Back in the summer of 2003, my buddy Darf and I embarked on a 28 state roadtrip. Darf was excited to put the pedal to the metal in Montana, where he believed there was no speed limit.
What he was envisioning is the period in the late 1990s when the daytime speed limit in Montana was "reasonable and prudent." After a few years, someone challenged a speeding ticket, and it went all the way to the state Supreme Court. The court struck down the "reasonable and prudent" speed limit, claiming it was too vague. It took several months for the state to come up with a numerical speed limit; for the next five months or so, there was actually no daytime speed limit in Montana [outside of urban areas]. In 1999, Montana settled on 75 miles per hour, and they've been out of the news ever since.
75 MPH is where the speed limit stood when Darf and I made our way to Big Sky Country. We cruised south from Billings towards the Wyoming border at what seemed like a reasonable and prudent speed. With the sun shining, the top down, and the radio blasting out some tunes, who would dare disagree?
Apparently the local lawman disagreed, and he pulled us over to voice his displeasure. Well, that and to write Darf-man up for speeding. Now, I don't quite remember how fast we were actually going, but I do remember that we felt the $50 fine was more than reasonable. Any other state would have made a small fortune off of us.
We then made our way to the Wyoming border at a more reasonable pace.
Of note, Montana had fewer fatal accidents during the time when there was no numerical daytime speed limit.
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