"Can you imagine if doctors used that logic for setting what your recommended weight should be?" asked Richard Retting, senior transportation engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "We would all be morbidly obese."
Retting said the number and severity of accidents would increase with the speed limit at 80 mph. The only question is by how much, he added.
"The idea that higher speed limits will make the roads safer cannot possibly be true," Retting said. "There's no mathematical formula that will say precisely what will happen, but it's clear that speed has a major impact on the number of crashes and the severity of injuries. Invariably, the increases in fatalities range from 15[%] to 40%, depending on how much the speed limit is raised and the characteristics of the roadway. That's an outcome that politicians need to be honest about with the public."
The Texas Highway Patrol, caught between the desires of the politicians who pay their salaries and the motorists whose welfare they are supposed to protect, have decided to hug the median on the issue.
"We'll reserve judgment on injuries and accidents," said Tom Vinger, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. "But there's no doubt that people are going to push the envelope. Our concern is this myth that people think they can drive 5 or 10 miles per hour faster than the speed limit. At 80 miles per hour, you have very little margin for error. We are talking about the basic laws of physics here."
Consumer groups, meanwhile, are chagrined at the fuel-efficiency implications of allowing drivers to travel faster, and the message that Texas is sending the rest of the country at a time of heightened national concern over gas prices and American dependence on Middle Eastern oil.
"This effort flies in the face of what we think is a growing public sentiment for all kinds of socially acceptable ways to limit our use of gasoline," said Jack Gillis, director of public affairs for the Consumer Federation of America.
The federation is launching a campaign for mandatory fuel-efficiency gauges on dashboards. "That way, when you go 80 miles per hour, you're going to see the cost right in your face," Gillis said.
Texas transportation officials say concerns about fuel efficiency or the possibility of increased accidents are not their department.
"I can't speak to fuel economy," Cross said. "I'm sure it will have some impact, but it's not really our department to consider it.... We do not forecast accidents or fatality increases -- that is not something we routinely look at."
Cross added, however, that transportation officials encouraged drivers to be prudent.
"We hope people will continue to be safe," he said, "and not take this action to mean that the roads are wide open for unlimited speed limits."
At least not yet.
