Corsicana — As of Thursday, teen-aged drivers under the age of 18 will not be allowed to use cell phones for any purpose except in an emergency. House Bill 2466 was one of the laws passed in the 2011 Texas Legislative session, along with a slew of other road-related laws that will change the way Texans drive.

Another change by the legislature is in the speed limits on Texas highways. The legislature set a new cap of 85 miles per hour, one of the fastest highway limits in the country, and many stretches that are currently 70 mph will become 75 mph. West Texas is most likely to see the maximum limit of 85 on long rural stretches that area already 80 mph.

The new law doesn’t automatically boost highways up to 75 mph, but allows that to be the standard on U.S. Interstates and on state highways outside urban areas where the Texas Department of Transportation has deemed it safe. House Bill 1353 also eliminated the night-time speed limits, and truck speed limits, if they differ from daytime limits.

The signs won’t be down by Thursday, but the Department of Public Safety has been told to stop enforcing the two different speed limit rules as of Sept. 1, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. The obsolete signs should be removed in the coming months.

In all, the legislature passed 1,485 new laws in 2011, partly because it added an additional special session to the typical 140-day session.

Also taking affect Thursday is a rule that motorists who start fires by tossing out lit cigarettes, cigars or other burning debris, can be fined up to $500. Tow trucks that are stopped helping someone on the side of the road need to be given the same space that a police officer’s car would. Under that new law, motorists must either move over a lane, or they should slow down to 20 mph if they can’t move over.

Radar jammers (not detectors, but devices that jam police radar) are illegal to use or sell.

One of the bills that had a lot of support in the legislature but received a surprising veto from the governor at the end was HB 242, which would have banned texting while driving. The governor’s comment was that texting while driving needs to be addressed with education, not law enforcement.

In addition to the new traffic laws, the legislature also said that 75-year-olds won’t have to buy a fishing license; Homeowner Associations were leashed; cockfighting was made illegal; the loser in a civil lawsuit can be required to pay for the court costs and attorney’s fees for the winner; and the legislature also made it illegal to sell salvia and K2, (hallucinogenic bath salts and synthetic marijuana) something Corsicana already did back in December 2010.