Highway patrol... (Billings, Missoula, Great Falls: spring break, insurance, condo)

[TSO2.0]

Someone I know told me that he drives from Spokane to North Dakota to visit family. He said that if you get pulled over by the highway patrol in Montana that you have to give the officer $1, in cash for every mile over the speed limit you got caught at...you hand over the cash and go on your way. If you don't have the cash you get ticketed.
It sounds outlandish to me but this person doesn't seem to be the type to make this up(I don't think).

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

[ElkHunter]

Not at all. Last time I got stopped in Montana it was for 10 over. The HP hit me for $65. That was for 45 in a 35 zone.

[Reziac]

I only got nailed once, back about 1980ish, but it was $20 cash on the spot, on the frontage road going north out of Bozeman... that little hill just as you go around the curve is just enough to throw a coasting vehicle over the limit, and the HP was trappin' at the bottom of the grade.

Anyway, as I recall you do have to pay up on the spot, no mailing of tickets nonsense.

Dunno about now, but North Dakota used to be pay-on-the-spot too, I remember from when my mom got a ticket one night outside of Valley City back about 1963 (we were on our way back to Moorhead from Great Falls). The HP followed close with his brights on til my mom finally sped up to get away from him, and then he nailed her. No fair!!

[cedar_bluff_tree_farm]

Originally Posted by TSO2.0

Someone I know told me that he drives from Spokane to North Dakota to visit family. He said that if you get pulled over by the highway patrol in Montana that you have to give the officer $1, in cash for every mile over the speed limit you got caught at...you hand over the cash and go on your way. If you don't have the cash you get ticketed.
It sounds outlandish to me but this person doesn't seem to be the type to make this up(I don't think).

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Yes, it's familiar but not quite right.

Years ago, the federal government mandates that all states must have speed limits in place (55 mph at the time). Montana had no numerical speed limit at the time. The law was you were required to drive at a reasonable and prudent speed. (The reason for 55 mph federal mandate was not due to highway safety but due to fuel efficiency. They enacted that policy after the oil embargo of the late 70s).

Montana does not like to be told by the federal goverment what to do, but they could not risk losing all of their federal highway funding. So they enacted a speed limit and the penalty for disobeying it was $5 and nothing would go on your record. (I think there was a certain upper limit that it became a worse ticket.) You could pay on the spot.

Those days are long gone, but the legend probably won't ever die.

[mtn_viking]

The fines are not based on a dollar per mile over. If you are less than 10 miles over the speed limit, I believe the fine is $20. It is also not reported to your insurance company and doesn't cost you any points. If you are more than 10 miles over the fine jumps to $65 and is reported.

If you aren't going too much faster than 10 miles over and you have all your paperwork in order, seat belt on, and are polite to the officer, they are likely to write the speed down to get you the cheaper ticket. You will be expected to pay tickets right there on the road or appear in court.

Cedar Bluff is mostly right about the $5 ticket. However, he left out the best part. The five dollar ticket was not a speeding ticket. Montana really had to thumb its nose at the federal gov. The ticket was officially a fuel consumption ticket. You were ticketed for wasting fuel. It was not considered a moving violation, was not reported to your insurance company and did not result in any points against your driving record.

[mtboy]

Everyone is pretty much right on, except I think they will mail the ticket if you don't have the 20.

Brings me to a story, one time a while back I was pulled over & ticketed for going 75 in a 65, around Billings on I-90 by the MHP. I was polite with the officer and really I didn't know it was 65 at that location... honestly I never saw the signs, and we were pulled over about 3/4 mile into the 65 speed zone.
Anyway, he was pretty weird and rude to me (maybe he was having a bad day, or thought he had a big bust), he got all of us out of the vehicle on the interstate, spoke with all of us, he asked to search my vehicle (i let him), he checked the tint on my windows to make sure it was legal, asked what we were doing and why we had a bunch of bags in my car. I had three of my college buddies crammed in the car with me and all our luggage as we just came back from spring break. But it really isn't a suspecious car, I mean it was a 03 intrepid that was white with tinted windows, nothing else no rims, no decals, no exhaust. Just was a family vehicle.

