A bill passed by the Texas legislature to rid all Texas highways of nighttime speed limit signs went into effect Sept. 1. The new bill does not mean speed limits will no longer exist at night, but rather that there will be one uniform speed for the day and the night.

Texas was one of the only states to still have lower nighttime speed limits, despite having some of the highest speed limits in the nation. Officials say that uniform speeds during the day and night will cut down a lot of problems such as motorists tailgating and changing lanes to pass, according to a USA Today article. Both are notorious for causing accidents, officials said. 

Senior biology major Aldo Aguilar agreed with the statement and said he believed lower speed limits can cause a lot of accidents. 

“Hopefully the increased speed limit will make the slower drivers a little bit faster and speed things up,” he said. 

Sophomore nursing major Carolina Skertchly said she was in agreement with what officials said, but also said she felt it wouldn’t change the way people drove. 

“I think either way people would drive fast, it wouldn’t make much of a difference,” she said.

Aguilar and Skertchly, who said they take highways I-20 and I-30 respectively, said they have not seen any signs missing or being taken down on any of the nearby highways.  According to the Texas Department of Transportation, the 65 mph night speed limit signs are going to be removed from highways by the end of the year.   

Even though Texas already had some of the highest speed limits in the nation, the state also passed a bill in April allowing some highways to reach speeds up to 85 mph, according to a USA Today article.  Skertchly said she did not think this was safe because people already drove faster than the speed limit, so raising it would just make people drive even faster.

Aguilar said he thought it would be nice for speed limits to be higher, but overall it could end in disaster.

“I think everyone just needs to take responsibility, and try to follow that speed limit and not go over,” he said. 

Many TCU students were unaware of the new changes to the speed limit.  Over half of the students polled had no idea of the changes in nighttime speed limits.