Speed ​​limit signs in Texas are inconsistent

This past weekend we took a little road trip to a baseball tournament for one of my sons. Levelland was the destination and there are numerous different routes to get there. We chose the quickest route which took us through Hereford, Dimmitt and more.

There was some road construction going on along the way (surprise, surprise) so there were constant changes to the speed limits. There are also small towns you drive through where the speed limit drops as you enter the city.

Here’s what I can say. They do a great job of telling you when to slow down. I always knew when the speed limit would be lifted so I wouldn’t end up getting a ticket. Great, that’s how it should be.

There’s a little problem here: they never tell you when it’s okay to go faster again.

No kidding when I tell you how many times on that ride I slowed down, sometimes to 40-45 mph, and had no idea when I would be able to speed up again. When I drove through a city, I was speeding along at 40 miles per hour. I’d make it through town and two miles later I’m still going 40 km/h.

Cars fly past me to my left or race behind me. I think to myself: Did I miss something? Was there a sign posted somewhere? The short answer is no. I’m assuming the drivers around me just realized they were out of town and it was OK to get back up to 70-75 mph.

However, they weren’t wrong, they just guessed. I paid attention to the signs pointing both ways and I swear they never showed up. How did I decide to keep going and get faster again? Yes, I looked at my phone’s GPS and checked the speed limit there.

However, these speed limits in GPS are not always correct. I’ve seen it say 75 mph many times and the TRUE speed limit was only 65 mph. So what should we do if we can’t trust the GPS to be correct and there are no signs when it jumps back up?

Long story short: Texas needs to do a better job of driving faster again for those of us who want to follow traffic laws. Something tells me I won’t fly if I get pulled over and say, “Look, officer, I didn’t see a sign telling me to go faster, but my GPS says the speed limit is 75.”