Bruce SEA 993

ce boyd posted on another thread that Montana now has a speed limit. I drove there 2 years ago and I remember that the signs posted 70 MPH at night.

I drove well over that speed for hours straight and the other drivers were very courtious and the roads very clear.

I am getting tired of the police state of Washington with Radar and Laser cops everywhere so I might want to take another drive to Monana.

Cheers

motion

I was there last summer on my motorcycle and had a cop pull up next to me at about 90 and tell me to slow it down (using hand gestures). I think as long as you're not being an idiot, almost anything goes... except at night. I used to live/ride in MT for years and paid many a $5 "Conservation Violation", payable in cash to the nice officer on the spot.

ceboyd

yes, I think the term they use is "reasonable and prudent" speed....

When I did that drive across Montana.. I would slow down to a respectable 85mph when passing clusters of cars...

...much like on the autobahn.. folks driving 60mph won't be able to see you in time when they glance in their rearview to go in the left lane to pass other cars when you are doing over 130mph so the driver needs to slow down when little clusters appear .... thus being 'reasonable and prudent'


...night time speeds are down right dangerous over 75mph due to ANIMALS.. deer, wolves, elk, etc.

rockitman

Interesting...I wish Montana was closer to New York... :-)

jz993

I'm movin' to Montana soon, gonna be a dental floss tycoon.

rockitman

Don't forget your Camarillo Brillo!!!

duc916

Since I grew up in Montana I can shed some light on this. Back in the day (7 to 8 years ago) it used to be a $5 ticket for "waste of natural resources", this meant you where wasting gas by driving that fast (usually anything below 95mph), no points and no record for your insurance company. When the feds made every state look at there respective speed limits a few years ago Montana implemented the reasonable and prudent speed limit, this however was not a good thing. It allowed 75 to 85 mph on the freeway in a nice car. It also allowed the state troopers the freedom to pull anyone over they felt like to see if the vehicle met there version of safe for that speed. Thus if you had a Porsche 993 and where traveling at 90 mph on a clear freeway and a trooper pulled you over and decided that he/she did not like the tread depth on your tires, he/she could site you for excessive speed for condition of your car and write you a ticket. The new ticket would be well in excess of $100 compared to the old $5 ticket you would get and your insurance company would find out. Thus the troopers where pulling people over left and right and everyone with a nice car would try to fight the ticket with the justification of how nice there car was. Soooooo after two years of reasonable and prudent, Montana does in fact have a daytime and night time speed limit on all roads.
The good news is that there are only 850,000 people in Montana, and it is a very big state. I have driven on the freeway for over an hour without seeing anyone in either direction. The down side is the 5,000,000 deer and antelope that may be migrating across the freeway. I hope this clears up the fallacy of the US Autobahn as some news papers where calling it.

Tim993

I am another Rennlister who grew up in Montana. There used to be a bumper sticker you would see that said "You know you are in Montana if you are going 90 mph and are getting passed" which is pretty much true. My brother just got ticketed for going 96 mph during the day and the fine was $70 which is not too bad relative to California.