So to add to it I had a crown royal bag which I kept my insurance card, registration, emergency numbers etc. in, he asked me what I was doing with that (i was only 19). I told him it was a good bag to keep all the information in, he said I wasn't allowed to have it, and he wanted me to give it to him, I gave it to him and he smelled the bag really hard. (I mean shoved it into his face and rubbed it around). Maybe he thought there was pot in it or something, not sure? (I mean really isn't that where everyone keeps these pot, in the same bag were your registration and insurance information is, and the only time you open it is for the cops?!) Anyway he tried to give it back to me but I just laughed and said that he could keep it. I just wonder what was going through his mind, it was March in the middle of the afternoon, three college kids in a car with college license plates and possible illegal tint, a bunch of luggage, goin 75 just a few hundred feet inside the 65 zone, and to top it off a crown royal bag.... "Oh I got em". I wonder what he thought when we all got out and were wearing cowboys boots and blue jeans, hmmm not really the bunch of gang bangers or druggies he was trying to catch.

Sorry maybe not so funny, but should have been there. Anyway got away with a $20 ticket. Paid there and done. Cops/officers can be funny sometime, I mean I am friends with some of them and they are pretty down to earth but this guy was out for something, it was like he was just trying to find something to get me for, and all he had was a $20 ticket on me. Before I left, he had me remove my license plate cover, I had a clear cover on it, he said that you could not cover your license plate as it was illegal. I just opened the trunk and got my tools out to remove it, better it was just to do it that fight the point that a clear cover is see through and what difference did it make to him whether it was on there or not.

The worst ticket I ever had was 20 in a 15 at 9:30 pm on a satruday in a school zone. Believe that one got me for $50, they mailed that one to me though it was a local police officer. But come on, really how much difference did 5 mph make at that time of the night on a weekend. I understand doing your job but seriously $50!

[mtlogger]

I got tailgated by a Missoula Cty Sheriff for about five miles on northbound MT83. I could barely see him behind me as I was driving the PB379 & Whitworth log truck up and the down hills. I slowed a couple of times so he could get around me, but he didn't. So, I figured I was about to get a ticket. I checked my speed several times - I was below the limit. Finally I'd had enuf of his games and just pulled over - he went on by, turned around and came back and wanted to know why I was on the side of the road. I told him, I thought it strange him hanging on my red flag for so many miles without trying to pass. He said he wasn't doing that - he was checking out my trailer plates. Well you don't need to be that close to see them I told him. I told him he was lucky and that elk and deer often run between vehicles on that piece of road. He scoffed at that and since he didn't give me a ticket or warning, I got back onto the road. He does a flip a few minutes later and follows another truck ahead of doing the very same thing. About a half hour later above Condon a southbound driver calls me on the radio and says there's an accident up ahead and would I stop. I says sure. Turns out this deputy got slammed by an elk running across the road, as he was following too close to the other vehicle. He never saw it. I walked up to the totaled car - said to the injured deputy - here's your sign!

In the bad old days of 55mph signage, Utah had a $5 fuel wasting ticket up to 20 over the limit. Never went on your record - you just handed the trooper the five and went on your way.

[mtlogger]

Driving across the Crow Rez a couple of months ago late at night, I'm honking along about 15 over the limit and got stopped by a Bighorn deputy who thought I was running contraband - and wanted to inspect my rig. I flip on the overheads - it's a log truck - and it was empty - what's to inspect? Well he calls his boss and the boss tells him to leave me alone and go back to patrol. No ticket for speeding. I get up to the weigh station at I90 and here's this dumbass cop sleeping - so I blow on thru it - blowing the dual air horns. Saw him fall off his chair. I'll bet he's still got wet pants!

[rickers]

I hardly ever see any Montana highway patrol and when I do they just give us a friendly wave and I've never been pulled over for anything.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by mtboy

The worst ticket I ever had was 20 in a 15 at 9:30 pm on a satruday in a school zone. Believe that one got me for $50, they mailed that one to me though it was a local police officer. But come on, really how much difference did 5 mph make at that time of the night on a weekend. I understand doing your job but seriously $50!

There's the one thing Calif has done right -- there were some lawsuits over crappy tickets like that, and now the signs all say the limit is NN mph "when children are present". So if there are no kids around, you're not supposed to be ticketed for going the normal speed limit in a school zone.