Speed Limits
Speed limit is probably the one single law that everyone here wishes it was not there. Not surprising, since we all love to drive at mind-boggling speeds. Driving fast has our adrenaline flowing and we all love to do that. On the first day at my on-campus job in grad school, we had a game of ice-breaker where to a question as to what is the one law that you wish is done away with - almost everyone in the team answered 'speeding'.
Anyway, the reason I started to write about speeds was after reading this report that Texas lawmakers are contemplating on increasing the speed limits on interstate highways to 80 mph. 75 is the maximum speed limit that I have seen on highways here. 80, though being just 5 MPH more, looks as though it might be too fast. The reason they attribute for such a decision is that in a survey that they took, the average speed of almost 85% of the drivers on the road was 79 MPH on a 75 MPH zone. So, why to have a speed limit for just name sake and hence they just increased the limit.
There is also this rumor which I have heard from many folks that Montana does not have any posted speed limits during daylight. Of course, now that I have just been there, I can say it is not true. But I have heard that there WAS a time when Montana did not have any speed limit. So, I set about to do some researching and found this Wikipedia link. This link has all the details that one would want to know about speed limits in the US. More importantly, it also had some information about the Montana speed limit myth. From the link:
Montana had a non-numeric "reasonable and prudent" speed limit during the daytime on most rural roads. Montana Code Annotated (MCA) Section 61-8-303 said "A person ... shall drive the vehicle ... at a rate of speed no greater than is reasonable and proper under the conditions existing at the point of operation...so as not to unduly or unreasonably endanger the life, limb, property, or other rights of a person entitled to the use of the street or highway."
On March 10, 1996 [5], a Montana Patrolman issued a speed ticket to a driver traveling at 85 mph (140 km/h) on a lonely stretch of State Highway 200. Although the officer gave no opinion as to what would have been a reasonable speed, the driver was convicted. The driver appealed all the way to the Montana Supreme Court. The Court reversed the conviction and held that a law requiring drivers to drive at a non-numerical "reasonable and proper" speed "is so vague that it violates the Due Process Clause ... of the Montana Constitution".
Due to this reversal, Montana scrambled to vote in a numerical limit as it technically had no speed limit whatsoever in the meantime. In June 1999, a new Montana speed limit law went into effect. The law's practical effect was to require posted limits on all roads and disallow any speed limit higher than 75 mph (120 km/h).
So, it is indeed true that Montana did not have any posted speed limit during the years 1995 to 1999. During my road trip to Mount Rushmore few months back, I could see why they did not have a speed limit for so long since you would hardly come across a car. We went stretches of miles before even driving past 1 car. While I was talking about this trip with my friends, one of my friends here at work was saying that traffic tickets were very cheap in MT - like it would be 15$ or 20$ and that you can pay off the cop right there and then. And unfortunately, we got a first-hand experience during our trip when my friend was pulled over by a cop for driving at 84 MPH on a 65 mph limit zone. You know what the ticket was for this 19 mph infraction? 40 bucks. How funny?! I am sure a similar ticket in any other state would have cost my friend a good fortune.
Anyway, the reason I started to write about speeds was after reading this report that Texas lawmakers are contemplating on increasing the speed limits on interstate highways to 80 mph. 75 is the maximum speed limit that I have seen on highways here. 80, though being just 5 MPH more, looks as though it might be too fast. The reason they attribute for such a decision is that in a survey that they took, the average speed of almost 85% of the drivers on the road was 79 MPH on a 75 MPH zone. So, why to have a speed limit for just name sake and hence they just increased the limit.
There is also this rumor which I have heard from many folks that Montana does not have any posted speed limits during daylight. Of course, now that I have just been there, I can say it is not true. But I have heard that there WAS a time when Montana did not have any speed limit. So, I set about to do some researching and found this Wikipedia link. This link has all the details that one would want to know about speed limits in the US. More importantly, it also had some information about the Montana speed limit myth. From the link:
Montana had a non-numeric "reasonable and prudent" speed limit during the daytime on most rural roads. Montana Code Annotated (MCA) Section 61-8-303 said "A person ... shall drive the vehicle ... at a rate of speed no greater than is reasonable and proper under the conditions existing at the point of operation...so as not to unduly or unreasonably endanger the life, limb, property, or other rights of a person entitled to the use of the street or highway."
On March 10, 1996 [5], a Montana Patrolman issued a speed ticket to a driver traveling at 85 mph (140 km/h) on a lonely stretch of State Highway 200. Although the officer gave no opinion as to what would have been a reasonable speed, the driver was convicted. The driver appealed all the way to the Montana Supreme Court. The Court reversed the conviction and held that a law requiring drivers to drive at a non-numerical "reasonable and proper" speed "is so vague that it violates the Due Process Clause ... of the Montana Constitution".
Due to this reversal, Montana scrambled to vote in a numerical limit as it technically had no speed limit whatsoever in the meantime. In June 1999, a new Montana speed limit law went into effect. The law's practical effect was to require posted limits on all roads and disallow any speed limit higher than 75 mph (120 km/h).
So, it is indeed true that Montana did not have any posted speed limit during the years 1995 to 1999. During my road trip to Mount Rushmore few months back, I could see why they did not have a speed limit for so long since you would hardly come across a car. We went stretches of miles before even driving past 1 car. While I was talking about this trip with my friends, one of my friends here at work was saying that traffic tickets were very cheap in MT - like it would be 15$ or 20$ and that you can pay off the cop right there and then. And unfortunately, we got a first-hand experience during our trip when my friend was pulled over by a cop for driving at 84 MPH on a 65 mph limit zone. You know what the ticket was for this 19 mph infraction? 40 bucks. How funny?! I am sure a similar ticket in any other state would have cost my friend a good fortune.
posted by Filbert at 9:31 AM
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