Out-Of-Staters Crash Into Officers’ Judgment

Since Dec. 8, when Montana’s daytime speed limit was eliminated, Highway Patrol officer Roger Kenney has heard it many times: People ticketed for speeding, especially out-of-state drivers, say they thought all speed rules had ended in Montana.

Justice of the Peace Kevin Hart heard the excuse Tuesday when a Spokane man pleaded guilty to breaking Montana’s “basic rule” speed law, which requires that motorists drive in a “reasonable and proper” manner.

John Byrd, 24, had been driving 100 mph while eastbound on Interstate 90. He told Hart that he thought as long as he signaled, passed with care, kept his lights on and wore his seat belt, he would be driving safely.

“I felt like I was hitting every other rule besides the miles per hour, because, as far as I knew, there was no restriction on miles per hour in Montana,” Byrd said.

Kenney said he had pulled Byrd over after Byrd passed several vehicles at 100 mph, including a semi-tractor trailer pulling an additional small trailer.

“There was just too much traffic for him to be going that fast,” Kenney said, noting that he probably would have pulled Byrd over even if he had been going 85 mph. “At that amount of speed, if they start rolling, they go over into the other lane, and instead of injuries, we have fatalities.”

Hart fined Byrd $70 and sent him home with a message he hoped would trickle through to other drivers: “What may seem like a reasonable manner for you may not seem so to an officer.”

And until the Montana Legislature decides otherwise, Kenney said he and other officers will continue to decide on an individual basis when to nab someone. Those decisions are based on the weather, the type of car, the number of passengers, the amount of traffic and other considerations, Kenney said.

So far, the bulk of those Kenney pulls over for driving too fast have been from out of state. He blamed misinformation in national media for giving people the wrong idea about Montana’s roads.

For example, he recently stopped an Idaho Falls, Idaho, man who turned out to be a television reporter.

“He said, ‘I just did a story on the fact that you don’t have a speed limit here,”’ Kenney said. “I told him, ‘There’s your investigation; you just had an experience with it.”‘“In some cases you have black ice or glare ice, and 35 miles per hour might not be reasonable and prudent,” Beaudette said.