Many of us reflect fondly on those few years in the ‘90s when Montana’s highway speed limit was “reasonable and prudent.” It spoke to the state’s Libertarian streak and offered proof that we didn’t need a number to tell us how to drive safely. But the longer I live here, and the more miles I log, the idea of not having a numerical speed limit is an increasingly awful idea.
Last week, lawmakers in the Montana House endorsed Senate Bill 375, sponsored by Republican Sen. Scott Sales of Bozeman, which would increase Interstate highway speed limits from 75 to 80 mph and concurrently increase fines for speeding. A handful of other lawmakers proposed their own legislation to change the speed limit, but they all had one thing in common: there was still a limit.
It’s difficult to determine if our short-lived “Montanabahn” was more dangerous between 1995 and 1999. In an interview with Lee Newspapers last year, Montana Highway Patrol’s data specialist, Curt Rissmann, said it’s unclear if fatal accidents during those years “could be attributed to higher speeds.” The number of highway deaths during that time remained mostly in line with historical trends, although they spiked in 1997.
More than safety, the nuisance of not having a speed limit and the vagueness of the law led to its demise. And when Rudy Stanko, a Billings cattle buyer, contested three tickets to the Montana Supreme Court, it was the beginning of the end.
Officers had written up Stanko for separate violations when he was clocked traveling 102 mph, 117 mph and 121 mph. The court threw out the speeding ticket in which Stanko was traveling the slowest – apparently 102 mph is reasonable – but upheld the two other infractions, deeming it reckless to drive so fast on a two-lane highway. At once, the court in a 4-to-3 ruling struck down the state law, arguing that it was unconstitutionally vague.
“I asked a cop how fast I could go and he never gave me an answer,” Stanko said after the ruling. “They said it’s up to the discretion of the cop and that ain’t right.” Therein lies the problem. Even if the majority of drivers traveled a speed most of us considered reasonable, there were still drivers who would pass them traveling 121 mph.
It would still be several months before Montana implemented a speed limit, but following the court’s decision, even some supporters of the law were over it. Democratic Sen. Barry Stang of St. Regis, who had previously opposed reinstating a numerical speed limit in 1997, had a change of heart two years later. He told the New York Times he had reconsidered after “two years on the road with crazies out there” and provided anecdotes of out-of-staters passing him while traveling 100 mph.
Other national publications also wrote about the state’s “legendary Montanabahn” when it returned to an ordinary highway system in May of 1999, including the New Yorker, which interviewed a local colonel with the highway patrol, who said a common affliction among drivers – road rage – had only been made worse by the law. “Too many physical confrontations,” he said. “The fast people would tailgate, give off with rude gestures, and sometimes pull over and get into fistfights.”
Since then, Montana’s two-lane highways have been posted with 70 mph signs and its Interstates 75 mph, although if Sales’ bill were signed into law the latter would increase to 80 mph. After living in North Dakota and Wyoming, during which I often traveled across this massive state to visit family in the Pacific Northwest, I think that’s a reasonable proposal.
But don’t expect the number of tickets to decrease. Idaho recently increased its speed limit from 75 to 80 mph along stretches of its Interstate and troopers are actually writing more speeding citations than they did before the change. It appears many drivers still find it prudent to drive faster.