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Idaho has always been a free range state.
For folks who may not know what that means, free range allows cattle and sheep to be grazed on state lands that may have a highway running through them. The term does not mean the graze is free; that's paid for in a lease between the state and the livestock grower. It does mean the livestock are free to roam as they will in search of good grass.
It also means the livestock aren't fenced in. A herd on free range can, and do, cross any of our highways except for the Interstates. If there is an accident, the cattle have the right of way, not the folks in the car.
It's every driver's responsibility to watch for livestock on the highways. If a driver collides with a cow and kills it, which is usual, the driver can be sued by the cow's owner in some instances. (Although it rarely happens.)
Everyone who has lived here for some time has come across some cattle crossing a public road, Every crossing is full of potential danger, as an adult cow weighs over twice as much as a deer, and a bull can weigh 3 times more than a deer. A big bull can kill a Kenworth semi, and anything smaller is a total wreck. But as it is will all critters crossing the road, wild or domestic, much depends on a multitude of factors when it comes to human injury or death.
Slowing down in a vehicle to a crawl is a must when approaching any cattle. Hitting one at legal speed can total a car and kill the driver and passengers, and while it doesn't often happen, it can, at any time of year, and especially during the late evening to night-time hours, when cattle often prefer to graze.
Even the most cautious driver can still be surprised by a herd of black cattle crossing the road in the middle of a dark, moonless night. It's never a nice surprise, either; there have been several times in my life when I finally stopped inches away from hitting a cow, and even in daylight, cattle, unless a person already knows how they react, a driver can find themself closing in on a disaster when a couple of tardy cattle impulsively decide to join the herd on the other side of the road late.
There was particularly tragic incident that occurred last November that ended up in a human death and 2 extremely critically injured people, driving the speed limit, on a fairly heavily-used road.
The man's death has already been discussed here, so I won't go into it, but very recently, the couple who were nearly killed in their car have decided to try to get one of our oldest laws changed. If they succeed, it will spell the end of Idaho's open range.
Is "free range" different from "open range"? We are in open range and it's not just state land that determines it.
Open range:
"This is a legal description of land in Idaho that is defined by Idaho code as "All unenclosed lands outside of cities, villages, and herd districts, upon which cattle, by custom, license, lease, or permit, are grazed or permitted to roam." Basically, any land in the state that is not designated as a herd district and is not fenced is considered open range and thus, livestock can legally be on that land."
It doesn't bother me much.
People should be driving defensively to avoid hitting wildlife so cattle and sheep in the road should be able to be avoided as well.
I don't particularly care for the few I've known who just let their stock hang out in the road. We have a neighbor who does that.
And I was on the losing side when a neighboring ranchers cow came to visit and spooked a draft filly of mine into jumping a ranch gate and tearing up her knee. We didn't adequately fence it out.
Personally, I like living in a place that still recognizes a law from the "old west". It will be sad if it ends because of this.
Wish I knew more about the Garners. If they have lived their whole lives in Idaho or are immigrants. Awful what happened to them, but it reminds me of people in a new housing tract wanting to shut down an airport because the planes make too much noise. The fact that the airport was there for eighty years before the houses were built doesn't matter.
I guess people forget that they live in an overwhelmingly rural state. With that comes slow tractors on the highway, free range cattle, stinky fertilizer, noisy crop dusters, etc. And now they want to "close down the airport".
Article states in 2014 there were three hundred crashes and two fatalities involving domestic animals, including livestock. (How many of those were avoidance accidents caused by loose dogs on the road?) Just my opinion, but if the Garners want to really make the roads safer, they should tackle drunk driving accidents first.
Wish I knew more about the Garners. If they have lived their whole lives in Idaho or are immigrants. Awful what happened to them, but it reminds me of people in a new housing tract wanting to shut down an airport because the planes make too much noise. The fact that the airport was there for eighty years before the houses were built doesn't matter.
I guess people forget that they live in an overwhelmingly rural state. With that comes slow tractors on the highway, free range cattle, stinky fertilizer, noisy crop dusters, etc. And now they want to "close down the airport".
Article states in 2014 there were three hundred crashes and two fatalities involving domestic animals, including livestock. (How many of those were avoidance accidents caused by loose dogs on the road?) Just my opinion, but if the Garners want to really make the roads safer, they should tackle drunk driving and hit-and-run accidents first.
.
Or just tackle the deer. The most dangerous critter out there. I'm being facetious there.
One thing I will agree with Garner about is possibly lowering the speed limits on 2 lane roads in open range. It seems crazy to be driving 70 mph on a curvy 2 lane highway in open range country.
Changing the law will have no affect on the accident rates of people hitting wild animals like deer, elk, and moose, because those animals don't care about fences anyway. It's just another case of people allowing emotion to force regulation and change that will have zero cumulative effect on the issue at hand.
Or just tackle the deer. The most dangerous critter out there. I'm being facetious there.
