Between 1995 and 1998, Montana’s daytime speed limit was, verbatim, “safe and prudent”. Translated, it meant that provided conditions were favorable, your car wasn’t a rolling argument for Cash For Clunkers and traffic wasn’t an issue, they really didn’t care how fast you went so long as you were not a hazard. Then, in 1998, some asshat guy who had gotten ticketed challenged the legality of the ticket all the way up to the Montana Supreme Court and as a result, Montana enacted a 75mph speed limit. Now, from experience, so long as you aren’t trying to max out your car, Montana State Patrol is pretty lenient on people cruising through the state…a couple of years ago, as I was crossing the state, I ran up on an unmarked car while I had my cruise control set to 90mph, and the officer just waived at me.

Now there are at least four proposed bills set to be introduced for the 2015 legislative session to raise the speed limit in the state of Montana. Three would bring the limit up to 80mph, which would put Montana in the same league as several other Western states, and one bill would raise the limit up to 85mph, which would equal a stretch of toll Interstate in Texas. This wouldn’t open up the state to the free-for-all Cannonball Run-style antics that were seen in the late 1990s, but as anyone who has driven the state of Montana east-west knows, it will certainly help make the trip seem shorter.

(Courtesy: Ravalli Republic)