All those speed limit signs on the highways of Montana? Forget 'em. If House Bill 275 becomes law, you can drive at light speed.
Well, no, not the speed of light - 670,616,629.384 miles an hour. Get real. But certainly faster than the speed limit, so long as you have lights. Have lights, can speed.
HB 275 would reduce penalties for daytime speeding if your headlights are on. You'd save 20 percent on your fine. The savings would be $4 if you're caught going 10 miles per hour over the posted limit, $20 if you're doing at least 31 mph over the limit. Being nailed by the Highway Patrol for driving 85 miles an hour on an Interstate would set you back $16, instead of the current $20. As now, violations of 10 mph over the limit (5 mph at night) won't go on your record or be reported to your insurance company.
The reduced penalties are Bozeman Rep. Roger Koopman's idea for encouraging the daytime use of headlights. Doing so is a good way to make your vehicle more visible to oncoming traffic or in the rearview mirrors of cars you're following. The headlights effectively increase the contrast between your car and the background. According to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, vehicles modified to run with so-called daytime running lights (headlights that illuminate when the car runs) experience 7 percent fewer multiple-vehicle crashes than those without them. Other studies have documented crash reductions of up to 18 percent, thanks to daytime use of lights, along with a 12 percent decline in fatal collisions with pedestrians and cyclists.
“Daylight headlights are a significant road safety factor - particularly relating to head-on crashes and fatalities,” Koopman explains. He thinks Montanans should drive with their lights on, but he doesn't think the law should require it.
“The punitive ‘mandate' approach doesn't work,” he says in an e-mail responding to our query. “Law enforcement doesn't want to enforce it, and various attempts to pass daylight headlight requirements have always failed. They will fail again.”
Over in the Senate, Glasgow's Sam Kitzenberg is pushing a bill to require daytime headlight use - sort of. Senate Bill 194 intentionally excludes enforcement.
A better alternative, Koopman says, is to give drivers an incentive to switch on their lights. Nearly 40 co-signers in the House of Representatives, Republicans and Democrats alike, agree.
But are discounted speeding tickets the right incentive? Probably not. Excessive speed is a leading contributor to wrecks, especially fatal ones, ranking right up there with inattention and intoxication. Much of the good that might come from inducing people to switch on their lights during the day could be offset if they're tempted to drive faster.
“My bill does not enable people to speed,” Koopman says, adding that he doesn't want people making light of his proposal. “Obviously, 80 percent of the ticket cost remains, along with 100 percent of the stigma and embarrassment of being pulled over. But separate from the poor decision to speed, it creates an incentive for a good decision that enhances safety and places some value on that safety decision.”
Anyway, a few bucks shaved off a speeding ticket pales in comparison to the incentives we already have to always drive with lights. If you're not going to flick a switch to avoid potential death, serious injury or at least costly vehicle damage from wrecks, are you really going to do it to save $4 in the unlikely event you get pulled over?
More likely, this incentive would go the other way. People will use their lights - many already do; many cars come standard with daytime running lights that work automatically - and some will find another excuse to drive too fast.
Reduced speeding fines are a novel incentive for safety. Altogether impractical and counter-productive, but novel. How about reducing registration fees for cars equipped with daytime running lights instead?
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