Montana Drivers? (Hamilton: insurance, vacation, home)

[mandapanda]

Drivers go through red lights here constantly. I have lived in many states, but this has been the worst. There are a lot of one vehicle accidents - many from overcorrecting in SUVs and trucks. Tons of DUIs! Montana has one of the highest death rates (maybe the highest) from vehicular accidents.

[StuckPA]

Originally Posted by mandapanda

Drivers go through red lights here constantly. I have lived in many states, but this has been the worst. There are a lot of one vehicle accidents - many from overcorrecting in SUVs and trucks. Tons of DUIs! Montana has one of the highest death rates (maybe the highest) from vehicular accidents.

I've heard similar about SC also.

[NYMTman]

In NJ they don't even allow left turns

[StuckPA]

Originally Posted by NYMTman

In NJ they don't even allow left turns

They don't allow much of anything in NJ

[Gulskjegg]

I read somewhere that MT has among, if not the, highest DUI death rates while driving in America.

Most of the dimwits driving SUVs have an inbalance in the horsepower to brain ratio, thus they are horrible drivers.

Nowhere near as bad as Calgary, Alberta though.

[NYMTman]

I've heard that as well. Up until recently it was perfectly legal to drink and drive, but now MT has an open container law. The state does a really bad job at enforcing its traffic laws, though.

[Gulskjegg]

No kidding? I thought drinking and driving has been illegal, open container included, since the 80's.

I dont drink that much, let alone drive while doing so. But lets all not forget where Montana ranks in the nationwide DUI deaths.

[Heart]

Originally Posted by NYMTman

They must all be Californians.

Possibly. And in all honesty, I CAN NOT for the life of me understand why there are so many traffic accidents and/or fatalities that occur on 93. This is a *simple* hwy to drive, in comparison to so many places that I have lived, including California.

I do know that my husband, with his new job has learned one thing, and that is, there are ALOT of drunk drivers here late at night, coming all the way from Darby to Missoula. There are ALOT of people who drive wreckless, and.....with NO insurance.

Seems lately, when I'm going and coming to town, I see new roadside memorials.

I finally DO have something to complain about, where living here is concerned and it's the wreckless driving. Some people seem to think it's a free for all here.

My family and I have already been in 4 near misses. One of them head on with a bronco who was taking a back road too fast, coming down the middle of the road.

I wouldn't know if these people are natives, or new comers, but whatever the case is, everyone needs to slow down and pay attention.

[jimj]

One of my biggest complaints here is that they tolerate drunk driving way too much! I thought it was rediculous that they made open container illegal but that was only done under pressure from the feds about loss of highway funds. Before I get flamed let me explain the thought behind the statement (BTW, I don't drink at all). Let's say you were at a restaurant eating and didn't finish your beverage, it used to be you could get a to-go cup and take it with you, now you guzzle it or toss it. Also, outside of the cities (open container has been illegal for a while in cities) there is a good distance between home and work etc so the thought was that you could drink a beer on the way home. Now stay with me on this, what has happened is they have taken the person that was having a beer on the way home and forced him (if he really wants a beer) to stop at a bar. Now everyone who thinks that if someone stops in a bar will only have ONE beer please raise your hand... Anyway, so now you have people who would have had one beer and been getting closer to home now realistically having 2-3 beers (or more) and then having to drive all of the way home. This makes no sense, increasing the odds of someone getting drunk and behind the wheel.

Banning open containers DOES NOT stop drunk driving it just moves the containers out of sight (this was one of the arguments made in the MT senate against the change) what stops it is ENFORCEMENT of the DUI laws. I find it incomprehensable that people here are on their 4th,5th DUI and not in jail and still have a license. I have had to face the fact that drinking seems to be the state sport here and many of the people I know think nothing of downing a 12 pack and driving home from fishing,camping etc. and if you doubt it just go watch the mac attack when it ends at a bar and everyone leaves.
The other problem is we don't have a lot of police around. It could be days before I see a highway patrolman or sheriff on patrol. Not too long ago it could have been weeks between cops so the odds on you being caught are low and people know it.
Now if they increased the penalty on a sliding scale for the second and subsequent offenses to something real stiff maybe people wouldn't want to play the odds.

[Debee]

Im in TOTAL agreement with you!