For those of you outside Houston and therefore unaware, the higher-ups (Federal Government twisted the arm of the Texas state government who twisted the arm of local governments) have declared that Houston pollution is so bad that we need to lower speed limits to 55mph to reduce the gas emissions. I've tried to come up with reasons why a 70mph limit is better than a 55mph limit, but so far have been unable to. Emissions are better at 55 and the roads are documentably safer. Fine. Screw safety, screw the environment, I want to go fast. Houston is geographically the second or third largest city in the country. Nothing is close to anything. I live ten miles from where I work, and it's still 30-minutes to work and 45-minutes back because of traffic. I could only dream of going 55-mph during my commute. However, that means when I'm driving to Clear Lake (half way between Houston and Galveston, about 45 miles from where I live) I want to get there as quickly as possible. I want to enjoy the open road. I'm often traveling very late at night, I'm unlikely to get into an accident, and I just feel stupid driving 55-mph on a desolate freeway at 3 in the morning. On those rare instances when I can actually drive fast, I want to be able to do so!

That doesn't change, of course, the safety and ecological ramifications. Consider this, however: I have little to gain by getting into an accident. If I do, I will likely suffer a lot more than some bureaucrat in Washington. If, god forbid, I hurt someone else or someone else hurts me because they cause an accident, then that is a chance I'm willing to take. What about the other guy, you ask? Fine, then. Put it up to a vote. If a majority of citizens of Houston and the eight surrounding counties want 55-mph speed limits, then let's have them. They don't, though, because we could have lowered the limits at any time. We haven't. Why? Because it's an unpopular thing to do. People, like me, want to go fast. It should be our choice.

So, on that note, a law that makes us safer and helps the environment can go to hell.