FW: NMA on Montana's new speed law

[Peter Henriksen <peterhe@microsoft.com>]

Haven't seen this on the q list yet, so here goes.
- peter
  peterhe@microsoft.com - http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/1001
  91 200qw
  94 acura legend gs
  issaquah, wa, usa

> -----Original Message-----
> 
> >TO:	NMA (Bob M), INTERNET:NMA@MOTORISTS.COM
>  DATE:	2/10/97 11:45 AM
> 
> RE:	Montana
> 
> As most of you know, the Governor of Montana, Attorney General, and
> the
> state police are campaigning for a daytime speed limit.  Reading
> between
> the lines the reasons are:
> 
> 1. The state police are hard pressed to justify their existence
> without a
> speed limit to enforce.
> 
> 2. Revenue generation is probably suffering
> 
> 3. The locals are fighting the "reasonable and prudent" tickets and
> the
> courts are finding in their favor, which really irritates the cop
> mentality.
> 
> 4. The Governor doesn't like to have "his state" thought of as some
> uncivilized bastion of lawless riffraff that won't even go along with
> a
> speed limit, like the rest of western civilization.
> 
> To accomplish their goals, the Governor, Attorney General, and head of
> the
> State Police have done some mighty twisting of good numbers to make
> them
> look bad.  We have seen a number of articles that qoute the Montana
> State
> Police Colonel Craig Reap as saying that interstate fatalities have
> doubled
> this year in Montana. Grudgingly he admits they went down statewide.
> 
> The data from the MT DOT makes the good Colonel a liar.  The
> interstate
> fatalities did not double, they went down.  In 1995 MT had 215
> fatalities
> state wide.  In 1996 they had 197 fatalities statewide.  What about
> those
> Interstate fatalities?  In 1995 they had 39 fatalities.  In 1996 they
> had 38.
> 
> It appears the Colonel has come up with some screwy analysis that
> allows
> him to claim that fatalities have doubled on Interstates and then in
> near
> invisable print or a whisper that the press isn't hearing, he happens
> to
> mention that he means fatalities related to highspeed crashes.  Of
> course in
> 95 they probably didn't even guess at the cause of Interstate crashes,
> or if
> they did they did so honestly, because they weren't trying to justify
> their
> existance.
> 
> Our request is that everyone should write a letter to their local
> papers
> and anyone else with the ability to get  the word out and push them to
> reveal and expose this fraud. You might want to suggest that if
> Montana
> would like to reduce their highway fatalities even further that they
> disband
> the state highway patrol and use the money for highway improvements,
> aiding
> local EMS units, snow removal and the construction of windbreaks in
> areas
> where high winds reduce visability from blowing snow and dirt.  At
> least in
> this way the state will get something back for the money invested.
> 
> This travesty is right up there with NHTSA Autobahn statistics.
> 
> Total fatalities
> 1994 = 202
> 1995 = 215
> 1996 =197 (full year of R&P speed limit)
> 
> Interstate fatalities
> 1994 = 42
> 1995 = 39
> 1996 = 38
> 
> Total Fatal Accidents
> 1994 = 182
> 1995 = 186
> 1996 = 176
> 
> (Please don't confuse fatal accidents with fatalities.)
> 
> Now, if anybody can see reason to suggest that 1996 was a worse year
> than
> 1995, we'd sure like to hear about it.
> 
> We are not operating under the illusion that reasonable and prudent
> limits
> will sweep the nation and become the standard for rural speed zoning.
> But,
> I do think it could spread to other more rural states and it may
> foster a
> rebirth of prima facie speed limits in other states.  If Montana hangs
> tough and keeps R and P limits, it will serve to prove that most rural
> absolute speed limits may do more harm than good (and we believe they
> do).
> If we lose Montana it becomes hypothetical and conjecture.  Right now
> Montana stacks up pretty good against the states that went to 75.
> Even the
> people at IIHS and NHTSA have to be wondering why.
> 
> Let's not let the purveyors of flimflam, lies, and "protect our butts"
> P.R.
> campaigns win this one.  
> 
> If you see any newspaper or magazine articles on this issue (or any
> other
> that NMA might be interested in), please mail them to our office.  We
> copy
> and circulate them throughout our network of like-minded parties,
> and/or
> save them in our files. Faxing is okay, but we prefer getting the
> original
> because faxed newspaper articles are hard to read.  Please include the
> paper's name and date as well.
> 
> NMA
> 402 West Second St
> Waunakee WI 5359<<