Originally Posted by aztimm

Something similar happened outside of Georgetown, TX in Williamson county (the county where I live). They didn't just let the driver go...

Without taking this over to Omni/PR, I'll try to explain a bit about the cities and their influence...
As for your question about changes outside of the city, yes it is rather drastic. I live kind of between Round Rock and Georgetown, which still has very strong influence from Austin. Shortly after we moved here, I remember going to the VA hospital in Temple, TX (Bell county), and wow, it was a night and day difference. The area that includes lakes and hill country to the west of Austin does still have some influence of Austin, but it does fade. I was in Boerne, TX last fall, which is about 20 miles west of San Antonio, and it definitely felt like it could have been in Austin.