Unless there's something hot going on at the meeting, there's a lovely bank of mostly empty angle parking spaces on the south side of the street up against City Hall. I like these parking spaces. They don't require parallel parking. And they don't require jayrunning across a dark street on deadline after the meeting. So I usually turn left and park in one.
One recent Tuesday, I called City Attorney Jim Nugent for an explanation of a point of law, as I often do because I cover local government and growth. Nugent gave his usual enlightening explanation, peppered - as usual - with frequent citations of the codes.
Nugent's office is on the second floor on the north side of City Hall. I often see him as I pull up, putting on his jacket, picking up the volumes of material he carries with him and turning out the light to go downstairs for the meeting.
And you know what else? he said. You wouldn't believe all the tickets the Police Department is writing. Last year, 21,000-some. That's almost 9,000 more than the year before. That's enough tickets for one-third of Missoula to get one, if there weren't multiple offenses per incident.
I've never thought of my turn into a parking space as a U-turn. I've thought of it as "parking." If you want to ascribe a letter to it, OK, it's a one-leg-and-the-top-of-a-U-turn. It's not a 180; it's a 105-degree maneuver at the most.
It bugged me. A couple of days later, I called Nugent again. It's all in the codes, he said. Missoula Municipal Code: "10.20.250. U-turns. The driver of any vehicle shall not turn such vehicle so as to proceed in the opposite direction upon any street other than at an intersection except that no such turn shall be made at any of the following intersections Š"
Well, OK.
I guess I was turning my vehicle to proceed ever so slightly in the opposite direction upon a street.
But it still bugged me. It's completely dark and there's no traffic, so does it really matter? And am I really going to get a ticket?
Lt. Gregg Willoughby of the Missoula Police Department set me straight.
For one thing, I'm looking at it backward, he said.
"It's a hazardous turn," he said. "And from that position, you risk getting into a wreck.
"That should be the motivator. Not getting a ticket. You want to avoid getting into a wreck."
For another, the Police Department is all over traffic law enforcement. In 2004, officers wrote 21,964 traffic tickets. Of those, 7,194 were for speeding; 4,579 were for no insurance; 2,108 were for failing to stop at a red light or a stop sign; 1,569 had expired licenses or registrations; 728 were for eluding police; 493 were DUI; and a measly 381 were for turning violations, including U-turns.
And Missoula police work strictly within the city.
In 2003, officers wrote 13,595 traffic tickets.
We hire more police officers all the time. Police Chief Bob Weaver said the other day that when he started as a patrol officer in 1971, the force had 24 street officers. Arithmetic says that's one for every 1,229 residents. By 1983, there were 33 officers on the street; that's one for every 944 people. Today, the 72 street officers equal one for every 861 city residents.
Almost all of the recent expansion of the Police Department has gone into more officers working traffic, Willoughby said.
One of the reasons: Missoula has three of the top 10 most dangerous intersections in the state, by our own studies and the state's, measured in crashes and deaths, Willoughby said. They are Reserve Street and Mullan Road, Reserve Street and South Avenue, and Reserve Street and Third Street.
That's intolerable, he said.
"We like to be tops in some things, but not that," he said.
And another thing, Willoughby said: National statistics show that traffic law enforcement is the most effective crime-fighting tool. For instance, Timothy McVey, the Oklahoma City bomber? Pulled over for expired plates.
"That's probably as profound as it gets," Willoughby said.
Weaver tells about a homicide he was working in the late '70s. Another officer stopped a guy for a traffic violation. There was blood on the guy, Willoughby said, and there was blood on the gun he had with him.
Well, OK.
I won't be making the so-called U-turn anymore, blood on me or not. The fine starts at $30, with a $10 surcharge. That's not to mention that I'd get in trouble with my car insurance. And, I find, many employers, mine included, have driving policies for employees who drive for work. If you get traffic tickets, you get in trouble.
So, just for today, let's call Nugent the Good Samaritan.
One more thing: My colleague Rob Chaney covered local government for a long time before I took over four months ago. He made that same U-maneuver every Monday night for seven years, he told me the other day. Nothing ever happened. And he always parked in the loading zone, too. It was dark, he said. No one ever saw him.
Missoulian reporter Ginny Merriam's column, Sunday Break, runs on the first Sunday of each month. She can be reached at 523-5251 or at gmerriam@missoulian.com
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