Moving From L.A. to Austin- Some Advice 4 the Drive

[cubssoxfan]

So how far over the limit can you drive without getting pulled over? Up here it's usually safe if you stay below 9 over. 65 is highest limit. Out west in Nebraska where it's 75, I noticed very few drivers going over 80.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

So how far over the limit can you drive without getting pulled over? Up here it's usually safe if you stay below 9 over. 65 is highest limit. Out west in Nebraska where it's 75, I noticed very few drivers going over 80.

Well, some of the highways in west Texas are actually 80 mph speed limit... so I think going 9 over (89) would likely get you stopped every time. Even 5 over probably will. The thing to remember is that there are some counties out there that are huge, and having nothing going on and very few people on the road, so there is nothing for the police or DPS officers to do except pull people over. So be extra cautious. It's a giant speed trap, kinda like New Mexico used to be, but at least the legal speed limit is pretty high.

In the bigger cities, 5-9 mph over the speed limit (which will be 65 or 55) is usually pretty safe.

[XodoX]

The highway between San Antonio and El Paso is pretty fast. Saw people doing up to 120 mph..and I was close to that too...of course there was never a cop around.

I did get pulled over in Van Horn though ( 89). BUt I do have to say I was going with the flow and still do not know why the hell she pulled me over.

New Mexico is awful...those "safety corridors".. ugh

[qtp0000]

I stayed the night in Van Horn and btw there and the 290 I was doing 100 (speed limit was 80), but I'd read about driving through the small towns on the 290 and them being a speed trap so I stayed within the limit which makes me even more upset. I saw at least a dozen people pulled over in Arizona, but its really obvious that they dont play you see the highway patrol everywhere and they have cameras on the freeways to catch speeding. I hated driving through there cause there was so much construction and the speed limit was at times 50 or 55 in work zones and traffic was really heavy. I was pretty much the only person going the limit during the safety corridor, everyone else was passing me up and I didnt see one person pulled over so I dont know what was up with that.

[Jaipur]

Originally Posted by nighthouse66

gosh, thanks so much everyone, especially Jaipur, that is amazing information! absolutely what i was looking for. and for the pther poster, marfa sounds amazing...and the place where the marfa lights are! i just realized i have a copy of "weird texas" that could come in handy....
Jaipur, since you know so much and have so generously offered me your wisdom, any tidbits about areas that this time of year i shouldn't drive through? i don't want to wind up in some winter pass unexpectedly.....

again, thank you to everyone who responded! i am printing all this out and taking it with me!

I'm not positive because I haven't taken I-40 in a long time, but I think the only place you'd have to worry about snow is parts of New Mexico which unless you take a detour, shouldn't be an issue. As far as the marfa lights go, Marfa is farther south. If you were taking I-10 it would be perfect because like I said there are scenic things around I-10 their just all in Texas. I guess you could drive all the way to marfa but to me that seems a little silly, of course you could always take I-25 or Hwy. 62/385 to I-10 and then head down to Marfa and take Hwy. 90 up to San Antonio and then to Austin but that is extremely un-economical. I guess if you made the whole generalized area one trip, visited McDonald Observatory, a couple other places all together it could be doable but then you could just make that a separate trip easily. If I were you, I would save that for another time.