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Will be cruising through the state and wondering how the norms are for the area. I see the speed limit is 75. Is 80 ok? Any danger zones for speed traps? Thank you!
I am old and had my share of traffic violations years ago. I also saw a lot of car crashes when I drove a wrecker...
I-40 in New Mexico is 373.5 miles. Driving 80 mph instead of 75 mph will save you about 20 minutes. What the heck, why not just do 90 mph if your in such a hurry...
Interesting question. The speed limit is 75 and I think most drivers stay a few miles under 85 but, being a major east-west route, you will have a lot of amateurs driving u-hauls or pulling trailers and folks with campers dragging their car behind them. Add the hundreds of long-haul trucks and a few busses and it gets to the point where 75 is too fast when all bunched up. There are designated zones around the main cities where the speed limit drops and fines are doubled and enforced. That's the same way with construction zones. Think $$$. The descent through the canyon from Moriarty westward into Albuquerque is nearly 2,000 feet and can be a white-knuckle stretch for some folks so you might see some slower drivers there.
I think there's a classic car museum not far from the Texas border that I stopped at once.
A good rule of thumb is to slow down to the 65mph speed limit when you enter the "cities" along the route, and then push your luck on the open stretches. It's not foolproof, but almost all cops like to hang out just outside the cities rather than 20 miles from anywhere. By cities I mean Santa Rosa, Tucumcari, places with more than one freeway exit.
I-40 east of Albuquerque for some reason is full of cars from Oklahoma going 20 under the speed limit. It's weird. It's not unusual for traffic to keep you from speeding (or going the speed limit!) on open stretches.
Radar detectors are pretty useless in that hill country as well. Cops have the perfect spots just over the hills staked out; by the time you hear the chirp, you're painted.
Also be aware of wind and its impact on your vehicle and more importantly the moving trucks and big rigs around you. It can occasionally get pretty extreme.
I used to live in Gallup, NM, and would drive to Albuquerque a couple of times a month for work and such. I have never seen so many deadly accidents in my life as the stretch between Gallup and Grants, and the root cause for most of the accidents was excessive speed for the road conditions. You name it, I saw it. Collisions with deer and dogs; sleepy drivers, especially the truckers; drunks (Gallup was "drunk town USA"); dusty conditions near Grants; ice; wind; etc. I once had to drive to Albuquerque during a winter's day, and counted 14 cars or so in the ditch or median due to icy conditions; every single one was a pickup or SUV (there were no sedans or trucks).
Are the state troopers on I 40 east of NM in Texas stricter when it comes to speed laws? I would think the NM troopers are pretty laid back like everyone else in the state is.
Are the state troopers on I 40 east of NM in Texas stricter when it comes to speed laws? I would think the NM troopers are pretty laid back like everyone else in the state is.
This is simply anecdata, but blasting through the panhandle at 20 over resulted in a warning in Texas.
I've never gotten warnings in eastern NM, but I have gotten tickets. Plural.
Sadly, with few exceptions (oil and gas being one), traffic tickets _are_ the Eastern NM economy.
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