Raised Speed Limits in Texas to 80mph

Normally, I wouldn't feel compelled to write anything in response to a news story. But this news story by ABC News about raising the speed limit to 85mph was so far off that I feel obligated to tell a different side of the story. Please note that this is completely my opinion and there is no scientific evidence behind anything I have to say.
Currently, the speed limit is 80 mph for portions of I-10 and I-20. These speed limits begin in Hudspeth County for I-10, to the I-10/I-20 junction, to Kerr County for I-10 or Ward County for I-20. In total, there is over 500 miles of interstate highway in Texas that has speed limits of 80 mph.
Highlighted on this map, you will see approximately where the speed limits are 80 mph (courtesy of my amazing skills with paint).

The green area along I-10 and I-20 show where the speed limit is currently 80mph. Notice how this is a primarily rural area, with no cities. No, Pecos does not count as a city. Having driven through there many times, I have seen firsthand that it does not count as a city. Sorry, to all you Pecos (or as you like to say "pay-kus") residents.
These are the only places that have speed limits of 80mph. Houston has speed limits of 55mph and 65mph. El Paso has speed limits of 60mph and 65mph. All the metropolis areas have speed limits no higher than 65mph.
What ABC News fails to mention is where exactly the speed limits are being raised. However, they decide to show footage of metropolis highways and rural two-lane highways.
I can assure you that they will not be raising the speed limit in these big cities or on these two-lane highways. That is just simply way too dangerous. I am terrified of driving 65mph on those two-lane highways. I would hate trying to go 85mph. The only areas they would be raising the speed limit is where the speed limit is already 80mph.
In the news report, it talks about stopping distance. Why would you really need to stop while driving along this barren, desolate area? No one is stopping while driving along this area. Stopping distance does not matter at all because no one is trying to stop. Very rarely does anyone have to stop in a short distance. I can only think of one time this has been necessary as I have driven down the interstate. A guy was hit by a car while crossing the interstate (which first off, it is illegal to cross the interstate). He did not survive. Later, I learned that the guy had committed suicide. The guy intentionally put himself in harms way, so even if the driver had been going 65mph, that driver would not have had enough time to stop.
I have never heard of more than a handful of fatal accidents along this stretch of interstate. I researched data for each county that contains interstate with 80mph speed limits in 2004 (before the 80mph speed limit was enacted) and 2006 (after it was enacted). Please note that this may or may not be accurate. This is based on data from city-data.com, which gives number of fatal crashes in a county per 100,000. We cannot use this number accurately because the population density for these counties inflates the actual number of car crashes there actually were. In order to make this work, I took the population size of each county from Texas County Profiles for those years and gave the approximate number of crashes during that year. They did not necessarily come out to round numbers. And they are not solely for I-10/I-20: This represents the entire county, including rural roads, neighborhood streets, or other highways.

Hudspeth- 2004: 7.64, 2006: 5.77 (-1.87)

Culberson- 2004: 0.96, 2006: 2.57 (+1.61)

Jeff Davis- 2004: 2.00, 2006: 2.00 (+0.00)

Reeves- 2004: 9.72, 2006: 6.75 (-2.97)

Ward- 2004: 4.64, 2006: 3.74 (-0.90)

Pecos- 2004: 11.31, 2006: 15.05 (+3.74)

Crockett- 2004: 0.00, 2006: 0.89 (+0.89)

Sutton- 2004: 2.01, 2006: 3.16 (+1.15)

Kimble- 2004: 7.07, 2006: 3.00 (-4.07)

Kerr- 2004: 7.29, 2006: 9.69 (+2.4)

Total- 2004: 52.64, 2006: 52.62 (-0.02)

As you can see, the number of crashes in these counties did not change much after the implementation of the 80mph speed limit. So don't say that the number of fatal crashes increases the number of fatal crashes. 

I love the statistic they give saying that speed accounts for 31% of all crashes in the U.S. Now is this for just driving over the speed limit? And a faster speed compared to what? I'd agree that if you're driving over the speed limit, yeah you're more likely to get into a crash if everyone else is going at the speed limit. But if everyone is driving at a higher speed limit, your chances are not significantly higher, perhaps only slightly higher. A higher speed limit does not necessarily mean more fatalities. 

Until they show me proven statistics saying that a higher speed limit in these areas has led to an increase in fatal crashes, I say go ahead and raise the speed limit to 85mph in these rural areas. Why waste your time in the desolate areas of rural Texas?
I'd love to hear anyone's comments about this. Comments, concerns, criticisms, I'm all for it.

My friends, God bless.