A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
At one time in the irresponsible past, Montana’s highway speed limit was “reasonable and prudent,” which was generally thought to mean as fast as one’s car or truck could travel. Then came the double-nickels speed limit, loathed by leadfoots and libertarians; why, driving slower to conserve energy was downright unAmerican and a humiliating kowtow to those ragheaded camel jockeys in Arabia. Now Montanans are stuck with numerical speed limits, all below 80 mph.
Driving slowly still seems unreasonable and imprudent, not to mention unmanly, to a few. One of the few is Sen. Scott Sales (R-Bozeman), who introduced SB-375 to raise the speed limit on certain roads to 80 mph. I’m not sure what his rationale is, but it might be that going faster, and thus reducing the time in the danger zone, makes safety sense.
It does make a certain kind of political sense, as I noted in this comment at the Flathead Beacon:
If people think they need to travel that fast, they should get a pilot’s license and buy an airplane. Sales is pandering to the speed first, safety second, libertarian leadfoots who think they should have the right to tool down the turnpike at tire smoking speeds, one hand on the wheel, the other holding a red beer, Six Days on the Road blaring on the radio, and their minds in neutral.
Meanwhile, here's Dave Dudley’s classic, Six Days on the Road, performed by Sawyer Brown for a PG rated music video. If Sales’s bill becomes law, perhaps they’ll cut a new song and video, Six Red Beers to Billings.