MONTANA PARADOX,
NOW ILLEGALLY POSTED LIMITS!

By Chad Dornsife, 8/11/2001

In April, the National Motorists Association published a study showing that Montana's Interstate highways were safer when there were no daytime speed limits. The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) replied on May 15, 2001 via a letter sent to the press, state legislators and other Montana officials to discredit the content of “The Montana Paradox – Fatal Accidents Double on Interstates Since New Limits!” and the comments that accompanied its release.

Seven years of observations and data resulted in the report, “The Montana Paradox” lowest number of fatal accidents occurred without speed limits and its follow-up study, after speed limits “Fatal Accidents Double on Montana Interstates”.

Yes, fatal accidents on the Montana’s Interstates doubled in the after speed limits comparison and Montana did embrace unsafe practices. Yes, state officials wanted new revenue opportunities, jobs and opportunities for personal gain. Yes, they misled the legislature into adopting speed limits when Montana’s highways were at their safest. At a time when there was no justification whatsoever from an engineering or safety perspective.

But the larger issue is the fact that Montana’s speed limit statutes clearly do not meet federal statutory requirements. This is more than a wording error, the Montana Code Annotated (MCA) statutes violate statutory procedural requirements – due process. Therefore your limits are illegally posted!

This response covers: governing federal laws, the statutory requirements, the law’s foundation and the whys on how these laws, if followed, really do make our highways safer.

Chad Dornsife, Founder
The Highway Safety Group
Author of “The Montana Paradox”
chad@hwysafety.com
http://www.hwysafety.com
775.721.2423 cell – 800.708.5723 fax

National Motorists Association
nma@motorists.org
http://www.motorists.org
608.849.6000

INTRODUCTION

The information in Sections I and II explains why Montana’s speed limits, as enacted, do not meet the statutory requirements of governing federal law (Title 23); and why this compromised safety. Moreover, why speed limits didn’t make your highways safer either; in fact, your highways are less safe.

Understanding the WHY is the thesis of this report. It doesn’t appear Montana officials properly researched the question or even thought to inquire what the governing law actually says, particularly Title 23 statutory requirements and its mechanisms.

The MDT May 15, 2001 response was factually wrong on every major counterpoint. Even its data charts claiming small variations didn’t match the detailed data supplied by MDT over the course of the 7 years of the study. They went so far as to protest that there was no difference in fatality rates between limits and no limits. What wasn’t an error! The legislature was clearly misled during the hearings on speed limit legislation. MDT report relied heavily on unsupported propaganda, scare tactics, uninformed conjecture, half truths, engineering practice being testified to completely out of context with its intended applications, and irrelevant data and references to provide volume and a sense of authority - to sell an agenda to the legislature rather than advise it with facts.

The MDT Safety Office spokesperson was there expressly to convey the Governor’s wishes to the legislature. He is also the NHTSA program administrator. Why is this important? Because NHTSA entices state and local governments and agencies to participate in Faux Safety-for-Cash Pyramid schemes, complete with all the false promises and resulting pitfalls too. Outlined in Section III, “The NHTSA Debacle”.

The governing law’s mandates are unambiguous and plain in meaning. Someone really dropped the ball here! Was it the Governor’s office, State AG, MHP, MDT or the legislative research bureau? It looks like all, regardless of how it happened, Montana ended up with virtually all its speed limits being illegally posted.

One thing can be said for sure after this, forever, you’ll have a much better understanding of the “Highway Safety Act of 1966”, its foundation and the governing federal law under Title 23.

Because highway safety is the real issue here, Section IV is a summary of observations of how to assure highway safety and as well as an outline towards creating an enhanced highway safety mission for the Montana Highway Patrol that others will want to emulate.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page  

INTRODUCTION

2  

SECTION I

GOVERNING FEDERAL LAW, TITLE 23: STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS

Who has the Legal Authority to Establish Speed Limits?

4  

Federal authority rooted in the “Commerce Clause”:

7  

The Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices:

7  

Legal Effect and Preemption:

9  

Speed Limits, Statutory Requirements to be Valid:

10  

Does Montana’s Limits meet these Requirements?

12  

SECTION II

ENGINEERING STUDIES AND CRITERIA FOR SETTING SPEED LIMITS

MDT’S claims and the Rational behind Governing Law?

17  

Primary Tenets and Rationales in regards to speed limits:

20  

MUTCD § 2B.11 Speed Limit Sign (R2-1)

22  

MUTCD § 2B.12 Truck Speed Limit Sign (R2-2)

23  

MUTCD § 2B.13 Night Speed Limit Sign (R2-3)

24  

Speed Variance:

26  

Montana Paradox: Summary of no daytime speed limits:

27  

Nationally Accepted Practice:

28  

85th Percentile Speed’s role it in setting speed limits.

Free-flowing or Free-moving:

33  

Speed Limits not to be lowered for Conditions Readily Apparent

34  

Accident Data and Notices of Defect:

35  

Number of Monitoring Locations and Speed Zone Changes:

37  

Cost of Compliance:

37  

Guide to choosing the value of regulatory speed limits:

38  

SECTION III

THE NHTSA DEBACLE

NHTSA: AKA, Fed Agency of Pyramid Schemes/Urban Myths:

39  

Duplicitous Acts:

44  

A Crime under any other circumstance:

50  

Act of pursuing 5 times more likely to result in an accident:

50  

Effect of enforcement on accident rates:

51  

Dishonesty of Process, Engineering v. NHTSA’s Mantra:

56  

NHTSA Conclusion:

57  

SECTION IV

THE HIGHWAY SAFETY INITIATIVE

An Observation!

58  

The Technology:

58  

MDT Safety Team:

58  

MHP Mission:

60  

The Highway Safety Initiative:

61