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The only place that did it right during the 55mph era was Montana, which had had the Basic Rule before 55, and during 55 had a penalty that was the minimum possible to satisfy the feds. It was a $5 fine for "wasting a natural resource." You could buy a book of $5 coupons, and if one of the state's couple hundred police officers stopped you for speeding, you could rip out a coupon, give it to the officer, and be on your way. INterestingly, this fact never became wisely known outside the West, and speeding tourists were not a problem.
When 55 was repealed, Montana reverted to the Basic Rule, and I seldom drove faster than 85, even on the wide open Interstate. But tourists came in great numbers to drive the Montanabahn, and a whole new generation of police officers did not understand how to enforce the Basic Rule. And so, at the request of the State Police commander and governor, a numerical speed limit was enacted, and is today enforced with a reasonable amount of discretion (actually I believe with less discretion than the neighboring state of Wyoming, where I once received a written warning for doing 90 on a rural freeway under ideal conditions. In a SAAB of course.)
Lest you think that I am a recidivist speeder, my last speeding ticket was in 1994 when I was charged with 60 in a 55, and prior to that, 1986, when I was charged with 70 in a 55 -- and the 55 was a wide open freeway in the Sacramento Valley which is today posted at 70. Like most SAABers I am a cautious driver.
But what a lot of Easterners don't understand is that in the West, speed equals time, and time equals money. It is perfectly safe and perfectly reasonable to drive several hundred miles in a place like Montana or Wyoming at 90, slowing down occasionally for traffic, construction, and so forth. Unlike a drive from Scranton to Newburgh, where the difference between 60 and 90 is maybe a half hour, the difference in the West is HOURS.
Of course Montanans have always known that. Ya'll need to get the word back there in the wide open spaces of the Empire State.
, Mon, 25 Apr 2005 12:52:41, Mon, 25 Apr 2005 13:38:22, Mon, 25 Apr 2005 12:47:41
, Mon, 25 Apr 2005 04:14:36
, Sun, 24 Apr 2005 20:21:53, Mon, 25 Apr 2005 07:16:07, Sun, 24 Apr 2005 22:40:59
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