“Drive Friendly—The Texas Way”
The “Welcome to Texas” road signs at every entry point to the state show the Texas state flag and, below that, this slogan: “Drive Friendly—The Texas Way.” The state motto is “friendship” because the name “Texas” or “Tejas” is thought to mean “friends” or “allies.” The slogan “Drive Friendly—The Texas Way” has been on bumper stickers since at least 1972.
Some native Texas drivers disagree with the sign that driving friendly (such as obeying the posted speed limit) is the “Texas way.”
WebStockPro
This is a road sign that says, Welcome to Texas, drive friendly, the Texas way. It is against a blue sky with he Texas state flag in the center.
Handbook of Texas Online
STATE MOTTO. The word Friendship was adopted as the Texas state motto by the Forty-first Texas Legislature in February 1930. The word was probably chosen because the name Texas or Tejas was the Spanish pronunciation of a Caddo Indian word sometimes translated to mean “friends” or “allies.” See also TEXAS, ORIGIN OF NAME.
20 July 1972, San Antonio (TX) Express, pg. 8F, col. 5:
What’s the “Drive Friendly the Texas Way” bumper sticker for?
Amarillo (TX) Globe-News
Web posted Sunday, August 10, 2003 1:13 a.m. CT
Kanelis: What does ‘drive friendly’ really mean?
By JOHN KANELIS
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Opinion
Welcome to Texas
Drive Friendly, the Texas Way
—Sign on U.S. 62 between Hollis, Okla., and Memphis, Texas
I have lived nearly two decades in our great state and I’m still trying to figure out what “Drive Friendly, the Texas Way” really means.
Let me offer this observation: Driving friendly does not mean “obey the posted speed limit.”
For example, traveling north on Interstate 27 the other morning, my wife and I were tooling along at 60 mph, which I’ll admit was 5 mph faster than the posted speed limit between the Washington Street and 26th Avenue exits.
“Hah,” my wife laughed. “You’re doing 60 and those four cars and two (semi) trucks just passed us like we’re standing still. And we’ve just entered that curve in the road that’s supposed to be so dangerous.”
Point well taken, Love of My Life.
Drive Friendly? - San Antonio - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum
smuboy86
01-18-2007, 05:14 PM
I believe the “friendly” came from the friendship campaign. The word texas came from tejas that meant friends. I remember signs from the early to mid nineties that said “drive friendly-the Texas way”
Texas Politics
May 17, 2007
Welcome to Texas: Proud Home of (Insert Name Here)
Current law has three requirements for “Welcome to Texas” highway signs:
A “Welcome to Texas” sign erected by the department must include the following elements:
(1) a depiction of the state flag; and
(2) the phrase “Drive Friendly—The Texas Way.” [; and
[(3) the phrase “Welcome to Texas—Proud to be the Home of President George W. Bush.”]
But state lawmakers voted to change that with House Bill 693, now winging its way to Gov. Rick Perry after today’s Senate approval.
The flag and “Drive Friendly” would stay, but the reference to Bush would be replaced with this:
(c) If the president of the United States is a resident of Texas, a “Welcome to Texas” sign erected by the department must include the phrase “Welcome to Texas—Proud Home of President [insert name of the president of the United States].”
The act takes effect Jan. 20, 2009—inauguration day.
