I Can't Drive … 85

One foot on the brake and one on the gas, hey!
Well, there's too much traffic, I can't pass, no!
So I tried my best illegal move
A big black and white come and crushed my groove again!

CHORUS:
Go on & write me up for 125
Post my face, wanted dead or alive
Take my license n' all that jive
I can't drive 55! Oh No! Uh!

With apologies to Sammy Hagar, this song from my youth was among the first thoughts that popped into my head after reading this article about a new speed limit in Texas.

Texas will soon open a stretch of highway with the highest speed limit in the country, giving eager drivers a chance to rip through a trip between two of the state’s largest metropolitan areas.

The Texas Transportation Commission has approved a speed limit of 85 mph for a 41-mile toll road several miles east of the increasingly crowded Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio. ...

Most highways in the U.S. top out at 75 mph, and there are no longer any roads in the U.S. with no speed limit. Some highways in rural West Texas and Utah have 80 mph speed limits.

Now, I'm far from an anti-autobahn prude, and in my younger days I did on occasion take my 1971 Impala up to speeds that shall not be named far out on deserted county roads. I remember the transition from 55mph to 65mph, and again to 70mph. Each adjustment came with the slightest of thrills at being able to legally go as fast as I preferred to go. I've also driven a fair amount in and through Texas, where in some places you can drive 75mph on a two-lane road.

But I have to tell you, maybe I'm just getting old, but I just don't know how comfortable I would be hurtling down the road at 85mph, much less with my family in tow.

(What am I saying!? This is a challenge of my manhood, isn't it. Isn't it!? Good thing for you I live in Alabama and not Texas. Yeah. Good thing for you! Ha! Dude, where's my car?)