Billings Has Become a Terrible Place to Drive, Especially in Winter

Everybody that I talk to all agree. Billings has become a terrible place to drive. Heck, last week there were more than 400 wrecks on the snow in one day in Montana. And right now if your car gets wrecked and is undrivable, you're months away from being able to get it into a body shop. Then however many weeks it takes them to get it fixed.

Remember this February's snowstorm? Not fun to drive in, either.

It's not bad for me because of my work hours. Traffic is light in the heights at 4:30 in the morning. When I get into town, I set my cruise control at 40. Which I understand is technically speeding in a 35-mph zone. But doing 40, I'm the slowest car on the road. Everybody passes me.

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Part of the problem is that we don't have enough manpower to pull people over. I always tell people that Billings is a hard place to get a speeding ticket. And when I see somebody pulled over by a city officer, I always wonder how fast he was going.

I have a solution. We hire more officers who are dedicated to traffic enforcement. And we pay them on a commission. Traffic slows down. The city makes more money and doesn't need to raise taxes any higher. And we get some more badges on the street in a town that could use them.

The problem is people who complain about traffic here never think that they are part of the problem. I certainly don't do anything wrong when I drive. Except when I talk on my phone, speed, run red lights, and never use my turn signals.

And if you've ever checked out the Billings Reckless Drivers page on Facebook, you know how bad people here hate that last one.