One thing I will agree with Garner about is possibly lowering the speed limits on 2 lane roads in open range. It seems crazy to be driving 70 mph on a curvy 2 lane highway in open range country.
70 mph is the max speed, you do not have to go that fast. We do not need to change anything. Just go slower at night.
70 mph is the max speed, you do not have to go that fast. We do not need to change anything. Just go slower at night.
You are welcome to your opinion. Mine differs.
I am aware that I can reduce my speed and I am aware of the dangers of wildlife and livestock on the roads. But when the teeming hordes of tourists and out of staters arent aware and drive 70 on curvy highways and at night and in poor weather and swerve into my lane when they come across a critter in the road or pass someone who isn't doing 70 it quickly can become my problem regardless of my speed.
No way can a pickup hauling a stock trailer go 70 on some of these highways and yet the dumbarses in a hurry behind us get hot under the collar and take it as a personal affront and endanger everyone else on the road.
Last edited by mistyriver; 08-17-2016 at 07:21 AM..
Is "free range" different from "open range"? We are in open range and it's not just state land that determines it.
Open range:
"This is a legal description of land in Idaho that is defined by Idaho code as "All unenclosed lands outside of cities, villages, and herd districts, upon which cattle, by custom, license, lease, or permit, are grazed or permitted to roam." Basically, any land in the state that is not designated as a herd district and is not fenced is considered open range and thus, livestock can legally be on that land."
It doesn't bother me much.
People should be driving defensively to avoid hitting wildlife so cattle and sheep in the road should be able to be avoided as well.
I don't particularly care for the few I've known who just let their stock hang out in the road. We have a neighbor who does that.
And I was on the losing side when a neighboring ranchers cow came to visit and spooked a draft filly of mine into jumping a ranch gate and tearing up her knee. We didn't adequately fence it out.
Personally, I like living in a place that still recognizes a law from the "old west". It will be sad if it ends because of this.
No.
Misty, you used the correct term, not me!
Open Range is what I meant to say; I hope folks will read this.
I apologize- I wrote the piece rather late last night, and I crossed the 2 terms up.
Wish I knew more about the Garners. If they have lived their whole lives in Idaho or are immigrants. Awful what happened to them, but it reminds me of people in a new housing tract wanting to shut down an airport because the planes make too much noise. The fact that the airport was there for eighty years before the houses were built doesn't matter.
I guess people forget that they live in an overwhelmingly rural state. With that comes slow tractors on the highway, free range cattle, stinky fertilizer, noisy crop dusters, etc. And now they want to "close down the airport".
Article states in 2014 there were three hundred crashes and two fatalities involving domestic animals, including livestock. (How many of those were avoidance accidents caused by loose dogs on the road?) Just my opinion, but if the Garners want to really make the roads safer, they should tackle drunk driving accidents first.
I think the couple had lived in Idaho for a while, but weren't born here. /according to the article, both were married before, and they have 2 different sets of grown kids.
The reason why they were travelling on that particular highway was due to the wife's desire to stop in Lewiston to see one of her sons. They were on their way north to coastal Washington. Probably intended to get on I-90 via Clarkston.
I'm glad you mentioned tractors and other slow moving farm vehicles, Volo. As long as they are properly marked with the slow vehicle signage, they have the same rights to Interstates as other drivers, but there are increasingly more rear-end collisions happening every year here on I-15, over a 10-mile stretch just north of town.
When the Interstate was built, it cut 2 east-west county roads, both used heavily for moving farm equipment and livestock.
An overpass was built over one of the roads, but not the other. This created a 10-mile jog in moving the equipment unless someone drove the stretch on the Interstate, which cut that distance in half.
Just this past June, a longtime associate lost his 21-year old son on that stretch. A semi hit the big John Deere he was driving from behind going 70 mph. (the speed limit for cars in 80). It totaled both tractor and truck, crushed the boy, and severely injured the semi driver.
Incidents like this happen all over the state regularly every year, and not just on the Interstates. On 2-lanes, a lot of deaths occur when a car driver gets impatient and tries to pass a tractor without having a clear vision of what is ahead.
Livestock have the right of way when they are being moved on any state highway. Most drivers don't collide with a herd of cattle, but they often get into trouble trying to force the cattle out of their way while moving through the herd. When an adult cow gets hit at low speed by a car, it may set of a chain of cattle closing in on the car, and sometimes the cattle will begin to fight the car.
There are almost no deaths or injuries from these encounters, but the car always ends up looking like it drove through a rodeo, and if the driver is too obnoxious, especially if the hit a cow, I've seen ranchers pull them out and beat them up in the past.
if the cowboys are allowed some time, they will clear the path for a car to follow. A tractor driver will pull over when its possible to allow a car to pass as well. Patience and alertness pays off here; lack of either can have much worse consequences.
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no worries...just making sure there wasn't something else maybe in southern Idaho.
