen. They're so nice that they'll follow someone from out of state for 50 miles just to make sure they get down the road OK. ;-)

Thud said...

I travel 6000 miles just to drive those open roads...sheer heaven.