BOZEMAN – In 2017, there were 2,047 crashes reported to Bozeman Police. With kids out being out of school for the summer, driving faster than the speed limit can be dangerous.
“You know they kick a ball out into the roadway, or they throw a ball out in the roadway and it just causes us some opportunity for some negative things to happen in the roadways,” said Sgt. Travis Munter.
Munter says speed limit signs can be hard to understand when explaining exactly how fast a vehicle moves down a road. Instead of looking at miles per hour, he explains how far a car travels in feet per second. For example, a car going 15 MPH is equivalently traveling 22 feet every second. That means you will go over 40 feet before you react and completely stop, about the same distance of a residential intersection.
“So thinking about that you will travel through an entire intersection before you are able to stop your car,” said Munter.
This isn’t a only problem in town.
The Montana Highway Patrol reported that out of the 80 fatal crashes on the Interstates in 2018, they suspect 30 of them involved speed.
“If they are following the speed limits and paying attention to the roadways, our crashes are going to drastically decrease which makes it safer for everyone to drive, makes it a lot safer for the pedestrians that are crossing roadways and the cyclist which are also sharing the road with our motorists,” said Munter.
Reporting by Mederios Babb for MTN News
