Reasonable and Prudent

Some interesting experiments have been conducted in Montana.  There was, for example, the first time the Fish and Game Department put a fake buck mule deer out in a field where hunters were not supposed to shoot deer just to see what would happen.

Yep.

You can pretty much imagine the results.

Establishing an interstate highway speed limit in Montana has been an ongoing experiment.  We had no daytime speed limit until 1974 when then President Nixon urged Congress to establish a nationwide limit of 55 mph as an energy saving measure following an “oil crisis” the year previous.  Driving as slow as 55 mph across the forever of Montana’s Hi-line is, well, painful or insane, depending on your final destination.  In order to retain federal highway funding, all states were required to comply with this limit.  Montana, as a way to thumb our nose at the federal government, adopted the limit but established a ludicrously small $5.00 fine for “wasting a natural resource” for anyone caught speeding.

In 1987 Congress allowed states to adopt a 65 mph speed limit.  Up we went.   In 1995 Congress tossed the federal speed limit law.  In answer, our Montana legislature removed limits entirely and required drivers to operate under basic rule which urges drivers to operate their vehicles in a “reasonable and prudent manner.”  The day “reasonable and prudent” went into effect, as bad luck would have it, I pulled onto the interstate in my shop truck and merged immediately behind a highway patrolman traveling at 70 mph.   After a mile so of that, I thought, “to hell with it, let’s test this speed thing.”  I punched the accelerator and passed the highway patrolman.  The tools and electrical supplies in my truck rattled as I whisked by.  The highway patrolman didn’t give me a second glance, so I accelerated until the ½-inch conduit in the back of my truck started to float a little.  That seemed pretty reasonable to me.

Having no “official” speed limit didn’t last long.  A 75 mph speed limit fell into place in 1999.  As of this writing, we are operating with an 80 mph limit in many areas.  The limit was bumped up in 2015.  No telling how long this will last.

Finally, we reach one of my personal favorites.  I was telling my sister about this the other day.  Back in the 1990s an experimental high-tension power line was strung across part of Montana.  Embedded within the conductive metal strands of some wires were fiber optic cables.  Burying fiber is quite costly.  This seemed a no-brainer.  The experiment went swimmingly…except for one thing.

“The problem was,” I told my sister, “the power lines kept getting shot and the fibers inside were broken.”

“Why would someone shoot a power line?” she asked.  “That’s dumb.”

“People shoot the lines so they can hear them sing when the bullet strikes them,” I answered.

I must admit, I and a couple of my friends tried shooting at power lines with our .22 rifles when were teenagers.  I wanted to hear them sing as much as the next guy.

Being a teenager: dumbest experiment, ever.

-- Mitchell Hegman