oh, and as far as Montana speed limits go. In the old days, there was no posted limit, and the unofficial law was "let's try to keep it under 90, shall we?"
in 1973, to comply with CAFE regulations, they signed 55, and charged people $5 for speeding, when they bothered to pull them over ... usually, anything under 90 was tolerated, as long as you weren't actively running over small children and house pets.
Question I have for the Montana laws: It was still only a $5 fine for speeding on the open road (outside of municipalities) and NO POINTS. When I briefly lived there in 1992, the state government tried to DOUBLE the fine to $10.00 to cover processing fees, but the measure was defeated!!!
Did they ever get to raise the speeding fines on the open road? If so, when and how much?
(Unfortunately, my one and only speeding ticket was awarded to me in Loma, MT -- population 5?? -- for going 52 in a 45 zone on 10/30/92. And because it was in a municipality (!?!??) I got hit for $35 and 2 points. Go Figure!!!)
Ohioans are worried, as the DOT is starting to put pressure on Ohio to institute some sort of annual vehicle inspection. Which, currently, Ohio does not have. They just do surprise roadside checks (setup like a DUI checkpoint, but to check out your car).
And those safety checkpoints go wayyy back to at least the early 70s. If you passed, you'd get a sticker (color-coded by year, hole-punched by month) to place on the inside of the front passenger windshield. The sticker would exempt you from any additional checkpoints for about the next 12 months.
Regarding the checkpoints:
a) They always had to be done on quieter, more rural stretches of highways (usually limited to 2-lane roads or highway ramps.
b) They seemed to be fewer and farther between in the last couple of decades -- they just don't have the manpower or as many quiet, rural locations to perform them anymore.