Specific Speed Limit Gains Favor In Montana Poll’s Findings Come As Highway Death Toll Leaves 1996 Total In Dust
A majority of Montanans say they now favor a numerical, daytime speed limit for their highways, reversing their stance as measured in a statewide poll seven months ago.
The shift of opinion came as the state’s highway death toll reached record numbers, although researchers have said they can show no conclusive link between speed and the death toll.
As of Monday, the Highway Patrol said, 261 people had died on state roads compared with 197 as of Dec. 29 last year.
A statewide poll for the Lee Newspapers Dec. 16-18 found that 58 percent of those queried favored a numerically specific daytime speed limit, while 40 percent opposed it and 2 percent were undecided.
The identical question in May found only 45 percent favored the speed limit, 49 percent were opposed, and 6 percent were undecided.
The new poll found women favored the speed limit 70 to 28 percent, far more strongly than in May, when the margin was 56 percent in favor and 37 percent opposed.
The new poll found 46 percent of men favored the speed limit and 52 percent opposed it. Men were more strongly opposed in May, 61 to 34 percent.
Montana has not had a daytime speed limit on highways since December 1995, when Congress repealed a 1974 law that forced states to set 55 mph speed limits or risk losing federal highway money. That law was amended to allow 65 mph on Interstate highways in some states, including Montana.
When the federal law was repealed, Montana automatically reverted to its “basic rule” law, which requires motorists to drive in a reasonable and prudent manner.
The survey in May came after the 1997 Legislature defeated a proposal backed by Gov. Marc Racicot, Attorney General Joe Mazurek and Highway Patrol Chief Craig Reap to set a daytime speed limit of 75 mph on Interstate highways and 65 mph on two-lane roads.
A Senate committee amended the bill to allow 80 mph on both Interstate and two-lane highways, then tabled the bill.
The December poll found 59 percent of those queried would support the 75-65 mph daytime speed limits, while 40 percent were opposed. Women favored the limits by a 75 to 24 percent margin, while men opposed it, 56 to 43 percent.
The poll in May had found people narrowly opposed to the 75-65 mph limits, 49 percent against it, 44 percent in favor and 7 percent undecided. Women favored it, 57 to 35 percent, but men opposed it, 63 to 31 percent.
Mason-Dixon Political-Media Research polled 810 Montanans by telephone Dec. 16-18 for the Lee Newspapers of Montana. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
xxxx DEATH TOLL As of Monday, 261 people had died on state roads compared with 197 as of Dec. 29 last year.